Greetings NENSA Community!
We had an amazing weekend of Eastern Cup and EISA Carnival racing at the Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton Vermont. Frost Mountain Nordic Club and Middlebury College were wonderful hosts to both the Eastern Cup and Carnival racing, and a really fun Citizen Zak Cup race. See box below for a few photos, results and JNQ Rankings.
Today at 5pm is the final day to register online SkiReg.com for our final Eastern Cup weekend, taking place this Saturday February 23rd at the Dublin School in Dublin NH & Sunday February 24th at the Holderness School in Holderness NH. Saturday will be the Dublin Double with two freestyle JNQ Eastern Cup races ~ a 3k prologue and a 1.5k sprint qualifier, one in the morning and one in the afternoon. Sunday will be the Cheri Walsh Memorial classic interval start races with Masters Waves at the end of both the open men's and the open women's races.
There will be DOR late registration both days. See the full schedule on
NENSA.net including DOR late registration times.
This weekend is our final JN qualifier and Eastern Cup weekend. Our New England Junior National Team will be named at the conclusion of the racing on Sunday. Please note there will be a JN Informational Meeting at 1:15pm at the Holderness School after the EC racing is done. Athletes and families can meet our JN Staff (age group coaches & wax techs), and Matt Boobar (head coach) and myself (trip leader) will be there to answer any questions you may have. We will have a great raffle, have SWIX uniforms to try on for sizing, team hats, and will name our U16 JN Team as well as our top U18 and U20 athletes. And if you know you will be making the team, you will be able to pay by check on Sunday.
Check out all the
NENSA NEWS from the Field below, including all the info you need to know for this years New England JN Team & Trip; the AK Cup by the numbers; a recap on the amazing day the USST had in Cogne Italy for the freestyle sprint last Saturday; and info on how to register for the upcoming New England BKL Festival. There are still lot of great races and events coming up on our full NENSA Calendar of Events at the bottom of this eNewsletter.
Hope to see many of you out at the final Eastern Cup races this weekend or at the BKL Festival the weekend after!
Best,
Amie
Amie W. Smith
Executive Director
New England Nordic Ski Association
Amie@nensa.net
NENSA does a lot of social media posting and updates on our social media platforms ~ be sure to follow us on
Facebook, Twitter and on Instagram @nensa_nordic
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NENSA News from the Field
Highlights and Notes from NENSA and the Nordic World
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Everything You Need to Know for the Upcoming New England Junior National Team Trip to Anchorage Alaska
March 8th-17th
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This weekend brings the final 3 races for JN qualifying at our final Eastern Cup. With the Alaska departure date just two weeks away, we wanted to take this opportunity to get you all the info athletes and parents will need to register and pay for this JN trip. New England will be fielding a large team this year due to the large number of auto qualifiers from US Sr. Nationals. Anyone who auto qualified, and knows they will be going to JN's, should go ahead and sign up now, and book your flights! It will be a very fast turnaround from the final JNQ race on 2/24 to leaving for this championship event on 3/8.
This year we will defending the Alaska Cup for the 6th year in a row - not an easy feat when heading to Alaska! But if any region is up to this task, it is New England! See below for some interesting stats on the AK Cup.
There will be a JN Team naming and meeting this Sunday 2/24 at 1:15pm at the Holderness School, following the EC races. More info on this important meeting in the 2019 JN Team Packet below.
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The Alaska Cup by the Numbers:
(US Ski & Snowboard Junior National Divisional Champion)
- New England has won the AK Cup the last 5 years in a row (going for 6 in a row this March!)
- New England has won the AK Cup 9 out of the last 10 years (since 2009) only loosing to Alaska in 2013...in Alaska.
- New England has won the AK Cup 14 times since the start of the AK Cup in 1986
- Alaska has won it 16 times ~ we are catching up (and fully plan to pass them in 2021) ;-)
- In the past 33 years, the AK Cup as been won by Alaska 16 times, New England 14 times, Intermountain twice, and the Midwest only once. That's it, for all 10 divisions.
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for this great New England Junior National Team Hat for 2019! We will be looking spiffy in Anchorage thanks to these, and our awesome NE Team SWIX uniforms!
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Frost Mountain Eastern Cup
Photos & Results
Frost Mountain Nordic and the Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton VT were host to three days of exceptional Eastern Cup/Middlebury Carnival Racing 2/16-2/17.
