There was lot of racing excitement in Northwest Vermont this past weekend as the running dynasty, Bolduc family, took to the podium five times. The B.F.A. Alumni/Citizens Race went off in true form as big egos clashed from start to finish. The snow was deep, the wind was blowing and the temperature was a comfortable 25 degrees. As expected Tyler Magnan of St. Lawrence University finished first, but not with the commanding lead as in the past couple of years. Scott Magnan and Damian Bolduc were in a heated battle for the entire race, pushing themselves to the limits physically and mentally. Both were red lining, and had the same strategy of waiting until the other showed a sign of weakness before making a move. Unfortunately they were so evenly matched that one could not capitalize on the others fatigue and Scott finished, as he was the whole 6km, just in front of Damian. Coming in 4th was Andre Bolduc who kept pace with the leaders for the first lap, but began to fade going into the hills for the second time. The NWVT women also turned out for the home race. Taking the overall win in the women's 6km Jessica Bolduc skied as though she had been racing all season. Her top ten finish was especially impressive considering it was her first time on skis since last season. Cipperly Good was not far behind taking second for the women, meanwhile club members Angela Magnan and Jen Norton took care of business in the 3km race. In the men's 3km race John Bolduc took the big win in his first ever nordic skiing race. Having a good base of training built at the Dickinson Farm, Hazen's Notch and other areas; and inspiration from watching and supporting Andre's stellar season, John took to competing for the first time in at least 15 years. Clearly happy with his win, he declared himself the Classic Technique Champion of the day.

Day two of the racing brought the competitors to Hard'ack under sunny skies and temperatures in the thirties. The race was a 3 x 1.5km relay that brought skiers through meadows, and up into the woods before spitting them out into a gauntlet of contentious sledders just prior to the exchange zone. The Alumni race set the stage for a battle between the Magnan's and Bolduc's. However, it was team of Perry Bland, Cipperly Good and Rachel Shepardson-Rudden that lead the first two laps. Perry passed Scott Magnan for the lead in the woods shortly before the exchange zone. The rest of the field lead by Jessica Bolduc came through minutes later. Perry tagged off to Cipperly who was able to open a lead over Angela Magnan, and hold off a charging Andre' Bolduc who made up a lot of ground after the mismatched first leg. As Cipperly tagged off to Rachel, Andre' came out of the woods full steam and made the tag with Damian. Damian knew he had to give it his all to hold off Tyler Magnan. He quickly caught and passed Rachel overtaking first place and did everything he could to hang on. Tyler was in hot pursuit, but the lead provided by Jessica and Andre' was too much to overcome and Damian was able to get the win with Tyler closing in fast. Rachel was able to hang onto third as she maneuvered through a trip line set by the sledders and out sprinted a sledder ambushed B.F.A. team to the finish. Hopefully if this race is held again the skiers and sledders will be able to make peace and find a suitable compromise to share the trail with each other.