More Cancellations/Postponements/Location Cha-AGGH... On the bright side, SNOW!!!!

Well, this week was full of various cancellations and other changes:
First, our skate race that was scheduled for December 20 at Great Glen Trails, then scheduled for this Wednesday and later Thursday night at Cranmore, has again been postponed to a later date, keeping our YTD race total at 1.

Second, our classic race at Lebanon, a different one from the one that was supposed to be held on 12/27 which hasn't been run, has also been postponed due to lack of snow. Again, Kennett Nordic Skiing YTD races... 1.
Our ski jumping meet that was supposed to be held at Hanover on Wednesday was moved to Proctor, due to lack of snow, and otherwise went off without a hitch. I didn't jump as far as I would have liked, but did set a personal record by earning more style points than distance points.
And a day of rest followed the Jumping meet, as school was cancelled due to a sudden excess of snow on Thursday (the same excess that postponed the twice-postponed Cranmore race...). It was well used, prepping skis for this weekend. It snowed for most of the day Thursday and again today, turning the scene around the valley from this:

(Last Thursday)

to this:

Eight Days Later...

The Eastern Cup scheduled for Saturday the 14 was moved from Bond Brook Rec. Area in Augusta was moved to Titcomb Mountain in Farmington, the location that was initially hosting the Sunday Eastern Cup.

Vacation Recap and First School Races.

It's been a while since I've posted (Craftsbury), and quite a bit has gone on since then: the Kennett XC team scavenged for practice locations, we had two meets postponed (one jumping, one nordic), and had our first two meets (again, 1 and 1).
This winter has been one of the strangest I have seen when it comes to weather. The region has experienced temps ranging from 52 to -4 degrees with alternating storms of rain and snow. There were days where it would look like something would happen (and in some towns it did) that completely bypassed the valley...
Due to the bizzare weather, the Kennett ski team(s) have been training mostly at Cranmore Mountain, with Nordic coming in at 4:00 and taking over the base after the mountain closes. We have had to dodge skiers, ski patrol, snowmobiles, snow guns, groomers, and Fryeburg Academy skiers (early on). When Cranmore wasn't available, we had to make due with what we could find: Jackson had very little terrain, Great Glen had only .250 km open, Whitaker Woods was almost unusable except for one day. We ended up using the North Conway Country Club, which actually had decent conditions, and Cranmore after dark (5:45 to 7:00).

	Would you look at that intensity? And the guy in the yellow seems to be going hard too...

Our first race was SUPPOSED to be on 12/21/11, but, due to the lack of snow, had to be postponed to this coming Wednesday, 1/11/12. Our first race ended up being a sprint relay at Gunstock Ski area on 1/4/12. The race went well, with two of our teams making it through the prelim's and placing top 10 in the final (Kennett-2 Brennan/La Liberte was fourth, Kennett-1 Doucet/Spaulding was tenth). 

Following the relays was a mad dash over to Proctor Academy for the NHIAA season opener for Ski Jumping. NH is the only state in the US that still allows Jumping as a high school sport. The meet
utilized all 4 jumps Proctor has (K10m, K18m, K34m, K38m) and was my first 4 jumps of the season (all off the K34m, with 3 being competition jumps). I ended up placing T12th overall and 1st for the K34m, with a score of 92.5.

Also, over break, my good friend Mikaela (Blog) made the US World Youth Biathlon team, and will be travelling to Finland this February. 

Then, Mikaela, along with my teammate Hannah B. and some of the country's best Nordic skiers, descended upon the mill town of Rumford, ME for the 2012 US Cross Country Championships (site). They both did well for their age group, seeing as they were also competing against USST members and other professional skiers from the US and Canada.

Eastern Cup #1 - Craftsbury

After 2 days of below zero (*C) temps, the first NENSA/TD Bank Eastern Cup race is complete. The course, a 1.45 km loop of man-made snow, was a good, hilly trail at Craftsbury Nordic Center.
Day 1 was a day of classic racing, starting with a 1.4 km classic sprint: a qualifier for the 3k afternoon race. The podium lacked the one USST skier there, Skyler Davis, who had just returned from a World Cup trip in Europe.

I was right in the same area I was in last year, trailing my main competitors from Ford Sayre by about 10 seconds in the sprint and 20-30 in the 3k, coming in 149th and 153rd respectively.

Sunday was my day, sort of. A 10k skate. Upon arrival, the air temperature was -13*C, becoming a balmy -10*C by race time (12:46:30). When it came down to the start time, I had already been having a hectic day: getting punched in the nose, whacked in the shin... Then came the laps. 6 laps of the 1.45 km course (somehow adds up to 10 km... ITS METRIC!) with college skiers surrounding you. The hat and glasses came off lap 3, and my flop across the line came at the finish. I came in 153rd (again) with a time of 25:03.2, "personal record"!