There’s a chill in the air, but winter is still months away. With New England’s weather forecasts predicting a sunny autumn weekend with temperatures in the mid-60’s (high teens Celsius), the coast of Maine looks like the ideal event destination this weekend. The New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) is ready to oblige with the staging of The Maine Event: XCX Sprints on Sunday, October 23. This is one of the many events hosted by...
As summer turned to fall, skiers from the Stratton Mountain School T2 team (SMS T2), the Sun Valley Gold Team (SVSEF), and the Bridger Ski Foundation Pro Team (BSF) met in Lake Placid, NY for a collaborative training camp, capped off with two stages of rollerski racing. The weekend featured a freestyle sprint event — The Keys to the Castle — on the rollerski track at Mt Van Hoevenberg, followed by a distance stage dubbed...
On the heels of our coverage of the Martin Fourcade Nordic Festival and the Alliansloppet Action Week, we turn our attention to the Northeast where the burgeoning New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) rollerski race series is well underway. The next round of racing will take place this upcoming weekend, starting with a freestyle sprint event dubbed “The Keys to the Castle” on September 18th at Mt. Van Hoevenberg in Lake Placid, NY, followed by...
The debate to run equal race distances for men and women remains. Molly Peters, the head cross-country ski coach at Vermont’s St. Michael’s College, has led a grassroots campaign to make equal distance racing commonplace at the NCAA level and beyond. She’s the lead voice for The Ski Equal Team. The group sent a letter to the U.S. Ski & Snowboard Cross Country Sport Committee, its Equity and Inclusion Committee, and CEO Tiger Shaw asking...
For skiers and race organizers, remaining nimble and realistic are keystone 2020 attributes as the global pandemic commands our attention. Amidst the disruption, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) remains committed to organizing races for the 2020-2021 season. Justin Beckwith, Competitive Program Director at NENSA, said the aim is clear during uncertain times: under-promise and over-deliver. As a case study, New England poses several challenges. Geographically several states with differing Covid-19 mandates share borders...
Skiers are made in the summer, and one of the hallmarks of summer training is periodic training camps. But as with racing, the coronavirus pandemic has upended summer group training. In April, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) opted to turn their June regional elite group (REG) training camp into a virtual event. Part of the US Ski and Snowboard development program, REGs have a standardized format that helps evaluate athlete development. “[The virtual...
Skiers are made in the summer, and one of the hallmarks of summer training is periodic training camps. But as with racing, the coronavirus pandemic has upended summer group training. In April, the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) opted to turn their June regional elite group (REG) training camp into a virtual event. Part of the US Ski and Snowboard development program, REGs have a standardized format that helps evaluate athlete development. “[The virtual...
Last week, two long established entities in the New England nordic sport scene released updated ski waxing policies. The Craftsbury Outdoor Center (COC) made its move towards a fluoro-free future while the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) laid out fastidious wax restrictions based on age-group competition. Craftsbury’s homegrown professional ski and biathlon teams race as the CGRP – or the Craftsbury Green Racing Project. The “Green” reflects the team’s Vermont based Green Mountain roots...
The NENSA rollerski series ramped up this past weekend outside Lake Placid, New York. As part of the drive to draw more skiers to the rollerski series, Saturday included a two race format known as a doubleday event: event 1 consisted of a 3-kilometer skate prologue followed by a 1.5-k cross-country cross (XCX) featuring several agility segments. Athletes earned a reward for performances in each event. Both events were individual start and their aggregate times...
On the eve before a full weekend of rollerski racing in Lake Placid, New York, we spoke with NENSA’s Justin Beckwith and cross-country ski supporter Marty Hall about their involvement with developing rollerski races in the Northeast. Here’s an audio short of the interview with two people making things happen.
Pull the curtain back, and the wizardry is revealed. Not always perfect, with growing pains like any other popular athletic event, NENSA is trailbreaking when it comes to first class rollerski racing. In revealing the organizational fundamentals of NENSA’s rollerski series, we learned that leading the way is simple: it requires a can do attitude. This is no The Wizard of Oz chicanery – where the old man fumbles with a sci-fi device in creating...
On a bright, hot Saturday, Simi Hamilton (SMS T2/USST) and Katharine Ogden (Dartmouth/SMS T2) won the NENSA App Gap Challenge in Fayston, VT. Hamilton finished the race in 26:10 minutes, 26 seconds shy of Kyle Bratrud’s record-setting win last year. Ben Lustgarten of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project (CGRP) raced to second, 12 seconds back at 26:22. CGRP teammate Adam Martin followed in third place at 26:37. Ogden won in 32:15, with Sophie Caldwell (SMS...
This past weekend, more than 170 skiers descended upon the Camp Ethan Allen Training Site at the Vermont National Guard base in Jericho, Vermont, for the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA) Rossignol Fall Rollerski Classic. According to NENSA Competitive Programs Director Justin Beckwith, the field size nearly doubled from last year, and he believed 172 finishers made it the largest North American rollerski race. The event was hosted in conjunction with the Mansfield Nordic...
On a humid fall Sunday in northern New York where temperatures reached an uncharacteristic 80 degrees, Jake Brown of the Craftsbury Green Racing Project and US Biathlon Development Team and Tara Geraghty-Moats of USA Nordic won the 2018 Climb to the Castle. Brown’s time was 35:40.7, while Geraghty-Moats finished in 45:03. Big Gaps and Clear Wins On the men’s side, Brown’s Craftsbury teammate Raleigh Goessling finished second in 38:16.6, and Erikson Moore of the Fondeurs-Laurentides...
Last week was a big one for the New England Nordic Ski Association (NENSA). On Wednesday, Aug. 8, in conjunction with a U.S. Ski Team U16 (under-16) camp, NENSA hosted rollerski events at the Olympic Jumping Complex in Lake Placid, N.Y., starting with agility courses designed by NENSA Competitive Program Director Justin Beckwith and Olympian and former nordic combined national-team coach Joe Lamb (complete with rollers, gates, jumps, backward skiing, and a grass runup). buy birth control...
NENSA is very excited to announce that we are bringing Ludvig Sognen Jensen to New England for a week of high visibility rollerski events. Known to some by his social media handle @luddeyo, Jensen is the world’s fastest cross country skier in the new discipline of supersprint racing. His arrival in Boston on August 6th will kick off a week of events across the northeast including a stop at the U16 national camp in Lake...
FAYSTON, Vt. — This past Sunday, July 23, Kam Husain and Alex Lawson won the 2017 App Gap Challenge and set some of the fastest times on the grueling course in the process. Husain, a 19-year-old Vermont native and former Stratton Mountain School skier, set a new men’s course record of 30 minutes, 28 seconds. Lawson, a Craftsbury Nordic skier coming off her senior year at St. Johnsbury Academy, was the second-fastest woman ever on the...
The following recap was written by Justin Beckwith, info@fasterskier.com. The
About a year and a half after Colin Rodgers. GMVS went through some transitions. I am staying in the Mad River Valley, which is amazing; another great part of the job is that I get to stay where I am and sort of create some of that vision and move it in a way. It’s a pretty cool job, it’s a very cool lifestyle, it’s something that I am so passionate about. I was just...
The Green Mountain Valley School is welcoming back former junior athlete David Sinclair to the team's ranks for the 2014/2015 season as part of the team's attempt at organic development. With several exciting developments for the rural Vermont academy including a new assistant coach, the future is looking bright for GMVS.