CSU Jrs have once again swept all the spots in the Boston Globe's All-Scholastics! Leading the way were skiers of the Year Isaac Hoenig and Corey Stock, both recognized for winning the state meet, Corey for the 2nd time and Isaac for the 3rd, as well as their accomplishments at JOs for Corey and at EHS for Isaac. Named as All-Scholastics were Olivia Meyerson, Chris Stock, Eli Hoenig, Hannah Smith and Tommy Rummel. Recognized by the Globe as All-Stars in the Mass Bay West league were Neil Garrison, Michael Chiauzzi, Chris Burnham, Calvin Wight and Nick Serbedzija for the boys and Catherine Benson, Meryl Cherner, Heather Fischer, Caitlin Guiney, Kaytie Innamorati and Kelsey Colpitts.on the girls side. Recognized for the Mass Bay East league, which for some unknown reason did not make it into the Globe were Rion O'Grady and Stoddard Meigs on the boys side and Ellen Goldberg and Julia Schiantarelli on the girls side.
Congratulations to all for their hard work and dedication throughout the season!
In addition to recognition of the athletes, Graham Taylor was recognized as a coach of the year for L-S taking the state championships and Pat Garrison was recognized for her great work with the Acton-Boxborough team, who took 2nd place in the Mass Bay West league and 4th at the state meet. Both Graham and Pat are big boosters of CSU and encourage many of their athletes to join CSU, so it is nice to see them receive recognition!
In addition to the skiers named above, Nadja Kern was named as an All-Star in basketball in the Dual County League. Nadja leads the Waltham girls team in addition to excelling at skiing. Blake McCartney was named as an All-Star as a Skimeister (skiing both downhill and cross-country).
Full story may be seen in the Boston Globe.
Sunday, March 28, 2010
Friday, March 26, 2010
The Stowe Derby - Toll Roadkill
Below is Bill Holland's tale of the Stowe Derby:
Toll Roadkill -
Toll Roadkill -
That pretty much describes what became of me halfway through the screaming downhill section during the classic portion of this year's Derby. The skate race went about as well as it ever has, given the absence of anyone to draft during the bike path section. I had rocket skis thanks to the harmonic convergence of high humidity, warm temps, and the discovery of some spray pure fluoro I'd forgotten I purchased (wow can that stuff make a difference!). Though the tracks were squirrely, the surface was moist granular, allowing me to finish two minutes faster than last year, albeit one place lower (73rd).
Anyway, after taking the chairlift back to the summit where I savored the sunny skis, low-30s temps, and windless conditions, the classic race got off to another fast start, the waxless skis not seeming to slow me down a bit. Then I allowed myself to get frustrated that the guy in front of me navigating the turns faster than I. Instead of taking the turns high and inside so as to maintain as straight a line as possible--my strategy--I noticed that was swinging off to the side of the trail that had the upcoming turn, swooping wide to the opposite side, then cruising round the bend in this very fluid manner.
I was probably going 35 mph when I decided to experiment with this untested approach. The moment I did, it was as though a giant hand came down and sent me sprawling across the trail, hitting the right side of my head in the process on hard-packed powder. The impact knocked me unconscious, sent blood spurting out of my nose, and either broke or cracked a few ribs underneath my right arm.
The next thing I knew, a ski patrol guy was looking down on me and reassuring me the sled would come around to get in just a few minutes. I staggered around trying to get off the trail as skier after skier slowed down to ask if they could help. I waved them off until the tobaggon came around, and the patrol guy started putting me through the usual paces: name, number of fingers held in front of me, address, phone number, all that stuff.
The ride down went smoothly as did the siren-accompanied ride to the hospital where they leaned quite heavily on me to get a CAT scan despite the fact that I had no sleepiness, headaches, or dizziness. That whole portion of the ordeal was much tougher on Grace than on me, as the waiting room attendant refused to disclose to her my status until the paperwork came through--an agonizing 20 minutes from the time she and our daughters arrived.
Anyway, after a couple of rocky days and nights sitting propped up in bed, I found I could move around the house with increasing ease. Friday I went for a hike, yesterday I skied w/o poles, and today I skied with some non-aggressive poling. Provided things keep progressing, I'm hoping to make it to the Mt. Washington Cup next Sunday.
See you all then. And if you ever do the Derby, bringing along a bike helmet might not be a bad idea. Dare to be a dork! I sure won't hesitate to, although next year I'm thinking I might do the Dixville Notch race instead.
Thursday, March 25, 2010
J2 Championships
The J2 Championships, held the first weekend of March turned out to be pretty darned nice. The weather was spectacular the whole weekend with many of the skiers racing in T shirts and the coaching staff doing their work in short sleeves as well. Its not rough duty standing in the bright sun under a bluebird sky waxing skis for a great event for 3 days! To add to the roughness of the weekend, the Mass team stayed at the Eagle Mt. House and so I parked the car on Friday and didn't move it until Sunday afternoon since the races started across the street. Awesome!
