Holiday Greetings NENSA Community!

NENSA wishes you and your family the happiest of holidays, with lots of snow and skiing in our wonderful New England corner of the world, or wherever your travels take you this holiday season!

Check out what's in this weeks issue in the boxes below:
  • The Roy Varney Eastern Cup Opener weekend moves from Sugarloaf to Quarry Road in Waterville ME
  • NENSA is please to announce our Share Winter Foundation grant that supports our Nordic Rock introductory ski programing
  • Pisten Bully joins NENSA as our newest Supplier Sponsor ~ look for the PB100 at the Eastern Cup Opener this weekend
  • NENSA welcomes Cross Country Skier Magazine as a media partner! Check out their 1st Podcast featuring Peter Graves interviewing Jessie Diggins, and a special Holiday subscription offer to NENSA members
  • NENSA Year End Donations and the debut of our NENSA 25th Anniversary Hat!
  • Recap of last weekends Davos World Cup and Supertour races
  • NENSA's 2019-20 Wax Policy
  • SafeSport Information
  • NENSA's Calendar of Events

See you out on a snowy trail soon and Happy Holidays!
Best,
Amie

Amie W. Smith
Executive Director
New England Nordic Ski Association
Amie@nensa.net

Be sure to follow us on fb, Twitter and on Instagram @nensa_nordic
NENSA News from the Field
Highlights and Notes from NENSA and the Nordic World
NENSA Announces Share Winter
Partnership Grant Award
We are excited to announce that NENSA will be partnering once again with Share Winter Foundation for the 2019 – 2020 ski season! Share Winter works to improve the lives, health, and fitness of youth through winter sports; and we will be working with them to help run Nordic Rocks programs across the New England region.

Last year, Share Winter helped more than 45,000 youth across America get out and enjoy the snow by helping to fund cross-country, alpine, and snowboarding programs for young people. With Share Winter’s support NENSA will help more than 1500 at kids at 19 area schools across New England learn the joys of Nordic Skiing through Nordic Rocks programming during the school day. We work to partner these schools with cross country ski venues to create the next generation of life long cross country skiers here in New England!

Nordic Rocks is a three way partnership between schools, NENSA, and Share Winter Foundation. Our main goal for the program this year is to help build the bridge towards skiing opportunities at local ski areas outside of the school day. We are excited to work on making these connections and hope to be able to further expand the Nordic Rocks program in New England!

To learn more about Share Winter, please visit https://www.sharewinterfoundation.org/
Roy Varney Eastern Cup Opener moved to Quarry Road in Waterville ME
Weather happens. The heavy rains and the warm weather of last weekend did a number on the Nordic trails at Sugarloaf. The decision was made to move the EC Opener to a back up site last Sunday. NENSA greatly appreciates the dedication and cooperation between Sugarloaf and Quarry Road Trails, to make this move happen. We are so very fortunate that Quarry Road had a stockpile of manmade snow, and that their trails survived the weather last weekend. Most importantly, NENSA is thrilled to be able have our athletes race on the best possible conditions this weekend ~ and great they are ~ check out these photos of Quarry Road taken this week. SkiReg online registration closed at 5pm on 12/18, but Day of Race (DOR) registration is available both days. You must be both a current NENSA and US Ski & Snowboard member to register for DOR. Click HERE for all updates on the VTCM page on NENSA.net
Skiing is great at Quarry Road! The venue is open from 10AM to 9PM daily (1.8km is lighted, and headlamp skiing is permitted around the full race loop). Trail passes are $8 per person under age 18 or with student ID, and $12 otherwise purchased at the Welcome Center yurt from 10-4 or with payment in dropbox on yurt deck from 4-9. For teams there is a $5 rate for teams and larger groups skiing together. Contact Justin Fereshetian <jfereshetian@waterville-me.gov> ahead of time for access to the team rate. Friday skiing is free for registered athletes and their coaches with official training at 1PM. 
Thinking about Year End Giving?
Here is a great incentive! All Donations of $250 or more to NENSA this December will get our special
25th Anniversay Hat!
December is the time for Year End Gifts/Giving. If you make your charitable donations in December, please keep NENSA in mind! A gift to our Annual Fund is greatly appreciated by NENSA, and, this December, all gifts of $250 or more will be the first to receive our special 25th Anniversary NENSA/SKIDA Hat! Yes, NENSA will be 25 years old in 2020! Be the first to own and proudly wear this hat! (Hat will be for sale starting in January 2020) Go to NENSA.net to donate today! And thank you!
NENSA Announces our GET SKIING
FREE Membership
for First Time Members
2019-2020 NENSA  GETSKIING  MEMBERSHIP: FREE!!!!
Good for First-Time NENSA Members only
Yes, you heard that correctly ~ we want everyone to  GET SKIING , so we are offering anyone, of any age ~ Youth, juniors, seniors, masters, parents, grandparents, a FREE membership to NENSA  (if you have never been a NENSA member before) . This is a great way to try our NENSA programing this coming season and join in all the summer, fall and winter fun! You can try out that rollerski race, BKL program, an Eastern Cup race, a Citizen’s race or a coaching clinic, and your NENSA membership is FREE! 
Click here to   JOIN NENSA TODAY
If you are already a NENSA member ~ THANK YOU! Click here to  RENEW   your membership today. June is the official start of our new membership year, so take a few minutes to renew, or join for free, and GET SKIING today!
Inaugural Cross Country Skier Magazine Podcast with Peter Graves and Jessie Diggins ~ Enjoy!
Cross Country Skier Magazine is kicking and gliding into the world of audio.
Known for over 40 years of print stories, Cross Country Skier Magazine is thrilled to launch the Cross Country Skier Podcast. Led by longtime TV broadcaster Peter Graves, season one features interviews with Olympic Gold medalist Jessie Diggins, FasterSkier managing editor Jason Albert and U.S. Ski Team head coach Chris Grover. Link to Podcast
NENSA WAXING POLICY
2019-2020 SKI SEASON
Mission Statement:  NENSA is committed to making safe and supportive competitive events for all cross country skiers. Concerns about fluorinated waxes have emerged from three schools of thought: the health implications of exposure, the environmental effects involved with the raw materials in many of the wax products, and the competitive advantage certain clubs may gain due to the perceived complexities of available products. NENSA would like to address these issues and help reduce the dependence on fluorinated waxes through education and waxing guidelines.
It is important to note that the wax industry will shift as the international market responds to mounting regulation of ingredients in Europe. We hope our stance will promote a healthy environment for athletes, technicians, spectators and New England venues. These policies are based on trust and NENSA cannot enforce compliance.

