West Yellowstone Recap

Well we all made it back to NY safe and Sound. After an amazing week in West the depression has now fully set in as I look at the 10 day weather forecast and realize that the chance of snow any time soon is slim to none.

( The Demo Tents Set Up In West, I'm Pretty Sure Mike Won The Most Products Demo'ed In A Week Contest, A Three Year Veteran Of West He Knew How To Do It)

(Making it up Telle Hill)

After getting such a boost in motivation at West it's going to be a challenge keeping the momentum rolling until the snow falls, or at least until they start making snow. Hopefully it will not be as long as they are saying but we will have to wait and see.

(Blue Bird Skis Mid 30's Temps and LOTS of SNOW and Lots of good times )

As for a recap of West I can make it pretty short and sweet. It was amazing. The snow, the skiers, the friends, everything ! I'm already looking forward to next year !

(Marty and Stefan went out early Saturday morning to get one last ski in before heading out and got to experience the real West ! )

Here are a few pictures from our last days in West which included the 15k Freestyle race for some of the team and lots of skiing for everyone else. Enjoy !

(Telle Hill Suffer Fest)

(You will be able to locate this guy when he is wearing that hat)

(Bib ON Suffer ON Ski Season ON)

(Be Dynamic Be Powerful Be Fast Be YOU)

(Past success is in the PAST ! New season NEW GOALS Get YOUR game TIGHT!)

(Until Next Year !)

www.rochesternordicracing.com

Happy Westgiving !

Since arriving in West Yellowstone we have a lot to give thanks for ! The weather has been unbelievable with over 20 inches of snow on the ground and seasonable temperatures we have been really lucky.

(The Gates To Heaven?)

The goal and reasoning on our decision to come to West was to get some quality early season hours on snow ! I'm pretty sure we have accomplished that with 4+ hours each day. West is more than just training though. It is an opportunity to be a part of the sport. If you have been around Nordic skiing long enough you have heard about "West" and I'm lucky to have been able to experience it. I know why people come and I know why they come back.

(The Crew)

RD,JH,LD,MW,GH,MM,JUOM,

It's an opportunity to see old friends, meet new ones, and enjoy everything that our sport has to offer. The expo is an amazing opportunity to not only see all of the new products from every major player in the Nordic industry but also to talk to someone who knows what they are talking about. You can walk in to any ski shop in the country and look at skis but the knowledge that is in West Yellowstone is amazing. Each major ski and wax company as well as most apparel companies have there heads of state here in West.

(WEST FEST)

I was fortunate enough to be able to attend the TOKO University for my first three days here in west. The job that Ian Harvey does with TOKO here in the U.S is amazing and put together a schedule that included everything from wax formulations to having guest speakers. It was an amazing opportunity that was only made better by those who were involved.

Alright that's it for now, it's time to ski AGAIN ! Yeaaaaa Buddy !

ROCHESTER NORDIC RACING !

Snow in NY !

Well its official! The first snow of the season is hitting Western New York. I have been keeping up to date with all of the recent updates around the country and it’s hard not to be jealous of some of the clubs that have a geographical advantage over the rest of us (APU). But we have been making it here with what we have to work with.

(This is a webcam shot from the top of the local alpine resort)

Most of the juniors are wrapping up fall sports and making the transition back to skiing. However some of them have a long ways to go. Some of the kids running cross country will be racing at least until Federations November 19^th and then some of them continuing on until the 26^th at the Nike Team Nationals qualifier. If they are fast enough the will go on to race December 3^rd at Nike Team Nationals. We have had quite a few kids from the area make it all the way to the big show including our summer development coach Steve Mangan. It makes for a tough transition to the ski season as some athletes will have competed in counties, sectionals, states, federations, NXN regional’s, and NXN to end the cross season. That’s 5 weeks of championship racing in a row!

We also have some juniors that have been ski training through the fall period and they have been doing some great work. With the snow in the forecast everyone’s enthusiasm is high not only here but around the country so there is no time to rest.

Two weeks ago I ran G-man through his first lactate test. He did really well and I was pleased with the results and his effort. Having lactate to back up HR data is nice just to make sure everyone is on the right page.