Racing commenced on Friday with a 5km skate race on the Wave at Jackson. The course softened up just enough for the afternoon races to make for good skiing. Jackson had just barely enough snow to pull off the event and they had worked hard getting the courses ready and fixing spots here and there, although we couldn't use the entire field as we have in the past. Rion O'Grady had the race of the day for the CSU Jrs., popping an excellent 3rd place finish to start off the weekend with a bang.
Racing commenced on Friday with a 5km skate race on the Wave at Jackson. The course softened up just enough for the afternoon races to make for good skiing. Jackson had just barely enough snow to pull off the event and they had worked hard getting the courses ready and fixing spots here and there, although we couldn't use the entire field as we have in the past. Rion O'Grady had the race of the day for the CSU Jrs., popping an excellent 3rd place finish to start off the weekend with a bang.
Rion O'Grady
Calvin Wight also had a solid race, finishing in 17th place while Eric Brote came home in 30th. On the girls side Olivia Meyerson led the way with a fine 10th place followed by Julia Schianterelli in 39th, Rebecca Smith in 53rd and Blake McCartney in 83rd.
Blake McCartney
Saturday morning I was up wicked early having been thinking about the klister selections we would need to test out. The day started with the classic 5k, this time on a 2 lap 2.5k course up Christmas Farm and the first part of the wave and had quite a bit of climbing. It warmed up rapidly but stayed dry enough that we got away with Toko Multiviola, which as it turned out was a colder wax than NH employed for the race. This time it was Erik Brote's turn to really step it up as he improved 14 places to 16th. Rion stayed hot, coming in 15th with Calvin in 46th. In the girls race we had to add in some Toko Orange as it was slushing up fast, but the girls still had good skis. Olivia banged out another great race coming home in 7th. Rebecca moved up to 47th with another solid performance while Julia and Blake followed in 81st and 94th.
After a lunch time hiatus where we soaked up more sun, cleaned up the morning's skis and got ready for the 1.2k classic sprint. The sprint course was basically flat at the beginning and end with one hill in the middle. To try and speed up skis we shortened up the kick zone as much as practicable but now it was really wet so I wasn't happy with just orange so we started dabbing in a couple dots of Toko Silver. Silver is often forgotten, but it provides buckets of kick and I felt it actually sped up the skis. It must have worked though, because all the girls banged out excellent races! Olivia finished in 11th, another excellent race, but races of the afternoon had to go to Julia, who improved 28 places to take 53rd, only to be topped by Blake who improved 40 places!!! Hot races left big smiles on both girls. Rebecca finished up in 68th.
Rebecca Smith and Kathryn Foley
In the boys race both Rion and Erik had another solid race and moved up as a team, Rion taking 10th and Erik 11th. Calvin finished up in 43rd. In the team competition, the Mass boys had good results all the way down the line, coming in ahead of NH while the girls really kicked it up and came in ahead of both Maine and NH in the sprint. Mass is knocking at the door New England!
Olivia
Sunday morning dawned clear, dry and with sun coloring the tops of the surrounding peaks as I had my early coffee, running through klister combinations once again. The last race of J2s is the mixed gender mixed technique relay, always an exciting race. The top team was clearly a contender for the top spot and certainly for a podium position with Luke Costley (Mt. Greylock), Rion, Olivia and Mackenzie Hitchcock (Mt. Greylock). Luke took the scramble leg and put the team right in contention in 2nd at the handoff. Olivia skied a strong leg but unfortunately got tangled up with a NH girl on one of the corners and they both took a spill. Rion got the hand-off and skated well to move the team up a couple notches, handing off to anchor Mackenzie who got the team up into 3rd by the finish, beating out the 4th place team by 0.1 sec and the 5th place team by 6 seconds. Erik's team came in 13th and Calvin skate very well as his team took 16th. In the team competition, however, the Mass team couldn't rack up enough points and finished in 4th place.
Erik
In the all around scoring Olivia finished a solid 8th place, Rebecca in 51st, Julia 54th and Blake 82nd while for the boys Rion came in 6th and Erik in 13th. The Mass team was led by Luke Costley, finishing in 2nd place and Mackenzie Hitchcock, also finishing up in 2nd place. An excellent weekend for the CSU team and the Mass Team!!! The juniors had a great time, the skiing was good, the weather was incredible, the snow held up (barely), the waxing wasn't too weird and we finished a couple of the races ahead of NH and Maine. Can't complain about that!
Julia
Calvin
Sunday, March 21, 2010
Marathon Series 180k Challengers
CSUers Robert Faltus, Frank Feist, Victor Golovkin and Michael Melnikov went the full distance in each of the NENSA marathons in the series this year! Congratulations to them! The series included the White Mt. Chase 30k classic, Craftsbury 50k classic, Rangeley 50k skate and Sugarloaf 50k skate.
