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Ben Koons

Nordic Nation: A Backcountry Ski Race on Skinny Skis – Simi Hamilton and Ben Koons Take Second at the 2022 Montane Grand Traverse

Tucked deep into snowy valleys, the tiny iconic Colorado mountain towns of Aspen and Crested Butte are separated by a mere 40 miles by foot, but roughly 200 miles by car in the winter. Separating the two is the expanse of the rugged Elk Mountain range, which features six of Colorado’s 14’ers, peaks that reach above 14,000’.  Now meccas of outdoor recreation, the two towns were historically established as profitable coal and silver mining sites,...

Koons Wins World Champs Qualifying Race, Top-10 Gain 10/15k Start Spots

There may not have been medals, but a flower ceremony, the chance to stand on the podium, and most importantly a spot in the 10/15km classic race next week awaited the top finishers in today’s World Championship qualifying race. The qualifying event debuted in 2009 at the Liberec World Championships and according to FIS Cross-Country Race Director Jurg Capol, was added to rectify two issues from the 2007 Sapporo Championships. Capol cited both athlete safety...

New Zealand’s Koons Takes a Wild Ride in the 30 k Pursuit

Aside from a few small clusters in New England and New Zealand, millions of people glued to TV screens around the world were all asking the same question at the beginning of Saturday’s 30k pursuit: “Who is that guy?” That guy was Ben Koons, a former Dartmouth College skier and Maine resident competing for the Kiwis at the Games. Not even one kilometer from the start, Koons had slid into the track in the lead,...

Vancouver Bound: Skiing for a Developing Nation

Media attention for the Olympics is usually focused on high profile teams and local favorites. Everyone loves to read about the athletes who will represent their country or the foreign athletes from well-known ski nations, but in the cross-country skiing world there is another group heading to Vancouver that deserves some attention. Nordic skiing attracts a significant number of athletes from countries that FIS designates as “ Sand skiing on the dunes and beaches of...

New Zealand named the 2010 Olympic Team, consisting of 10 athletes across five sports.  The snowboard team has not been named yet. Ben Koons (MWSC) of Maine, has officially been named to the cross-country team, along with Katie Calder. Koons was considered a sure thing, but yesterday’s announcement makes it official. New Zealand Olympic Selector and Secretary General Barry Maister also welcomed the athletes to the team and said that strategies around high performance in...

Ben Koons earns New Zealand Olympic Standard

Muonio, Finland–Far above the arctic circle in Lapland this past Saturday, Ben Koons, of Sidney, became the first Mainer to achieve an Olympic qualifying standard in Nordic Skiing for the 2010 Winter Olympic Games. Koons, who holds dual citizenship in the U.S. and New Zealand, raced to a 103rd place in the men’s 15km classic at the Olos resort. Initial calculations indicate that it was good enough for a 99.54 point FIS race, and good...

The Road to Whistler and the New Zealand Olympic Team: Ben Koons

Ben Koons has been New Zealand’s fastest nordic skier for quite some time.  Born and raised in Dunedin, on the South Island, he grew up participating in a variety of sports but only cross country skied a handful of times.  His family moved to Maine when Ben was fourteen and he started his freshman year as a hockey player at Messalonskee High School.  Soon afterward he switched to nordic skiing, found he had an aptitude for the...