Here is a little video from his final Max effort for the day. I had a sweet little set up on my road bike with his HR monitor and a video camera as well as my HR monitor on my bars.

For a big recap of the test visit the MF Uni blog as the kids have been updating. Checking out the kids blog has made me really miss those that have left this last year for college as some of them were with me when I started R.N.R 4 summers ago. It’s great to see them doing what they do and especially when that is skiing at the next level. I hope to see the trend continue!

The next big thing on the calendar is West Yellowstone! This will be our first trip to west as a group. For the past couple of years athletes have been heading out and joining the GMVS crew for the week. It was awesome to have Justin and Tim open athletes with open arms and it was great experience. If you are considering heading out to west and need some support or a group to travel with get a hold of Justin at GMVS or myself and we will take care of you no matter where home is!

Well enough for now hope to see you on the trails !

Inside the National J2 Camp

Mid-Atlantic alumni Audrey Mangan swung by practice on a recent trip back home to visit her family. As you know her brother and current Dartmouth skier Steve has been helping out this year so she stopped in to see what all the hype was about and also to get the inside scoop on the USSA National J2 Camp which R.N.R skier Gavin Hess took part in.

View the entire article here :

http://fasterskier.com/2011/08/inside-the-national-j2-talent-id-camp/

USST J2 Camp Recap by Gavin Hess

Gavin was an automatic qualifier to the camp by competing at Junior Nationals and finishing the week being ranked in the top 20 in the country. Opportunities such as qualification to the USST J2 camp is yet another reason competing at Junior Nationals is such a significant part of an athletes development. Below is his recap of his week at camp.

Day 1. Monday, 8/1 As many of you know, I qualified this winter at Junior Nationals for the National J2 Talent ID Camp, which was held last week in Sun Valley, Idaho. It was one of the most amazing experiences I have ever had. It all started Monday August 1st in the Rochester airport at about 5:30 am. Said goodbye to my parents and headed into a long day of travel, alone. Flying alone was an interesting experience that took a ton of independence, but it was a lot more fun once I met up with a few friends from New England in Chicago. Anyways, once we arrived in Boise, we met up with one of our coaches, Eric Pepper, who drove our group, about 8 of us up to Sun Valley, a long yet beautiful drive. Now I've never been out west before, and the mountains are absolutely massive compared to anything back here. Once we arrived in Sun Valley we got the chance to set down our carry-ons in our rooms and change into running clothes to head up the ski mountain for an "easy 30 minute jog to loosen up the legs". This turned into a 1:05 run/walk with about 2,500 ft elevation gain. Ouch.... It was however a ton of fun, we made it about 3/4 of the way up Bald Mtn, which is the ski area we were staying at the base of. Anyways once we got back both my roommates had arrived, Logan, a High Plains skier, and Pete, a Great Lakes kid who was a blistering fast Mountain biker. We divided the 3 beds in our room, I ended up on a pullout couch but with my own separate room and got myself unpacked. We went to dinner and little did I know, but I was in for some slave labor afterwards. They had hired and flown in a chef for this camp who has worked with alot of ski clubs and cooks at West Yellowstone in the fall every year (Stay at the Days Inn!!!). He was awesome, best camp food I could imagine, however it meant the athletes were on clean up duty and I was the only person in my group who they caught to work that night. Anyways, that was miserable. We had a presentation later that night with some basic camp overviews and a very basic classic technique.

Day 2 Tuesday, 8/2 Ill try and keep today a little shorter. Anyways, we started off bright and early with a 2 hr distance classic session, we did some technique drills and really emphasized getting our hips and whole bodies up and forward in the double pole motion. Even so far as adding a jump at the top of the motion. Then we headed out on the beautiful bike paths of Sun Valley and skied for another 1.5 hrs. Although the pace wasn't high (Hint: These kids know how to ski in Zone 1) it put me into a ton of trouble. I figured out later what the issue really was, altitude, and i suffered with it until like Thursday/Friday. In the afternoon we did the obligatory Canadian Strength assessment. Which went miserably once again. Nothing too interesting today though as everyone was still kinda settling in and getting to know eachother. This test was performed in the SVSEF (Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation) training facility, one of the most cobbled together, yet well thought out and comprehensive facilities I have ever seen. It was pretty awesome. Now is the time to ask Jason why RNR cant have one of those... :). Our nightly presentation was done by SVSEF head coach, Rick Kapala and was on the topic of "learning to learn" he gave us some really great insights and a good base of literally how to go about the process of learning and achieving greatness. It was really cool.