In the Sugarloaf marathon yesterday with nice fast conditions prevailing (Ryan Kelley, asst. coach at Colby won in 1:57!!) the CSUer results were:
5 Frank Feist 2:08:26
14 and 1st F Olga Golovkina 2:23:52
18 Robert Faltus 2:25:30
22 Victor Golovkin 2:30:12
24 Brett Rutledge 2:31:45
29 Micheal Melnikov 2:37:41
In the Sugarloaf marathon yesterday with nice fast conditions prevailing (Ryan Kelley, asst. coach at Colby won in 1:57!!) the CSUer results were:
5 Frank Feist 2:08:26
14 and 1st F Olga Golovkina 2:23:52
18 Robert Faltus 2:25:30
22 Victor Golovkin 2:30:12
24 Brett Rutledge 2:31:45
29 Micheal Melnikov 2:37:41
Saturday, March 20, 2010
Junior Olympics
CSU Juniors that traveled to Presque Isle for JOs had a great week of skiing, California sun and rocking results! Some photos below provided by Alex Jospe, who went along as one of the coaches. Rob's summary of the week's results:
Alex's write up of JOs and photos can be seen HERE.
At Junior Olympics (Junior National championships) last week in Presque Isle, CSU Juniors scored enough points to rank CSU as the 3rd best club in the US! Wow, we should be very proud of them. We were ahead of the Stratton Mtn School for example. Alaska Winter Stars were first - they had 21 athletes at JO's and we had only 7.
- Corey Stock won 3 individual National Championships (out of 3 possible) and anchored the winning relay team.
- Eli Hoenig had a 2nd, 4th, 6th, and was on the winning relay team.
- Jackson Rich had a 2nd and other good races.
- Chris Stock was on the 5th place relay team and had solid races.
- Hamish McEwen got an 11th, 13th, and 23rd and a blistering relay leg
- Hannah Smith had 3 solid races in the top half of the field.
- Cate Brams also had 3 solid races in the top half of the field.
These are some great kids and we old folks should be very proud of your fellow Weston skiers. Our ski racing community provides a fertile environment for producing great ski racers.
Bravo to them!
Rob
Rob's reports follow:
Despite the spread out schedule I've been going non-stop with driving the J1/OJ boys around in the van, skiing with them, waxing their skis, giving them feeds during the race (I was on the TV pictures!), and taking them to pick up their many awards. What a great group of young men.
Team NE has been totally dominating the event. In the first race we took 13 out of 18 medals (3 to CSU!!!). Yesterday was a little more fair as we only took 6 (1 CSU!).
The skiing yesterday was textbook NE spring skiing with great tracks, lots of sunshine, and good klister wax. I helped wax for a couple of hours in the morning, drove down to the hotel to get my van load of real men, and then went back to waxing. I gave feeds to the guys during their race, snuck in a half hour of skiing myself, and then helped with clean up. We had a big awards ceremony last night and an ice cream social.
Corey skied a very smart race, catching her main rival who had started 15 second ahead, and then just hanging with her to the end for another National championship. She is becoming a very accomplished competitor.
Eli's race was a war. He was just 7 second out of first and that put him in fourth! Jack Hegman was 0.6 seconds out of first to get second. That is tough racing. Hamish had another excellent race with a 13th. His results are the best of any CSU first year J2 boy at JO's. What will happen next year?
Cate Brams tied for 31st, just 15 seconds out of the top 20, and only 12% out of first. Excellent results for a first year J2. She has skied two very solid races with no mistakes.
Hannah Smith improved her results with a 30th in J2 girls. Hannah too has been skiing very consistently with a calm and focused demeanor. It's great to see how she has progressed since last year.
Jackson, perhaps a bit tired from his blistering sprint race, still skied a very solid 15K. Always tough to be a first year, but he is skiing like a pro.
Chris Stock did everything right in his race, but didn't ski as fast as he wanted. Sometimes that happens. Again, I think that making it all the way through the sprint rounds is incredibly tiring - worse than a marathon really.
The weather here is wonderful - sunny, dry, cold at night, warm during the day. Still enough snow for great skiing.
Gotta go skiing now - life is tough!
It's 2 AM (new time), Tim Caldwell is sleeping soundly in the next bed, and I'm done with my last coaching task - making sure that all the athletes are in their assigned rooms and not wandering around the hotel.
At tonight's awards ceremony they announced the winners in the club competition. Racers score points for top finishes and USSA registered clubs are ranked by total points. For the boys competition CSU came out 3rd, and for the combined boys and girls CSU was also 3rd. Wow! So, we are the 3rd ranked club in the USA. I could not be more proud of our athletes, especially since this is a team award and everyone contributed. Bravo to our club. By the way, the Alaska Winter Stars that won the content sent 3 times as many athletes as we did.
Today in the Relay race Corey Stock skied a fantastic anchor leg to win the J2 race. Eli Hoenig skied an excellent number 2 leg to secure the win for the J2 boys. Chris Stock hit the podium on the 5th place OJ boys team. And CSUer Olga Golovkina did the same for the girls. Hamish McEwen also snagged 5th with his team. Wow.
I hate to have to say this, but the weather today remained perfect with our 8th day of sunshine. Come up to the County for great weather and skiing.
Alex's write up of JOs and photos can be seen HERE.
