Four NWVT skiers traveled around the lake to participate in the 25th annual Lake Placid Loppet. This is a race full of history and tradition. It is held on the Olympic course at Mt. Van Hoevenberg and offers all that is expected of a world class event.

The conditions at the race were excellent. The temps were in the mid-teens with occasional sun giving way to light flurries and a light breeze. The course was soft with fresh coat of cold snow. The consensus was that the cold creaky snow felt slow. The race course was a 25k loop that had a 15k hilly section and a flat 10k section on the biathlon course. At the awards banquet I talked with one of the 1980 Olympic Course Marshal’s who described the design. She said that it is difficult in a very deceiving way. It is seemingly easy enough with wide lanes, and swooping turns, and a moderate elevation change from the lowest to highest point. But while you are turning and climbing and descending on the constantly changing course you actually ascend 1900 feet per lap. It is also designed so that the climbs are longer sustained efforts and then the descent is short and steep, leaving little time to recover. Transition, recovery, patience, and experience are key skills for effectively skiing the loop.

These factors played a role in NWVT’s performance at the race. The first NWVT starter was Lary Martell in the 25k classic race. Lary had a strong start and was one of the first skiers out of the stadium. He quickly found himself in second place holding off one other skier in a lonely race. When the course looped through the stadium the announcer had missed the first skier and announced Lary as being in first place. This was confusing to Lary as he knew there was one guy up on him but it helped him to commit to holding his position. He pressed on around the second portion of the loop keeping out of sight of the skier behind him. At the finish his correct placement was confirmed, but Lary was very happy to have put in a good effort for the whole race winning his division and second overall.

Damian started in the next wave to compete in the 50k skate race. He skied the first 15k in a small group of four skiers, but realized he was going to have a lot of trouble finishing if he kept going at that effort. He slowly backed off and took extra feeds in hopes of making the race as painless as possible. After dropping off the back of the small pack he skied alone the rest of the race getting passed by about five skiers. Around the 33k mark Damian began experiencing muscle spasms in his quads and changed his plan to just finishing. These were on and off for the most difficult 10k of the race, but as he turned back towards the stadium he got them under control and got a bit of a very short second wind. With 2k to go his cramps came back along with a strong groin cramp. He pushed through using a marathon skate technique pushing off with the unaffected side and actually picked up a place doing this. Finally the finish was in sight and Damian was happy the race was over. After the race he stated that 25k would have been sufficient.

The last two NWVT club members competed in the last event of the day and started in the 25k skate wave. Dhyan Nirmegh and Jake Hollenbach skied in the biggest field of the day. They kept each other in sight as they made their way around the course. They enjoyed skiing with good company they traded places with skiers over the challenging course. As things spread out towards the finish Nirmegh was tipped off that there was a white bib (25k skate racer) just up ahead. He put on a final surge for the finish, but was not able to catch Jake who finished 30 seconds ahead. Nirmegh won his division holding off a Lake Placid skier by a minute. Jake placed second in his division.

All the racers were pleased with their results and traded stories at the awards banquet. There was an endless supply of food to fuel the exhausted athletes. Although the medals were ample at the NWVT table; we did not have the luck of the draw, which became painfully apparent as we were sitting right in front of the announcer who kept a good sense of humor about it.

On Sunday NWVT fielded five skiers in the Annual Maple Onion 15k Freestyle at Morse Farm. Competition was friendly with about 30 registrants. The course took skiers around the perimeter of the main trail system on the lodge side of the road. The Morse Farm trails are fairly new, and fun to ski as they have not had all the bumps worked out of them yet. Conditions were temps in the high teens, a light breeze and sunny skies. The course was moderately technical double loop with climbs, and winding trails giving way to a flatter section with long straight-aways, before coming back through the start area to head out again. The skiing was sweet.

Leading things out for the club and doing the double this weekend was Jake Hollenbach. After skiing on yesterdays demanding course he took to the trails again and finished 4th over-all today. Next was Perry Bland. Perry was pleased with his race as he skied well keeping good form on a course where that is not always an easy thing to do. The raw trails of Morse Farm are more his style any way. Next up was Kevin Bessett racing for the second time this season. He is preparing for the Keskinada World Loppet which is this weekend. Hopefully skiing the narrow backwoods trails will sharpen his skills for the free-ways at Keski. (By the way a lot of the people at Lake Placid said that Keskinada would be a cinch after doing Saturday’s loppet.) Jessica Bolduc and Hannah Barden raced to 2nd and 4th respectively in the women’s field. They enjoyed the small field and casual environment at this event.

If you are looking for a change of pace, and someplace a little different to ski, try Morse Farm. There trail network is great, and they have a lot of terrain, but you are never really far from the lodge. Plus when you are finished the ski treat yourself to one of the best Maple Cremee’s around. Or have one first, and I bet you cannot leave with out another.