Day 3 Wednesday, 8/3 Today we headed out even earlier to the SVSEF Training facility which was on a beautiful trail head to do the Harper's Hill Climb uphill TT. Went into this with lowered expectation after my strength test failure, but also looking to redeem myself and as Reed told me, all of Mid-a. No pressure though... Anyways, got a time of 15:21, not too bad, however I later found out I was beat by a few kids who I dominated at the Eastern REG back in June. Still wondering whats wrong with me. That afternoon we had another tough workout with a skate distance session that had 3 repeats of 15 minutes just skiing then 15 minutes in the agility course they had set up. The agility was a ton of fun, it started with a sprint then went into circles and slalom and some of road skiing (Swayze?). The skiing was still rough due to the altitude, however the agility was great fun! Tonight we had a presentation by Janice from NENSA on nutrition, she stresses the importance of whole foods in the diet and gave us a good overview of our nutritional needs as skiers.

.

Day 4 Thursday, 8/4 Today we started the morning off with a 2 hr classic session on "Something" Cloud. An empty housing development, except this one was on the side of a "small" mountain. We did lots of those chalk like run-bound on ski's drills, and had tons of coaches analyzing technique from the side of the road and also singling us out from the group to give us some individual work. I made huge improvements in my double pole today thanks mostly to one of the coaches, a Middlebury skier named Chase. This was a great workout and I was starting to feel a lot better and my heart rates were finally normalizing. That afternoon I made my first journey into Ketchum, the town in Sun Valley, what a cool place, I swear every block had at least one bike/ski/outdoor store. It was amazing, along with the all organic, crazy expensive Atkinson's Market!!! My new favorite grocery store. That night, we went to the Ketchum Community School, a pretty cool school as far as they go, and did some plyometric activities in their athletic fields. Arguably the hardest workout of the camp, we had some warm up activities for 15 min, then 15 minutes of absolutely grueling, leg busting plyo's that had us jumping and squating and bounding all over the place. Then we played flag tag and stretched out, which was loads of fun, for 30 minutes after. Words cannot describe the pain of those middle 15 minutes. Tonight Brian Fish did a presentation building off of REG that was kind of a closure to goal setting and the mental aspects of not only skiing, but life in general, just applied to skiing specifically. We also were graced by the presence of Chris Grover who talked after the presentation and also, anonymously watched our agility session yesterday, that was really awesome.

Day 5 Friday, 8/5 This morning we went to a smaller local ski area, Dollar Mountain (I don't think passes cost a dollar, it looked very nice) to do some moosehuffs bounding intervals. For those that dont know, moosehuffs are a Norwegian style interval in which the terrain dictates the interval, best done on a hilly rolling trail, you do the uphills in zone 3, and recover SLIGHTLY when the road turns down. The coaches had set us up a course zig-zagging the side of the hill with one long climb at the end before looping back around. I ended up feeling great and doing the max amount of time, 25 minutes of "on time" before finishing my workout. Brian Fish, the USST development coach really helped me with my bounding today. Really awesome intervals, Peter's favorites! Again I went into town to explore a little today, then headed off to the SVSEF "hut" for some yoga with the women of the camp, and me. The yoga was as always really great as I was starting to fatigue a bunch and that along with later events really gave me a second wind to finish the camp off strong. These later events were the hot springs. aka the grossest smelling, dirtiest water I've ever been in, but dear god was it hot. And just next to it was a river of freshly melted snow coming down the mountains, some of the clearest crispest, also coldest water Ive ever been in. A newly acquired friend that week Tyler, from SMS (check out his videos at http://www.revivedfilms.com/) and I decided to do some ice bathing. I must say my legs have never felt quite so refreshed after some time in both the hot and cold.