At Junior Olympics (Junior National championships) last week in Presque Isle, CSU Juniors scored enough points to rank CSU as the 3rd best club in the US! Wow, we should be very proud of them. We were ahead of the Stratton Mtn School for example. Alaska Winter Stars were first - they had 21 athletes at JO's and we had only 7.
- Corey Stock won 3 individual National Championships (out of 3 possible) and anchored the winning relay team.
- Eli Hoenig had a 2nd, 4th, 6th, and was on the winning relay team.
- Jackson Rich had a 2nd and other good races.
- Chris Stock was on the 5th place relay team and had solid races.
- Hamish McEwen got an 11th, 13th, and 23rd and a blistering relay leg
- Hannah Smith had 3 solid races in the top half of the field.
- Cate Brams also had 3 solid races in the top half of the field.
These are some great kids and we old folks should be very proud of your fellow Weston skiers. Our ski racing community provides a fertile environment for producing great ski racers.
Bravo to them!
Rob
Corey the Fashionista!
Cate waxing in the California sun
Hamish
Coach Bradlee enjoying the sun
Rob's reports follow:
What a day! The best ever for NE and for CSU ever.
Hannah had an excellent race and was 39th - just 6 seconds out of qualifying for heats. Cate was just 1.5 seconds out of qualifying. Competition at JO's is very tough and every second counts. Both girls skied great races.
Chris Stock dominated his quarterfinal, but crashed in the semi. He then set his sights on winning the B final, but crashed in the B final too! Too bad because he was skiing really well.
Jackson skied beautifully in every heat and took a commanding silver way ahead of bronze.
Eli was on fire with the most amazing tempo and he exceeded all his expectations by getting silver. He beat Jack Hegman for the first time in the process. He was the only NE podium for J2 boys.
Hamish did great in his semi-final, but was toasted for his semi. However, he rallied for the B final to overtake and pass a skier near the end to claim 11th. I think Hamish is particularly enjoying hanging out with the OJ men who are big, strong, fast, friendly and great role models for a developing J2.
Hannah had an excellent race and was 39th - just 6 seconds out of qualifying for heats. Cate was just 1.5 seconds out of qualifying. Competition at JO's is very tough and every second counts. Both girls skied great races.
Chris Stock dominated his quarterfinal, but crashed in the semi. He then set his sights on winning the B final, but crashed in the B final too! Too bad because he was skiing really well.
Jackson skied beautifully in every heat and took a commanding silver way ahead of bronze.
Eli was on fire with the most amazing tempo and he exceeded all his expectations by getting silver. He beat Jack Hegman for the first time in the process. He was the only NE podium for J2 boys.
Hamish did great in his semi-final, but was toasted for his semi. However, he rallied for the B final to overtake and pass a skier near the end to claim 11th. I think Hamish is particularly enjoying hanging out with the OJ men who are big, strong, fast, friendly and great role models for a developing J2.
For J2 girls Corey moved through quarter and semi easily. She had lost both finals in the the Eastern Cup qualifiers to Heather Mooney. We talked about a new strategy for this final and Corey executed it perfectly. She put the hammer down on the final uphill and came into the stadium with a big lead and cruised to victory. Fantastic!
Alex and I are having a great time. She's an age group coach for the J2 girls and I'm an age group coach for J1/OJ boys. (Although they are not boys, but young men - big and strong!). I had a blast today being one of the coaches working the start/finish lines. The heats ran from noon till 5 PM with one every 5 minutes with just one 10 minute break in the middle. Whew. Sure beats living in the wax room the whole day. For a change I got to see the CSU racers in action and they rewarded me with fantastic performances.
Can't wait till Wednesday!
Alex and I are having a great time. She's an age group coach for the J2 girls and I'm an age group coach for J1/OJ boys. (Although they are not boys, but young men - big and strong!). I had a blast today being one of the coaches working the start/finish lines. The heats ran from noon till 5 PM with one every 5 minutes with just one 10 minute break in the middle. Whew. Sure beats living in the wax room the whole day. For a change I got to see the CSU racers in action and they rewarded me with fantastic performances.
Can't wait till Wednesday!
Team NE has been totally dominating the event. In the first race we took 13 out of 18 medals (3 to CSU!!!). Yesterday was a little more fair as we only took 6 (1 CSU!).
The skiing yesterday was textbook NE spring skiing with great tracks, lots of sunshine, and good klister wax. I helped wax for a couple of hours in the morning, drove down to the hotel to get my van load of real men, and then went back to waxing. I gave feeds to the guys during their race, snuck in a half hour of skiing myself, and then helped with clean up. We had a big awards ceremony last night and an ice cream social.
Corey skied a very smart race, catching her main rival who had started 15 second ahead, and then just hanging with her to the end for another National championship. She is becoming a very accomplished competitor.
Eli's race was a war. He was just 7 second out of first and that put him in fourth! Jack Hegman was 0.6 seconds out of first to get second. That is tough racing. Hamish had another excellent race with a 13th. His results are the best of any CSU first year J2 boy at JO's. What will happen next year?
