Last weekend up in the far, far north of Maine (Fort Kent), several of our MNC skiers participated in the annual New England J2 Championships. For many, this trip is the first taste of “post-season” in that the athletes actually have to qualify for this event based on races earlier in the winter. It’s also one of the first “travel teams” that these athletes qualify for. They travel on a big coach bus with 40+ other Vermonters and spend a couple nights crammed into hotels eating lots of sugar, then race 4x in less than 48 hours!

The skiers compete for their state against  ME, MA, NH, NY and an assortment of athletes from other places. To be clear, it’s a really strong field of skiers. From what I heard, the weekend was lot of fun for athletes and spectators. The 10th Mountain Ski Club are excellent hosts and organizers. Typically the entire community helps to host big events like this.

MNC athletes had lots of success. Full results are available at BART Timing. All 4 of our MNC boys finished in the top-21 of at least one race (out of over 90 competitors!). And both the MNC gals finished in the top-16 in at least one race. Greg Burt won 2 of 3 individual races and was crowned the boys overall champion of the weekend. Will Solow raced to a strong 11th place in the 5km skate, followed closely by Kai Richter and Baxter Bishop in 18th and 21st, respectively. Conor Munns also skied to a strong 4th place.

Marika Massey-Bierman was the top Vermont gal in the 5km classic. She was followed by Eliza Thomas in 16th place overall (3rd Vermonter). Both gals also skied great relay legs on Sunday.

Thanks to Gary Solow for excellent photos of all the excitement. Visit our MNC Flickr Page to view that photos!