Day 6 Saturday, 8/6 We started the morning with a Skate session in the same "Something" Cloud development (White Cloud?) again, 2 hrs, and again, lots of technique work. Janice Sibilia, the head NENSA coordinator spent a ton of time working with my V1 technique, which little did I know was pretty horrible by their standards. Again it was a good ski and I was able to stay in zone 1 without much of an issue while keeping up with the fastest kids in the country. Later that day we did a 1:10 strength session, with 4x15 minute circuits up in that awesome training facility I was talking about earlier. Put out 309 watts on the erg! As a cyclist I always find interesting. On a humbling note, Simi Hamilton (USST b-team) has the record on that specific machine at 700 and something crazy that could probably power all of Ketchum... I was surprisingly un-sore after this workout and everyone else confirmed the same feelings although I know for sure we worked realllyy hard throughout the session. Tonight we had another presentation by Brian Fish of the USST about the development pipeline and kind of where our paths could lead us in this sport if that's what we choose to set our goals to.

Day 7 Sunday, 8/7 Last day of training, which was pretty sad. But also something to look forward to because it was EPIC. 3 hour, 11 mile, 3,500+ ft of vertical on the mountain trails through the area. We set a very easy pace and walked most of the uphill sections, then the last half hour or so some of the faster kids dropped the hammer which led to my demise. I was happy with that however as that was the longest run I'd ever done and it was down to about 10 kids ahead of me, many of which were top High School runners in their areas (the other 30 had shortened their journeys at various cutoff points throughout the course. No shame in that, this was TOUGH! We ice bathed again in the creek at the trail head (We finished at SVSEF, did i mention trails will take you EVERYWHERE in this place?) then we headed home for the day. A few kids headed to the skate park, on rollerskis. That was pretty spectacular, they got those things rolling around and up in the air like you wouldnt believe, I think Tyler has some videos of that up too. We finished the evening with one last presentation by Brian Fish and Rick Kapala, then got on to the moment I had been waiting for, the NCCSEF contest winners! I won a Bjorn Dahlie USST Jacket, which is admitedly a little big, however I discovered it fits perfect if i wear 2-3 jackets under it. Along with a nice box of Toko waxes. That was pretty awesome! Thanks again to everyone who voted I really appreciate the help. Reed Deserves an especially big shout out for all his help, he had people legitimately angry for his persistant bothering about the voting (No Marty, an intervention was not necessary), also Jason did a ton of spamming and emailing around to help get the word out, along with lots of others, the list would be too long, but thanks to everyone!

Day 8 We woke up really early, spent a few hours in the Boise airport, flights got delayed in Chicago, arrived home at 1:30 am. 5 hours of sleep later, 3 hour ski. Life is great.

Two things I think deserve mentioning- Altitude, Hopefully everyone in this program will be racing at altitude in 2012, JN's will be held at Soldier Hollow which is about 5,000 ft. Sun Valley I was living at about 6,000 ft. So the altitude is definitely going to play a huge role in your success at JN's this year. A few hot points, first, drink tons, I was on the bottle of water an hour plan the first 4 days and even after that still drank a lot more than usual. Second, recover right and come into it well rested, the first few days are hell. Another thing that was somewhat subtle due to the buffet like nature of the week was that the body is burning a ton more that usual just laying around, so eating more food can be super beneficial. It was good to get some experience and I kept a detailed account of how i felt so I can formulate a plan for Soldier Hollow (ill be there a ton in the next few years; JN's 2012 then Nationals 2013 and 2014). It takes experience and that's one reason the camp was held at altitude this year was to help gain that experience. Also I feel like superman now that I'm home! Coaching, Can you imagine having 20-30 coaches like Jason watching your every move during every workout you did for a week? That is a good comparison to what this camp was like, the coaches were just assigned a point in the loop we were training on and would constantly be watching, taking notes, and stopping people to have them work at their technique. I made the biggest technique gains I have made since last October when Reed and Dylan first took me out rollerskiing. It was amazing the attention to detail and how much care every one of these coaches put into their work. Remember though, we have that two days a week here, Jason and Roger are on the same level as many of these coaches and everything they have told me is consistent with what I heard at camp so just remember to continue to use that resource to your advantage as much as possible because its a privilege not many clubs have. -Gavin

Motivation !

