There are some races coming up the weekend of December 11th/12th at Craftsbury. The season is really getting underway and there are now enough competitions on the high school/VPA schedule to necessitate a little planning on which races make sense to attend versus which are better sat out. Below I’ll try to provide my suggestions for different athletes based on their school race schedule, yearly goals, team flexibility, and ability level!
First off, you can find links to the Craftsbury races here:
Saturday December 11th: Rodrigues Sprints
Skate sprint race where EVERYONE makes heats. You will do the course 4 times: once solo for a qualifier, and then three more times head-to-head against others. This makes for a long and tiring day with lots of planning/extra clothing/snacks and meals necessary.
Sunday December 12th: Kendall Classic
Classic mass start distance races. 5km for U16 and 10km for U18+. This is a very standard format and schedule, but with the added bonus that we did not get to do any mass start races last season!
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If you are trying to pick which race(s) to attend, here are some of the key factors:
- Are you racing midweek during this upcoming week, either a timetrial or true race?
- Are you competing in the biathlon events at Craftsbury over this same weekend?
- Do you have a race on Wednesday, December 15th?
- Are you competing in Eastern Cup #1 in Maine the weekend of December 18/19?
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The ideal situation is for MNC racers to enter Eastern Cup #1 (Dec 18/19) having completed two races in the 10 days leading up to the Eastern Cup. Ideally, one classic and one freestyle race.
We want to have races under our belts before the Eastern Cup, but it is also early in the season and we don’t want to put our bodies through a ton of hard races at the expense of general consistent skiing and fitness. Based on all those factors, here are Adam’s recommendations…
- If you are racing a high school competition on Wednesday, December 8th and/0r Wednesday, December 15th, it is best to choose one weekend Craftsbury race. My suggestion would be the Kendall Classic, as for most it will be the first real classic race of the season. This also means Saturday can be a day for longer, continuous skiing (up to 90 min).
- If you are competing in the biathlon race events at Craftsbury, and/or you are competing in high school competitions, the Kendall Classic is the best option (see above).
- If you are NOT racing any high school events, my suggestion would be to do both the Rodrigues Sprints and the Kendall Classic, as this perfectly simulates the upcoming Eastern Cup weekend of skate sprint followed by classic distance. This is perfect preparation!
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