Cate Brams tied for 31st, just 15 seconds out of the top 20, and only 12% out of first. Excellent results for a first year J2. She has skied two very solid races with no mistakes.
Hannah Smith improved her results with a 30th in J2 girls. Hannah too has been skiing very consistently with a calm and focused demeanor. It's great to see how she has progressed since last year.
Jackson, perhaps a bit tired from his blistering sprint race, still skied a very solid 15K. Always tough to be a first year, but he is skiing like a pro.
Chris Stock did everything right in his race, but didn't ski as fast as he wanted. Sometimes that happens. Again, I think that making it all the way through the sprint rounds is incredibly tiring - worse than a marathon really.
The weather here is wonderful - sunny, dry, cold at night, warm during the day. Still enough snow for great skiing.
Gotta go skiing now - life is tough!
At tonight's awards ceremony they announced the winners in the club competition. Racers score points for top finishes and USSA registered clubs are ranked by total points. For the boys competition CSU came out 3rd, and for the combined boys and girls CSU was also 3rd. Wow! So, we are the 3rd ranked club in the USA. I could not be more proud of our athletes, especially since this is a team award and everyone contributed. Bravo to our club. By the way, the Alaska Winter Stars that won the content sent 3 times as many athletes as we did.
Today in the Relay race Corey Stock skied a fantastic anchor leg to win the J2 race. Eli Hoenig skied an excellent number 2 leg to secure the win for the J2 boys. Chris Stock hit the podium on the 5th place OJ boys team. And CSUer Olga Golovkina did the same for the girls. Hamish McEwen also snagged 5th with his team. Wow.
I hate to have to say this, but the weather today remained perfect with our 8th day of sunshine. Come up to the County for great weather and skiing.
Hamish
Friday, March 19, 2010
Sue McNatt's Birkie Story
Sue's excellent story about Birkie 2010
Birkie fever, I’m eager as a beaver, get me to the start line, I’m ready to go!!
This is the Birkie song you will hear sung and broadcast on the local radio station several times before race day. This year, I was ready to go!!!
We had a compressed visit due to the dates of February vacation week and the Birkie date not cooperating, however, we made the most of it. A delayed flight on Wed, Feb 24 landed us in Milwaukee at 10:00 PM with a 90 minute drive to Terry’s parents. A slightly wrong turn at nearly midnight allowed us a serene look at the WI state capitol in the moonlight. (not appreciated by the children!) They were anxious for some sleep before the Barnebirkie, 4 and a ½ hours drive north in Hayward,WI the next day at 12:30 PM. Less than 8 hours at the in-laws and we were in the car again(fueled by Grandma’s yummy waffles and Peet’s coffee). The drive was uneventful except a pee stop in a snow-covered cornfield for the kindergartner. We arrived calmly at 11:40, greeted by my parents and the children’s race bibs. We had a good laugh when I tried to call my parents at the cabin they had rented, but had the wrong number. The gracious gentleman who answered thought that he knew us and had recognized the cell phone number by caller ID.
He even had a sense of humor when he stated,”well, you didn’t bring the motorcycles, did ya!” Ah, Cheeseheads are so friendly!!!
The Barnebirkie was a delight this year. A new and accurate course allowed the kids to ski appropriate distances, Kyler 1k( he claimed to come in 2nd overall!!???!!!), Lucy 3k and Carson 5k. They arrived pink-cheeked and laughing with stories of poles flailing and falls by young skiers. Cookies and HC greeted all.
The afternoon was spent getting our bibs, checking out the smallish cabin( a few kids slept in the closets) and waiting for Marcia, Lars, Anika and Leif Carlson and their dog Freya to arrive(Yes, those are their real names!!)
Freya delighted all this year by performing ski jouring duties with the kids. Fun!
Friday was a light ski day and waxing, waxing, waxing(by Terry and Leif), eating, eating and eating(all of us) and of course getting psyched by watching the USA bobsled boys go for the gold! I wish I could yell like that at the start line!
Race day, our thermometer at the cabin read 15 degrees-oh no!-too warm, but as we drove to the start in Cable it plummeted to 5 degrees, just right! I heard one man in line for the porta state “my skies may be too fast for me!!” I would say that mine were pretty awesome, I was skiing up on many folks at the top of the hills and even at the fuel
stations! Thanks, Terry!
I felt so calm lining up, plenty of time, relaxed. I couldn’t wait to ski. The only glitch of the morning was when we drove about ½ mile down the road and I realized I didn’t have my chip or bib! Oops, a quick ride back to the cabin, greeted by the “I want my Mommy” 6 year old and we were off again. I lined up in my usual spot(right side back as at Weston), amid many anxious skiers, jumping up and down and talking strategy. To my delight, my nephew Lars happened to line up right next to me. He was skiing the 23k Korteloppet. What a treat, to ski with your 17 year old nephew. I lost sight of him in the mad rush to the Power line hills single-stickathon but we found each other near the first feed station. At 9k the Korte folks peeled off so we parted ways.