Just encase you have been lacking in motivation here is a video from this winter Junior Nationals.

Skiers are not made in October or November or even December they are made in June, July and August and guess what June is long gone so if you have not been training guess what!?!?!

Yea you got it your chances of accomplishing your goals are quickly fading away with the summer sun, oh you don't have any goals?? You are in rough shape ! ! ! !

But don't worry you still have some time to kick it in to high gear but not much, so get out the door and get training ! Run, Bike, Swim, Ride, Row, anything you want just get off Facebook and your butt and get going.

Because guess what!?!?! WE ARE ! ! Game On !

Full Speed Ahead

School is out for Summer ! Now that everyone is officially done with school we have been focusing on getting some quality work done. The first couple of weeks we spent a lot of time getting use to being back on roller skis and doing a lot of ski specific strength to enable us to do some actual workouts.

( Agility, Balance, Confidence, FUN )

The problem with skiing is that it is such a difficult sport that you need to be pretty fit before you can even start to think about training. As with everything we are working on it is an on going process with each and every athlete.

(The Man, The Mith, The Legend Getting Tough! )

I still can't get over how awesome the group is this summer, no matter what I have thrown at them they have been able to tackle, we will see if that's still true when we really get in to it, but so far so good.

(Functional Strength, Make It Happen)

Back to Work !

June 1st was the official start date for the summer program. With each new "season" athletes, coaches, friends, and family have expectations, goals, dreams, and among a long list of other things a lot of work to get done before the snow is on the ground. To get everyone in the correct frame of mind and to remind them of just how it feels to hurt we don't waste any time.

For the past three years we have been using the first week of practice to complete our baseline fitness test. It is a modification of the Canadian Baseline Test Model with a couple of variations to better suite and accommodate our athletes. For many it was the first time completing the test so it truly was being used as a "Baseline" a starting point for their own development. For others that have completed the test it is used as a "Benchmark" to see how they compared to previous years. It does not matter how many times you have completed the test it is still super hard and never gets any easier.

Here are a few pictures from the test. As you can see a lot of the athletes are venturing in to that special place that we like to refer to as the "Pain Cave". Here is to a great summer and a many more visits in to the "Cave"

(Some of the guys getting to work)

(Mr.Synergy working on the future but

has been building the foundation since R.N.R was formed)

( Safe to say these two know they way)

(Coordination? Yea you need that ! Strength, determination yea you need that and a whole lot more to accomplish your goals)

( The best way to learn is to follow, and do your best to learn from the best, there will be a lot of following the middle man around this summer)

( Strait up strength ! You need a lot of that! )

( You have to have a passion and there is no lack of it within Coach Weston)

Gavin ends the season ranked # 15 J2 in the Country !

USSA has been doing a great job increasing the development pipeline within in the country. One of the major focuses has been identifying and supporting skiers at a younger age. Last year they started a National J2 Camp. Skiers qualify for the camp based on results at Junior Nationals. The top 20 boys and girls are invited to the camp.

(Link to the press release)

http://www.nensa.net/docs/2010/Nat%20J2Camp%20Press%20release.pdf

The purpose of the camp is not only to identify talent but also the get that talent together to push each other to become better, become smarter, and also to have fun.

I have been preaching that skiers from the Mid Atlantic division must attend JO's at an early age. So may athletes wait until their senior year to make the trip. For some it may be the only time they meet the qualifying standards for others its the only time they decide to go. Like any major event it's an eye opening experience. It's also an important step in an athletes development. For athletes like Gavin he is being "identified" as a skier and will be on the "radar" for future camps and opportunities. It is an honor for no only himself to be nominated but to all of Mid-A.

Mid-A has long and deep tradition of producing world class athletes and I believe that we can produce more !!!

Get out the door and Train, Train, Train and Train some more because once the Train pulls out of the station it's not stopping again !! Get on Board !

All American x 2

This season has been a season of first. Alyssa started it off by being the 1st member of R.N.R to win a state championship. Now we have our first ALL AMERICAN !

Congratulations to Gavin Hess as he became a TWO TIME ALL AMERICAN this past week at Junior Nationals finishing in 10th place in the Freestyle Sprint as well as the Classic Mass Start. More updates from Junior Nationals to come !

Yea Buddy !

State Champion !

Yahtzee !

Congratulations to Aylssa the NY state champ! Alyssa left no doubt to who the best female skier was this weekend. She won the classic distance race by 19 seconds and followed that up by having the fastest relay split and anchoring the section five team including Margot to the relay state championship!

All in all it was a great weekend for all of the R.N.R athletes they not only represented their high school teams but section 5 in astonishing fashion.

On Tuesday the highlight of the day was Alyssa win! Hanna also had a great race finishing 4th ! Margot backed up her outstanding effort at sectionals to finish 12th ! Emmy also had a good race finishing 20th and rounding out the girls performances. For the boys Reed led the way finishing 4th with Eric continuing his excellent season finishing 5th. Adam just missed the top ten and finished 11th. Langton also had a great race finishing 19th. Gavin was on a way to a great race but was DQ'ed.

This is Gavin's first year ski racing so many athletes would be happy just making it to states, but not Gavin. He is continually pushing his limits and I would of loved to see where he would of finished if he had not been DQ'ed but as we all know their is a learning curve when it comes to Nordic. The most impressive thing about the entire situation is that he did not get down on himself about the situation but only used it as motivation and layed the smack down on Wednesday posting the 2nd fastest relay split !

BOOOOOYAAAAA!

Gavin was not the only one doing work in the relay. Alyssa again posted the fastest time of the day on her section 5 team and led them to victory. Margot was also on the section 5 relay team and skied a great leg to help Alyssa grab the victory for the section 5 team. Hanna and Emmy raced on the HF-L relay team and had great races with Hanna posting the 9th fastest relay split and helping the HF-L team earn a third place finish in the Relay and securing the team state championship. Congratulations the the HF-L girls team on winning the state title!

The Boys were all on the same relay team with the exception of Langton who raced on the HF-L relay. I knew the boys had a chance to win the whole darn shooting match and when Gavin came in with a lead and tagged of to Eric things were looking good. Eric backed up his 5th place from the distance race with the 4th fastest relay split. Eric tagged off to Adam who hung on for as long as he could but tagged off to Reed in second place. Reed was unable to take over the lead and brought the R.N.R relay team home in 2nd. It was pretty cool to have all the boys race on the same relay team as they have put in a lot of hard work together over the summer and fall.

All in all it was a great state meet and congratulations to everyone who worked hard this winter!!!

Next stop Minneapolis for JO's !!!!

Sectionals 2011

(Congratulations to 2011 Sectional Champion Alyssa !)

February is the start of the Championship push here in NY. It started last weekend with Sectionals. For those of you unaware with the term ‘Sectionals” it is the title given to the championship used to name the best team within a predetermined area of the state. The race is also used to qualify individual athletes to the state championship with a finish in the top 12 in the distance race getting you a seat on the bus. The state is divided in to 11 different sections with our section being numbered number 5. Section 5 has a deep tradition in Nordic skiing and also has a great depth of talent, so making the state team is no small feat.

We were blessed to have great conditions for the race and the Rochester Nordic Racing summer athletes showed up in a big way. At this point in the season it has been pretty evident that those athletes who were working hard this summer have been reaping the benefits. Saturday was no different. Leading the way and winner her first Sectional Championship was Alyssa ! She skied a great race and came away with a 42 second victory over Hanna who skied a great race to finish second! The biggest story of the day might have been Margot who finished 3^rd only 22 seconds behind Hanna, coming in 4^th was Emmy to give R.N.R summer athletes places 1-4 ! Kate had a great race as well but was the last one out and finished 13^th missing qualifying for states. She worked hard all summer and my heart goes out to her as I know she was aiming to qualify, I’m sure that she will not forget the result though and will be back at it this coming summer. All in all it was a great day for the girls, going 1-4 at sectional is a pretty impressive result.

