Alum Highlight: Tim Reynolds
FasterSkierNovember 1, 2011
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| Tim Reynolds and fellow Green Teamers, Patrick O'Brien and Dylan McGuffin training in Finland. |
We are happy to spotlight and welcome Tim Reynolds back into the GMVS community as a Club Coach, mentor, and promoter of the sport of Cross-Country Skiing. Tim grew up in Bristol, VT and skied withBreadloaf BKL. He transferred to GMVS during his sophomore year ofhigh school, because his local high school did not have a skiteam and and he realized he wanted topursue skiing at a higher level.
Tim took full advantage of the many opportunities available at GMVS, playing soccer and lacrosse alongside his skiing. He also ran cross country during hissenior year in addition to captaining the soccer team. During this year he represented Vermont in the annual Twin State soccer game andwas runner-up at VT State XC Championships, alongside being a three-timeAll-American in XC Skiing.
Beyond athletics Tim was his class' valedictorian, a VSAC scholar, andclass president.
Since graduating, he has maintained close ties with the Nordic program, helping out at summer camps and falltraining and participated in GMVS xc events each year since Igraduated in 2004.
Tim is excited to be a part of the institution that helped his development:
My goals working with the team aretwo-fold. GMVS was like home for me. When I visited campus lastmonth and caught part of the soccer game on the quad against my oldschool and perennial rival Mount Abe, watched the kids take off fromthe post game cheer straight to the powder room to get their make-upfor that evenings theater debut, I was overwhelmed by nostalgia. This school was the place I became independent, where I learned howto learn, how to ski, how to achieve my goals. I’m excited to helpother people understand that GMVS is an excellent place to grow bothas a person and an athlete and build a solid foundation for asuccessful collegiate experience.
I’m also looking forward to helpingbuild the local Nordic ski program. I was very active with FrostMountain Nordic while at Middlebury, and assisted in thetransformation of a growing BKL program into an all inclusive clubthat has become an integral community asset. I hope to encouragesimilar growth in the Mad River Valley.
Tim is currently at a camp in Finland, getting some early snow and readying himself for the 2012 ski season. Here is a letter he recently wrote to us from camp:
It’s hard to believe, but it’ssnowy in Vermont and warm and rainy in Muonio, Finland, about 300kmnorth of the Arctic Circle. It seems a cruel trick to travel so farto find snow only to have it fall at home, but despite theunseasonable weather in this true north country, my team fromCraftsbury has had some solid skiing conditions on a 3km loop.
The track has held up surprisinglywell, considering the hundreds of skiers making laps all day, and allnight, or rather the night time that is still technically considered‘day.’ We have a training camp here for twoweeks, followed by the Finnish FIS Openers which should see a numberof national teams and Russian and Finnish club teams vying for thelast World Cup start spots in the first few Scandinavian World Cups. Following the races we head south to Rovaniemi, the officialhometown of Santa Claus, for another weekend of very competitive FISraces.
I’ll part ways with Craftsbury afterthat and spend a long day on the train via Umeaa and Oestersund,Sweden, en route to Aare, Sweden, where I spent a year abroad aftergraduating from GMVS before matriculating to Middlebury. I’vemaintained some really close connections in this town, and I’llspend two weeks, hopefully on snow if the weather turns around,before wrapping up my Scandinavia preseason racing the first SwedishCup Opener in Boden, Sweden with my old club from Aare.
It’s great being able to race andtrain in Europe for such an extended period of time. The skiing isat a different level here: everyone is fast. The differencebetween an on day and off day can be from the first to the fourthpage of the results. It’s a much deeper game than at home.
That being said, I’m excited to getback to Vermont and start working more formally with the program atGMVS. I’ve skied my whole life, but got serious about racing whenI began attending school in the Mad River Valley as a sophomore. Looking back, it was the source of a path I’ve been following forseveral years now, chasing this skiing dream: from a year abroad inSweden, to 4 years skiing in college, to pursuing skiing full-timewith Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project.
It’s a path I’ve found veryrewarding. I’m looking forward to encouraging others to follow it,and helping the skiers at GMVS who have already started along theirway.