The Ks melted away. I couldn’t believe it. I glanced at my watch at 9k, missed the 10k split but checked at 20k. My brother-in-law predicted a 3:08 total time for me, based upon course conditions and fitness. At this point, that was certainly doable. I often hook up with a similar-paced skier during the race. Last year, it was blue girl, this year it was bearded red man. We skied together off and on a fair amount of the race. At 30k I realized I was skiing under 3:30/ Ks at that point. Woah, I could break 3 hours for the first time in my life barring a crash or a bonk! I really never felt taxed until the last set of hills before the lake. The lake is always hard and feels like a 7k(it is 2k
maybe!) I decided to make my move and just go as hard as I could-nothing to lose. I passed a woman on the lake and she tucked in behind me for a bit. We flew along. Flying in to the last turn and then mashed potato snow until the final sprint. Kindly bearded red man skied away from me the last 2k, but I kept him in sight. I found him after the finish to congratulate him and he introduced himself as Odd (so odd, but classic ) I received my finish time-2:55.52! For a while I doubted the accuracy but I did wear the chip for the entire race!
Nothing very eventful to report, except the skies were so fast, you occasionally careened into the aid stations and had to snow-plow lest you cause a crash. And on B (bitch hill) at 40k I put a B pin in my tights for safe keeping. It stayed there through the race, only to be lost in the changing tent. The pin is a matter of pride, so now I have to ski the Birkie next year to receive a coveted “B” pin.
Fun and fast times were had by all-PRs by most. A trip for burgers and beer to the snowmobile bar in the middle of nowhere followed the race.
My sister Marcia skied great, nephew had his best time and my brother in law Leif PRd despite some orthopedic issues. My niece, Anika, collected Mardi Gras beads this year and looked tanner after the race! Many days checking the website for times and splits followed. I reached my goal of a faster ski(by 25 minutes, probably 15-18 due to snow conditions) and making the 25 percent club. Now next year, top 100 women and maybe a chance at wave 1! I’ll try!
You should check it out. Birkie Fever, now for Birkie withdrawal. I may need counseling.
Come out to the land of cheese and beer someday. Join us next year!
Only 345 days until Birkie 2011-better start training!
Sue McNatt
Birkie fever, I’m eager as a beaver, get me to the start line, I’m ready to go!!
This is the Birkie song you will hear sung and broadcast on the local radio station several times before race day. This year, I was ready to go!!!
We had a compressed visit due to the dates of February vacation week and the Birkie date not cooperating, however, we made the most of it. A delayed flight on Wed, Feb 24 landed us in Milwaukee at 10:00 PM with a 90 minute drive to Terry’s parents. A slightly wrong turn at nearly midnight allowed us a serene look at the WI state capitol in the moonlight. (not appreciated by the children!) They were anxious for some sleep before the Barnebirkie, 4 and a ½ hours drive north in Hayward,WI the next day at 12:30 PM. Less than 8 hours at the in-laws and we were in the car again(fueled by Grandma’s yummy waffles and Peet’s coffee). The drive was uneventful except a pee stop in a snow-covered cornfield for the kindergartner. We arrived calmly at 11:40, greeted by my parents and the children’s race bibs. We had a good laugh when I tried to call my parents at the cabin they had rented, but had the wrong number. The gracious gentleman who answered thought that he knew us and had recognized the cell phone number by caller ID.
He even had a sense of humor when he stated,”well, you didn’t bring the motorcycles, did ya!” Ah, Cheeseheads are so friendly!!!
The Barnebirkie was a delight this year. A new and accurate course allowed the kids to ski appropriate distances, Kyler 1k( he claimed to come in 2nd overall!!???!!!), Lucy 3k and Carson 5k. They arrived pink-cheeked and laughing with stories of poles flailing and falls by young skiers. Cookies and HC greeted all.
The afternoon was spent getting our bibs, checking out the smallish cabin( a few kids slept in the closets) and waiting for Marcia, Lars, Anika and Leif Carlson and their dog Freya to arrive(Yes, those are their real names!!)
Freya delighted all this year by performing ski jouring duties with the kids. Fun!
Friday was a light ski day and waxing, waxing, waxing(by Terry and Leif), eating, eating and eating(all of us) and of course getting psyched by watching the USA bobsled boys go for the gold! I wish I could yell like that at the start line!
Race day, our thermometer at the cabin read 15 degrees-oh no!-too warm, but as we drove to the start in Cable it plummeted to 5 degrees, just right! I heard one man in line for the porta state “my skies may be too fast for me!!” I would say that mine were pretty awesome, I was skiing up on many folks at the top of the hills and even at the fuel
stations! Thanks, Terry!
I felt so calm lining up, plenty of time, relaxed. I couldn’t wait to ski. The only glitch of the morning was when we drove about ½ mile down the road and I realized I didn’t have my chip or bib! Oops, a quick ride back to the cabin, greeted by the “I want my Mommy” 6 year old and we were off again. I lined up in my usual spot(right side back as at Weston), amid many anxious skiers, jumping up and down and talking strategy. To my delight, my nephew Lars happened to line up right next to me. He was skiing the 23k Korteloppet. What a treat, to ski with your 17 year old nephew. I lost sight of him in the mad rush to the Power line hills single-stickathon but we found each other near the first feed station. At 9k the Korte folks peeled off so we parted ways.