(Congratulations to 2011 Sectional Runner-Up Hanna)

On the boys side the summer athletes also had a great day. Leading the way was Reed, finishing behind the strong duo of Kevin and Brad and finishing on the podium in 3^rd. Reed was only 5 seconds out of 2^nd place and 23 seconds out of the win so he had a good race, hot on his heals and challenging Margot for the most impressive race of the day was Gavin. In only his first year of skiing he finished an amazing 4^th place and had many asking who is “Gavin” and where did he come from, right behind Gavin in 5^th place was Langton. Langton is skiing better and better as the season progresses and could really surprise some people at states. Next was Eric in 7^th place and Adam in 8^th giving R.N.R athletes 5 of the top 8 places. As in the girls race we also had another 13^th place finish in Dylan who just missed out on qualifying for states by a mere 4 seconds! As with Kate I know he had worked hard this summer and season and I feel for him as he missed out on qualifying for states. Marco also had a great race finishing in 21^st, right behind him was Emmet in 22^nd, Mike finished 27^th, and Ben was 39^th.

(Eric Shredding the dreaded Little Whiteface)

All in all it was a great day for the summer athletes and most of them will continue racing in two weeks at States. Those who did not qualify for states will continue training for JO’s, Eastern High School Championships and the J2 festival.

As with anything it is not a one way street when it comes to an athletes development, and I want to congratulate and thank their respective high school coaches first for letting their athletes work with me over the summer, and secondly for all of the hard work they have put in throughout the winter. Coaching at the high school level is a very difficult task and especially in the public high school system as athletes abilities range from learning to ski to trying to win a state championship. It is not easy and I commend them all at the job they have done this winter with all of their athletes! I can’t wait to see what happens at states and good luck to all of the athletes representing section 5 !!

(Congratulations to Reed on his 3rd place at Sectionals)

Lake Placid Loppet and JOQ

(Start of the 50k Free at the Lake Placid Loppet)

It was a epic weekend for all of the members of R.N.R. The senior team made the trip north to Lake Placid to take part in the Lake Placid Loppet. The junior team headed east to take part in the final Junior Olympic qualifier in Old Forge. After breaking out the new suits at the Super Tour two weeks ago the rest of the state is fully aware of who is hunting them down !

For the senior team Lake Placid has become a second home this winter as we have been in Lake Placid three out of the last four weekends, and are starting to contemplating buying a house to set up winter residency, well maybe not a house but at least a snow fort! Until that happens we have found a home away from home at the High Peaks Guide House ! Brian Delaney the owner of High Peaks is a vital part of the Nordic community not only in Lake Placid but across the state as he has dedicated his shop to being one of the best in the country offering a world class selection of equipment, stone grinds, and information. He also goes out of his way to sponsor all events in the area and now offers lodging at the guide house. Click here to see some pictures and details on the property. http://highpeakscyclery.com/articles/high-peaks-vacation-house-pg101.htm

Having a home away from home helped the senior team gather some impressive results at the Loppet. I was lucky enough to get off to a good start and led the race through about the first 5k I knew that the jacked up old man was behind me as well as last years winner Jake Hollenbach so after getting out to a good position slowed a little to try to get them to take a little pull, as anyone who knows Duncan well knows he is at home out on Porter Mnt and letting him get to the front was probably not the best idea as he took off as if he was shot out of a cannon, I was able to hang on to him and Jake for a little while but they ended up skiing away leaving myself and fellow New Yorker Mike Wynn skiing together for the next 20k, it was nice to have someone to ski with as we had a gap over the rest of the field after the first lap I was able to ski away from Mike and hold on to 3rd place. Chad and Marty were in the chase pack for the entire race with a bunch of other guys and both had strong races. Marty was able to rally over the last 5k to move up a few spots. Chad and Marty went 1,2 in the 25-29 age group and finished 12th, and 13th overall. Derrick decided to skip the 50k and race the 25k race. He was able to hang on to 4th place in his 18-24 year age group which was won by Olympian Wynn Roberts. Congratulations to everyone who raced the 25k and 50k races this weekend. The Lake Placid Loppet course is no joke and anyone who competes is pretty freaking tough! In saying that the toughest man out their had to be 81 year young Lenord Robinson who did the 50k classic, he competed in the 1st loppet 29 years ago and gid willing will compete in the 30th anniversary race next year!