Click HERE to see our NENSA Wax Policy for the 2019-20 Season
SafeSport Program
U.S. Ski & Snowboard, our National Governing Body (NGB) requires the following individuals complete training provided by the U.S. Center for SafeSport:

Individuals associated with Member Clubs (that means any NENSA club)

  • Adult athlete members of Member Clubs, except Short Term Athlete Members due to their limited participation and Master Athletes who do not i) have regular contact with minor athletes or ii) have authority over minor athletes
  • Adult members (who are not athletes) of Member Clubs who i) have regular contact with athletes, or ii) have authority over athletes
  • Employees and Board Members of Member Clubs
  • Individuals providing services to Member Clubs, including but not limited to contractors, volunteers, interns, who i) have regular contact with athletes or ii) have authority over athletes
  • More info here: https://usskiandsnowboard.org/safesport-athlete-safety/safesport-training

NENSA urges ALL New England coaches, parent volunteers, venue volunteers and anyone working with youth to take the SafeSport on-line course and get certified. NENSA requires this of all our staff and volunteer coaches and wax techs at JN's and REG Camps. Please take time this season to be sure all your club volunteers and coaches are SafeSport certified. Do it today. Go to: https://www.safesport.org

Further information on SafeSport, and important updates made as of 4/15/19 to the SafeSport Program, can be found on our NENSA website HERE
E xciting News from our Partners:
World Cup Races Last Weekend in Davos
and SuperTour Recaps
December 14: Caldwell Third, Hamilton Sixth in Davos Sprint!
Sophie Caldwell landed another podium performance for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, finishing third in the FIS Cross Country World Cup freestyle sprint in Davos, Switzerland, Saturday. On the men’s side, Simi Hamilton, who was in the podium hunt in the finals, posted the best result of the season in sixth.

‘It’s nice to get a good day in this early in the season,” Simi said. “It gives me a lot of confidence in my fitness, speed and race hunger going forward into this long and busy season. I was pretty tanked after those fast quarter and semifinals, but I’m psyched with a solid sixth.” ...READ MORE / WATCH

December 15: Diggins Third in Davos!
Jessie Diggins kept the podium streak alive for the Davis U.S. Cross Country Ski Team, finishing third, and leading five American women in the top 25 in the 10k individual freestyle event in Davos, Switzerland, Sunday.

December 16: Ogden, Lustgarten Extend SuperTour Leads
Katherine Ogden (Dartmouth) and Benjamin Lustgarten (Craftsbury Green Racing) extended their overall SuperTour leads following round 2 of the series in Sun Valley, Idaho, last weekend.

Katherine took her second SuperTour win of the season in the classic sprint at Sun Valley. She also finished second to recently retired World Cup athlete Riitta-Lisa Roponen of Finland in the 10k freestyle. Katherine holds a 50-point lead over Guru Jordheim (University of Utah) in second, and a 55-point lead over Kaitlynn Miller (Craftsbury Green Racing) in third. Katherine also leads the U23 overall standings. ...READ MORE
Katherine Ogden leads the women's classic sprint at round 2 of the SuperTour in Sun Valley, Idaho.
(U.S. Ski & Snowboard photo)
Upcoming Events
A Look Ahead at the NENSA Calendar
Upcoming NENSA Events: