Any given day at Craftsbury Outdoor Center in the summer is a hive of activity. A sculling camp here, a group run there, and throw a rollerski race in too. Everyone though, comes back to the Center’s porch, eventually.
On Friday morning, a group of middle school-aged runners, containing more than a few skiers among them, went out for their morning group run. When they came back around, a few lit into the hushed, excited panic of recognition…“is that Ben Ogden!?”
Ah Vermont – where it’s over the fields and through the woods to where the Olympians go!
Ben Ogden was indeed back racing in his home state on Friday, as Craftsbury hosted the Lost Nation Roll. The Northeast Kingdom offering has become an unofficial soft launch of the new season in the East. And with that season being 2026, the presence of Olympic and Olympic-aspirant racers in cross-country and biathlon was noted. Overwhelmingly though, the Lost Nation Roll is characterized by the chorus heard around Craftsbury Friday morning: “it’s just nice to see everyone again!”
A field of 50 plus racers drawn mostly from the collegiate and pro ranks raced the 10 k skate individual start on the 2.5 k Craftsbury rollerski loop, which features a shallow, rolling set of hills capped by the “Dennis’,” a long twisting downhill which rolls into a transition-practice ready uphill pitch.
In the Women’s field, Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) Biathlete Margie Freed got on course early in the field, and finished early over the field, skiing to a 1 minute 28 second gap over her closest competitor. That closest competitor was GRP teammate Michaela Keller-Miller in 2nd, with Dartmouth’s Amelia Tucker rounding out the podium in third place. Neve Gerard, training with Craftsbury this summer, was the top placing junior in 9th Overall.
“I ski this loop just about every day which means I know it pretty well…” said Margie Freed post-race. “I like to push up and over ‘Dennis,’ and I focused on pushing that section well today.”
Ben Ogden also got an early start in the Men’s race, and subsequently set the bar for the field. The field which skied out after him contained a deep, competitive set, with the top 5 finishing within 30 seconds of Ogden’s winning time of 21:29.30. That pack contained a pair of homecoming efforts from new college graduates, with Brian Bushey, back in Craftsbury after 4 years with the University of Utah, in 2nd, and Jack Young, newly graduated from Colby College, finishing 4th. Splitting the difference was US Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) biathlete Sean Doherty in 3rd. Tabor Greenberg scored the top junior placing in 6th.
“I really like this rollerski track, so it was fun to come out and crush it with everyone today,” said Ogden post-race.
Ogden also cued in on the more subtle differences rollerski race efforts offer compared to snow skiing (outside of, you know, much higher consequences for falling), “[this] was different than many of the courses I race in the winter in that the hills are short – overall, it’s flat, meaning you have to really work the downhills and flat sections well. I was tempted to charge so hard on the hill knowing they’re so short, but you must measure your efforts so you can push a V2 alternate for sustained amount of time.”
Ogden also reflected on where the rollerski race effort fit into the matrix of preparing for the upcoming winter, “[Today] was a perfect midsummer effort because you had to sustain a hard effort…that’s what is on the training menu right now.”
Based on turnout, a hard, sustained effort is a popular menu item regionwide. The Lost Nation Roll kicks off a Series of NENSA Rollerski Races which stretch from September right up to the snow falling this November.
Bringing everyone ‘round to the Craftsbury porch is done with the recognition, and hope, that connections will flow off it. Ogden ended his day up at Craftsbury with a reflection and some plans:
“I try to never miss an opportunity to race [at Craftsbury], just because I love the community. It’s so fun to catch up with so many people from over the years. Even though we’re [geographically] all close in Vermont, it takes something like this to get us all out again. Like, I just made plans to hop in with the GRP guys for a workout next week. That’s a successful day.”
Ben Theyerl
Ben Theyerl was born into a family now three-generations into nordic ski racing in the US. He grew up skiing for Chippewa Valley Nordic in his native Eau Claire, Wisconsin, before spending four years racing for Colby College in Maine. He currently mixes writing and skiing while based out of Crested Butte, CO, where he coaches the best group of high schoolers one could hope to find.
