Eastern Cup Finale

The Eastern Cup Series concluded over the weekend in New Hampshire with two races, the Silver Fox Trot freestyle, and the Cheri Walsh Memorial Classic. Both races were run in excellent conditions thanks to last weeks +20 inches of new snow. NWVT had good representation at both races and skiers had very strong races. Having raced so much in less than perfect conditions, all skiers were excited to take advantage of the DREAM conditions presented at these races.

Saturday’s Silver Fox Trot welcomed 200 Skiers to the challenging Oak Hill course. Conditions were perfect as promised. The course was a 5k loop skied once by women and twice by men. The race starts out of the stadium, into the woods and down a little hill into a brief flat section and then begins a long graduated climb out of the wood into some field before descending back into the woods and rolling back towards the stadium. This final approach to the stadium is really a make or break point for skiers as the come around a sharp turn at speed, cross a narrow dam, then a short very steep climb taxes them before a short flat followed by a very technical downhill that sends them into the stadium for the finish, or a second loop. Temps were in the upper teens.

NWVT had 4 skiers compete in the Silver Fox Trot. Representing the women with an outstanding finish in 34th over all and 4th in her category was Ilke Van Genechten. Ilke has made marked improvement with each race, and is looking forward to some of the longer races coming up as the season closes out. NWVT had Tyler Magnan, Dhyan Nirmegh, and Perry Bland competing in the men’s race. Tyler took top placement for the club in the large field in 38th place. Tyler was happy with his place, and skied well technically, but stated his tactics could have been better. Non-the-less evened the score with a SNOC skier he has been battling all season by embarrassing him by over a minute (1:01). Nirmegh was the next NWVT finisher. He took second only 10 seconds out of first in his division in a tight M5 battle. He was very happy with his performance and figured that if he had just been able to skate a little during the week it would have made the difference. Perry was close behind winning his division by 2 mins. His strategy was to latch on to a stronger skater who started one position back and stay with him for as long as he could. Fortunately, that was not necessary as the guy never caught him, and Perry left him in his dust.

Sunday was the Cheri Walsh Memorial Classic at Holderness. NWVT’s success carried over with many of the same faces from the previous day with the addition of several new ones. Seven athletes competed and put up a very strong showing for the Club Race.

The conditions were once again outstanding, by nature, being a classic race had added challenges. NWVT had to determine how to get kick. Things were looking very complicated as the sun bared down on some sections of the course, but not on others. In the hour leading up to the race we scrambled to test as many waxes as possible. Things settled as a light flurry fell just as the race started. Everybody had something a little different on, but it all worked great. Temps were in the low 20s. The course was a nice rolling and winding 5.3k loop through the woods at Holderness skied twice.
NWVT fielded only one woman again on Sunday, this time it was Jessica Bolduc representing. Jessica finished mid field, and felt good about her race. She was passed by a large group of strong collegiate skiers early in the race, but kept them in sight for a long time. She won her division and placed in the middle of the strong EC field.

Leading things out for the men once again was Tyler Magnan. He upped his place by 3 to 35th in a larger field. New club member Eric Tremble completed the 1-2 punch in the senior division just 5 places back finishing 40th. Next up was the elder Magnan. Scott was pleased to say he finished second in his division behind the overall winner Justin Freeman. This was where things really heated up in the field and for NWVT with next 3 NWVT finishers all with in a minute. It was Perry time. Damian Bolduc and Nirmegh both had him on their minds as they raced. Nirmegh knew that Perry had it out for him after the Fox Trot the day before, and Damian was having a very good race on his own and was thinking that this might be the day he would get him. He thought to himself I bet Perry did not ski that section as hard as I just did. But Perry is tough as he proves every season. Perry got Nirmegh by 3 seconds, and Damian by 35 and 2 and 12 places respectively. Perry was in a battle with CSU for most of the race which kept him motivated and very strong. Nirmegh having registered day of race was back in no-mans-land after Eric Tremble went by him at the start of the race. Damian was in a very heated battle with two CSU skiers and a Colby skier the whole race, which lead to his strongest EC performance ever adding a 4th place punch to the SR division. NWVT took 57 club points in this race, setting an NWVT club record in an Eastern Cup race!

Great job to all who competed this weekend. It should give us a very positive boost for the rest of the season. I hope everybody got a chance to get out and enjoy the snow. We have patiently waited a long time for these conditions.