The Ks melted away. I couldn’t believe it. I glanced at my watch at 9k, missed the 10k split but checked at 20k. My brother-in-law predicted a 3:08 total time for me, based upon course conditions and fitness. At this point, that was certainly doable. I often hook up with a similar-paced skier during the race. Last year, it was blue girl, this year it was bearded red man. We skied together off and on a fair amount of the race. At 30k I realized I was skiing under 3:30/ Ks at that point. Woah, I could break 3 hours for the first time in my life barring a crash or a bonk! I really never felt taxed until the last set of hills before the lake. The lake is always hard and feels like a 7k(it is 2k
maybe!) I decided to make my move and just go as hard as I could-nothing to lose. I passed a woman on the lake and she tucked in behind me for a bit. We flew along. Flying in to the last turn and then mashed potato snow until the final sprint. Kindly bearded red man skied away from me the last 2k, but I kept him in sight. I found him after the finish to congratulate him and he introduced himself as Odd (so odd, but classic ) I received my finish time-2:55.52! For a while I doubted the accuracy but I did wear the chip for the entire race!
Nothing very eventful to report, except the skies were so fast, you occasionally careened into the aid stations and had to snow-plow lest you cause a crash. And on B (bitch hill) at 40k I put a B pin in my tights for safe keeping. It stayed there through the race, only to be lost in the changing tent. The pin is a matter of pride, so now I have to ski the Birkie next year to receive a coveted “B” pin.
Fun and fast times were had by all-PRs by most. A trip for burgers and beer to the snowmobile bar in the middle of nowhere followed the race.
My sister Marcia skied great, nephew had his best time and my brother in law Leif PRd despite some orthopedic issues. My niece, Anika, collected Mardi Gras beads this year and looked tanner after the race! Many days checking the website for times and splits followed. I reached my goal of a faster ski(by 25 minutes, probably 15-18 due to snow conditions) and making the 25 percent club. Now next year, top 100 women and maybe a chance at wave 1! I’ll try!
You should check it out. Birkie Fever, now for Birkie withdrawal. I may need counseling.
Come out to the land of cheese and beer someday. Join us next year!
Only 345 days until Birkie 2011-better start training!
Sue McNatt
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Lots to Report On
Been a bit busy lately with J2s and EHS and am way behind. I will try to get some postings up over the next several days of the J2 Festival, Eastern High Schools and whatever else I can dig up. Stay tuned! In the meantime, here is a photo of Andrew Reed bringing it home on the victorious Mass relay team at Eastern High Schools. Mass took the relay gold for the third year in a row with a stellar leadoff leg by Nadja Kern (CSU) to Isaac Hoenig (CSU) to Mackenzie Hitchcock (Mt. Greylock HS) to Andrew Reed (CSU). This was probably the biggest margin of victory in the three years!
Wednesday, March 3, 2010
Alex's Birkie Report
Here is Alex's birkie report. If you want to see her photos and read her blog go HERE
I skied out of the second wave last year, so this year I got to start in the elite women's wave, since I'd finished 23rd last year. I'd say my race strategy was probably a bit suicidal - go out hard and hang on until I couldn't anymore. Its not actually that suicidal if you look at who was in the race, it is a much deeper field than in NE, but I can ski with most of those girls over shorter distances (well, ok, not Rebecca Dussault and Taz Mannix...), so it reasons that over a longer distance maybe I'd even have a better chance at doing well.
Unfortunately, I made a pretty rookie mistake and tightened my boot laces too tight on the start line, which meant that within 3k, I lost feeling in my foot and couldn't bend my leg at the ankle. Strangely enough, when you can't bend your leg at the ankle, skiing is hard. I suffered along with the lead group of 8 or so for the first 6km, before I the pain in my lower leg and foot was too overwhelming, and I slowed down hoping that the slower pace would make things better. It didn't, so at 12k I stopped, took off my poles and gloves, and loosened my boot.
During that hiatus from racing, the chase pack and a couple stragglers passed me by, but afterward, it was great, I could ski again and I didn't feel like crying anymore. I picked up Kim Rudd, a Rossignol skier who had started conservatively, and we spent the next 38km working together picking off stragglers.
The course was in great shape, super hard packed and wicked fast, my skis were probably the fastest out there, with the exception of two or three other girls, and I'm not exaggerating. Around 40k you hit "bitch hill", and that was when my triceps decided to start spasming - ouch! Luckily, my fast skis kept me in contact, and I straggled across the lake with Kim and another skier, Paulette Niemi, wishing I could stop at one of the many barbecue picnics going on next to the trail. We hit main street and I've never been so unable to sprint before in my life - No matter how hard I tried, my tempo remained exactly the same as it had been for ~30k, with my triceps cramping at every pole. Luckily, Kim and Paulette were equally dead, and I took second in the sprint, for 16th. Its a little bittersweet, since I'd wanted top 15, but I'm willing to acknowledge that there was nothing I could do to move any faster down that trail at the end, and I skied a good race (boot issues aside). Its a long race, but a good way to wrap up my ski season!
