It is time to start the 2007-2008 ski season. NWVT is once again gearing up for an exciting season. We have kept in touch more than ever over the summer. Skiers look like they have kept things together, and are ready to take off this season. Hopefully Mother
Nature will cooperate, the last two weeks seem promising. As usual we have come up with a list of goals for the season, and a formula for achieving them.
We got off to a slow start last year, but everything came together and it turned out to be a great season extending into April. Our club helped host the High School State meet, and participated in many of the nordic events around the region. The race team had a stellar year. Each racers efforts paid off with NWVT being the top ranked club in VT, and 3rd in New England. Many of our members were named to elite and development teams, and were crowned Zak Cup Champions in there respective race classes. We recruited some strong skiers which brought new energy to the club.
As we look ahead some of our new goals are a continuation of our previous achievements and success:
1. Continue to grow as a club, as we have in the past, by getting friends together for a ski and a good time.
2. Continue the focus on developing a women’s racing group.
3. Pursue CSU in the New England Club Rankings. AKA Let’s bring the crown back to Vermont and natural snow!
4. Have better communication about club events such as group skis, clinics, regular interval workouts… as well as interesting recreational events like the Burnt Mountain Climb or full moon ski tours at Hazen’s Notch.
5. Provide more incentives to club members. We would like to acknowledge your efforts and are looking into more ways to do so.
6. We will continue our quest for a Racemobile. We have a few ideas going from sharing a unit with a local business, to purchasing one from a former motocross team.
We have already taken steps towards meeting our goals. NWVT has a new website at www.nwvtnordic.com that we hope will inform club members of what is going on, and draw more people into what we are up to. It is still a little rough, but it is coming along nicely. If you have comments, or suggestions pass them along.
NENSA has reformulated the Club series schedule to be more citizen friendly. We can really take advantage of this if we keep our race attendance high, and encourage club members who do not do a lot of racing to participate. A couple of the events have been designed to strictly acknowledge participation. NENSA has realized that it has become intimidating to the citizen racer and wants more people to know what we have realized for years, that just getting out there is half the battle. Whether you are pursuing citizen’s points, the Zak Cup, Club points, or just want to try a new thing NENSA has tied it all into the ten event Citizens Series. Our clubs foundation was built on bringing people together to enjoy skiing at an individual level as well was with a group of enthusiasts.
To get the season started we have some requests and/or suggestions
1. We strongly urge you to join NENSA early and make sure you sign up as a NWVT Nordic Ski Club Member. NENSA is involved in many nordic skiing activities and really work hard to put on great events that everyone can enjoy. The benefits are worth the small fee, and supporting this organization will keep our sport healthy in the future. Our Club is listed as NWVT to simplify signing up for NENSA and registering for races. This is very important if you are not listed a club member you will not score points for the team. Just print and fill out the form at the following link: www.nensa.net/reg/
2. Encourage your friends to join the club, and to participate even if it is as a volunteer, touring skier or beginning racer. Remind them it is a fun club and members are always helpful and encouraging.
3. Train
The following is the NENSA Citizens, Zak, Club Series race schedule:
12/9/07 Craftsbury Opener 10k Freestyle
12/22/07 Notchview Berkshire Trails Classic Crit.
12/30/07 Mt Hor Hop 10k Freestyle
1/6/08 Bogburn 12k Classic
1/20/08 John Sackett Memorial 10K Classic
1/26/08 White Mountain Classic 30K
2/2/08 Craftsbury Marathon 50K Classic
2/10/08 Great Glen 300 5hr 2 person relay, one pair of skis
2/17/08 Flying Moose Classic Bethel ME, 10-20K Classic (Post Race Team Dinner at the Sunday River Pub and brewery)
3/9/08 Mt Washington Cup 15k Freestyle
For more information on each race see the NENSA race calendar.
https://www.nensa.net/sched&result/racing_index.php We will also be sending out reminders for these and other events throughout the season.
That is all for now. I hope that everyone is motivated to get things going, the recent weather has been promising for a timely start to the season. See you on the snow, or at the Westford Turkey Trot next Saturday.
Click
spread sheet to see our points total for the season.
The 2006-2007 ski season was a blast. We managed to have a
great year despite a snow drought until mid January. That was long forgotten in April when two Nor’easters dumped snow measurable in feet on us extending excellent snow conditions to the end of the season. This was a break through year for NWVT. We exceeded many of our goals, and recruited very talented skiers to join or club.
Taking 5th in the NENSA Club Standings was one of our primary goals for this season. We planned to do it by paying close attention to race selection. We took third in New England ! Only CSU and the Dartmouth Outing Club finished ahead of us. This is not bad considering the size of CSU, and the fact that DOC is the feeder program to this years NCAA champions. We are in competition with some very good company. We were also the top club in Vermont . Everyone’s efforts contributed to this success, as the clubs support runs much deeper than just those who race. Be it a cheer on the course, kind words, seeing a familiar face volunteering at a race, babysitting, or just trying something new for the club, it all mattered. We took third by three points; anything could have contributed to inspiring the motivation it took to get the margin that put NWVT in the top three.
NWVT had some very good individual results as well. It seems it was a year of 3’s. We took 3rd by 3 points; we had 3 Zak Cup champions, and 3 athletes named to the senior development team.
NWVT was instrumental in helping BFA host the Cross Country Skiing State meet at Bolton this year. We dug deep into our ranks and filled many of the volunteer positions, be it Chief Timer, or a bib collector, jobs were filled with experienced competent help.
Some of our goals were not achieved. NWVT wanted to promote and help with the Ted Means Memorial Citizens Race this year. Though an effort was made to increase registrants, it was ineffective and the race had low turn out. It was still a very important race and a success for those who competed, however it was not much of a success for the great folks at Hazen’s Notch.
We did not come up with a Race Mobile this season, let alone a B@D @$$ Race Mobile. This will continue to be a work in progress. We do commute effectively. This is more important than one might think as the time spent together really cultivates relationships between club members. We can really identify the strengths each member contributes. It also gives us opportunity to discuss race and seasonal goals and strategies.
All and all we had a great season. We improved beyond our expectations. We still have things to work on, but our platform is strong. We need to continue to build; and fine tune some things, but NWVT and its contributions to nordic skiing are getting noticed and have earned respect. Let’s keep up the good work and continue to be a model of something people want to be a part of.