(Jason Getting a feed)

(Chad and Libby with a clean hand-off)

(Marty not looking like he wants a drink this time around)

While the Loppet was taking place the junior team headed to Old Forge to race in the last JOQ of the year. Coratulations to Reed for winning the J1 boys race and having the fastest time of the day! The rest of the crew also had great results with Alyssa and Margot taking 3rd and 4th in the J1 girls race ! Katie and Keena also had good races competing in the J2 race and taking 5th and 8th ! Dylan, Mike and Eric also where in the J1 race and skied to 5th, 12th, and 14th respectively. Dylan had a great race finishing 4th and securing a spot on this years Junior Olympic team. Gavin and Marco were in the J2 race and skied to 4th and 7th place. Gavin and Eric are in a tight fight for most improved skiers this year. Eric has established himself as one of the top skiers in the state while Gavin has come strait of the Alpine hill to be a force not only in the J2 ranks but across all age groups ! It's pretty impressive to have someone skiing so well his first year competing in nordic and with some hard work could become a real forge within the next two years!

(Alyssa striding out of the start)

(Marco getting after it)

(Eric)

(Mike getting ready to unleash some power on those poles)

Not to be forgotten Steve decided to head south to the Art Roscoe Loppet and try to get the elusive victory that has escaped him the last two years. He was closer this year than ever but fell victim to the finishing sprint and finished in 3rd. It's always a hard game to play in a mass start of when to make your move but I think he has learned to drop the hammer a little earlier and lay it on the line instead of leaving it up for a spring. I'm already looking forward to seeing what happens next year as I know he is going to be looking for the win again!

Next up for the juniors is the Section Five race this weekend ! I wish them all the best of luck and can't wait to see what happens!

!

(Some of the Junior Team all smiles after the race!)

Super Tour Weekend Recap

Thanks to the efforts of NYSEF and ORDA New York ski racers were offered the opportunity to race the nations best skiers in a very familiar setting. To say that NY'ers had an unfair advantage may be true but with the level of talent in Lake Placid any advantage was welcome.

(Reed getting after it!)

Their were 4 athletes racing this weekend that will be representing the U.S.A at the World Championships. The opportunity for our juniors to see these athletes up close and personal is priceless.

(Waxing up our boards for the classic race! Toko Green Binder with some White over it worked all day for most of us some liked a little Mint mixed in)

All of the our athletes experienced the high's and low's of racing this weekend. There was not time to waste though as all of the juniors had a high school race back in Rochester Monday morning! The results this winter have proved one thing that many already know. If you want to become a better skier you better be doing something over the summer!

(Happy to be racing)

In the high school race on Monday the boys took 6 of the top 10 spots! The girls were not to be outdone and took 5 of the top 7 sports including going 1st-4th !! Congratulations to all of the R.N.R Juniors this weekend ! One thing about NY is that it is dominated by high school skiing, without the cooperation of the local high school coached the junior program would not exist! To become a better ski nation we need cooperation and I'm glad to know that the Rochester area can see past the lines that divide most and move forward in developing the best student athletes possible

(The old man of the group)

The senior team stuck around Saturday and went out Sunday morning to preview to Loppet course. The skiing was great and we were all sad to leave. I don't think you can beat the Porter Mnt Loop to East Mnt and High Notch anywhere in the country, lots of climbing and absolutely beautiful scenery.

(at the top of high notch)

We revealed our new suits this weekend, so the secret is out now who is racing for R.N.R ! After a great weekend of racing we are happy to welcome our newest member! We are not in to signing out of area skiers in hopes to win point races, as we are more interested in winning THE RACE! But we decided to make an exception for the G.O.A.T !!

(The G.O.A.T)

Great racing by everyone this weekend a big shout out to all of the skiers and clubs from NY who took advantage of the SUPER TOUR on our home turf! As I have always believed if you want to be the best you need to race the best because you will have a choice to make when you are done.

Are you in or are you out ?