Alex
I skied out of the second wave last year, so this year I got to start in the elite women's wave, since I'd finished 23rd last year. I'd say my race strategy was probably a bit suicidal - go out hard and hang on until I couldn't anymore. Its not actually that suicidal if you look at who was in the race, it is a much deeper field than in NE, but I can ski with most of those girls over shorter distances (well, ok, not Rebecca Dussault and Taz Mannix...), so it reasons that over a longer distance maybe I'd even have a better chance at doing well.
Unfortunately, I made a pretty rookie mistake and tightened my boot laces too tight on the start line, which meant that within 3k, I lost feeling in my foot and couldn't bend my leg at the ankle. Strangely enough, when you can't bend your leg at the ankle, skiing is hard. I suffered along with the lead group of 8 or so for the first 6km, before I the pain in my lower leg and foot was too overwhelming, and I slowed down hoping that the slower pace would make things better. It didn't, so at 12k I stopped, took off my poles and gloves, and loosened my boot.
During that hiatus from racing, the chase pack and a couple stragglers passed me by, but afterward, it was great, I could ski again and I didn't feel like crying anymore. I picked up Kim Rudd, a Rossignol skier who had started conservatively, and we spent the next 38km working together picking off stragglers.
The course was in great shape, super hard packed and wicked fast, my skis were probably the fastest out there, with the exception of two or three other girls, and I'm not exaggerating. Around 40k you hit "bitch hill", and that was when my triceps decided to start spasming - ouch! Luckily, my fast skis kept me in contact, and I straggled across the lake with Kim and another skier, Paulette Niemi, wishing I could stop at one of the many barbecue picnics going on next to the trail. We hit main street and I've never been so unable to sprint before in my life - No matter how hard I tried, my tempo remained exactly the same as it had been for ~30k, with my triceps cramping at every pole. Luckily, Kim and Paulette were equally dead, and I took second in the sprint, for 16th. Its a little bittersweet, since I'd wanted top 15, but I'm willing to acknowledge that there was nothing I could do to move any faster down that trail at the end, and I skied a good race (boot issues aside). Its a long race, but a good way to wrap up my ski season!
Alex
Tuesday, March 2, 2010
CSU Juniors at State Championships
CSU Juniors had quite a fine day out at the Massachusetts High School State Championships on Tuesday with Corey Stock winning the girls race and Isaac Hoenig the boys race. The races were held at Notchview, which had picked up plenty of snow over the course of the past week and therefore had decent conditions. Highlight of the day was definitely the Lincoln-Sudbury boys finally defeating the western Mass boys from Mt. Greylock, who have had a strangle-hold on this championship for years. The L-S boys took 3 of the top 4 spots and 22nd to squeek in ahead of Mt. Greylock, who took 5th, 8th, 12th and 15th. Low score of the top four skiers determines the team's score. CSU boys results:
1 Isaac Hoenig
2 Tommy Rummel
3 Eli Hoenig
4 Chris Stock
6 Chris Burnham
9 Calvin Wight
11 Rion O'Grady
22 Nick Serbedzija
27 Neil Garrison
32 Jordan Richmond
36 Greg Holdman
37 Michael Chiauzzi
38 Stoddard Meigs
On the girls side Mt. Greylock won and Concord Carlisle was a close second followed by Lincoln-Sudbury and Acton-Boxborough. Again, the CSU girls were dominant, holding down the top spots:
1 Corey Stock
2 Hannah Smith
4 Olivia Meyerson
8 Katie Innamorati
10 Julia Schiantarelli
12 Catherine Benson
14 Heather Fischer
15 Kelsey Colpitts
18 Caitlin Guiney
19 Ellen Goldberg
21 Blake McCartney
23 Meryl Cherner
34 Courtney Lunger
Boys results are HERE.
Girls results are HERE.
1 Isaac Hoenig
2 Tommy Rummel
3 Eli Hoenig
4 Chris Stock
6 Chris Burnham
9 Calvin Wight
11 Rion O'Grady
22 Nick Serbedzija
27 Neil Garrison
32 Jordan Richmond
36 Greg Holdman
37 Michael Chiauzzi
38 Stoddard Meigs
On the girls side Mt. Greylock won and Concord Carlisle was a close second followed by Lincoln-Sudbury and Acton-Boxborough. Again, the CSU girls were dominant, holding down the top spots:
1 Corey Stock
2 Hannah Smith
4 Olivia Meyerson
8 Katie Innamorati
10 Julia Schiantarelli
12 Catherine Benson
14 Heather Fischer
15 Kelsey Colpitts
18 Caitlin Guiney
19 Ellen Goldberg
21 Blake McCartney
23 Meryl Cherner
34 Courtney Lunger
Boys results are HERE.
Girls results are HERE.
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