Find full results
HERE
on Barttiming.com
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Racers from Williams, Craftsbury and Bowdoin the Women's freestyle races on Saturday February 16th
(Paul Berman photos)
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Final Days to Register for the New England
Bill Koch Festival!
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The festival will be held at Rikert Outdoor Center in Ripton, VT and is the marquee event of our Bill Koch League season. There will be races by grade level as well as many fun events for the whole family! Registration closes this Friday, February 22 at 5:00pm. Find out more and register at:
https://www.nensa.net/bkl-festival/
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Festival Volunteers Needed!
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The festival is shaping up to be an amazing event, and we couldn't do it without the help of our amazing volunteers! There are still some volunteer jobs to be filled, no experience necessary AND you'll get a free lunch! Take a look at the available jobs in the spreadsheet below and sign up with your contact info if you would like to help out.
Laura Murphy McIntosh is Chief of Volunteers for the Festival can be reached at
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World Cup Update:
Huge Day for USA as Diggins Wins Cogne Sprint!
And, Sadie Bjornsen 5th and Julia Kern 11th!
Simi Hamilton 4th for the men!
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It was a huge day for the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team as Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) won Saturday’s FIS Cross Country World Cup sprint to lead six U.S. women into the top 30 in Cogne, Italy. Simi Hamilton (Aspen, Colo.) finished fourth to lead four U.S. men into the top 30.
Diggins advanced through the quarterfinal and the semi-final heats in the lucky loser position to advance to the finals. “Man I’m glad they do lucky loser. Honestly, there have been lots of ups and downs this year, you don’t know what going to happen, but you have to believe in yourself and keep pushing the whole way.”
Three U.S. athletes qualified for the finals including Hamilton, and Sadie Bjornsen (Winthrop, Wash.), who finishing in fifth.
“I was really thrilled to have finished fifth today,” said Bjornsen. “After a long camp of solid training in Davos, (Switzerland) it feels good to know my plan to ‘focus my top form on the Championships’ is working out. Any time I make a sprint final means I’m in a place to fight for the podium. A few more days of sharpening up and a mind that is ready to dig even deeper is exactly what I was dreaming of for this time of year.”
Julia Kern (Waltham, Mass.) posted a career-best World Cup result finishing 11th, followed by Sophie Caldwell (Stratton Mountain, Vt.) in 17th; Ida Sargent (Craftsbury, Vt.) 24th; Rosie Brennan (Anchorage, Alaska) 27th; and Kelsey Phinney (Boulder, Colo.) in 33rd. Andy Newell (Shaftsbury, Vt.) was 23rd; Logan Henneman (Fairbanks, Alaska) 27th; and Kevin Bolger (Sun Valley, Idaho) 30th.
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Jessie Diggins on top of the podium in Cogne Italy on February 16th
~ WC freestyle sprints
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Looking for more current Cross Country Ski News?? Check out these links on our
NENSA.net
website for the latest Social Media, Ski Community News, News at NENSA and back issues of KickZone
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SafeSport Program
NENSA has always urged ALL New England coaches, parent volunteers, venue volunteers and anyone working with youth to take the SafeSport on-line course and get certified. NENSA has been requiring this of all our staff and volunteer coaches and wax techs at JN's and REG Camps for several years now. So please take time this season to be sure all your club volunteers and coaches are SafeSport certified. Do it today.
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Renew
your NENSA Membership today, and THANK YOU!
Take pride in joining the New England Nordic community with your NENSA membership and in knowing your dues are coming right back to you in the form of NENSA programming and our ongoing support of venues, clubs, athletes and coaches across the region.
There are more reasons than ever to re-new your NENSA Membership! We now have
NENSA Members Only Benefits & Offers
on our website ~ Check back often as we will be adding more from our wonderful sponsors as the season progresses! Go to our "NENSA Members Only Benefits and Offers" tab, under Membership, on NENSA.net to see the latest offers!
Questions about renewing your membership?? Email
preston@nensa.net
or call (207-688-6503) Preston in our NENSA office - he is there to help you!
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Upcoming Events
A Look Ahead at the NENSA Calendar
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Full NENSA.net Calendar Listing
HERE
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New England Nordic Ski Association
49 Pineland Drive, Suite 301-A, New Gloucester, ME 04260
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