Burlington Marathon Skier Sightings!

It was a busy holiday weekend in Burlington! The Vermont City Marathon & relay took place on Sunday, so there were lots of festivities surrounding that event. The total participation amounts to something like 8000-9000 folks. I was lucky to take part in a 5-person relay along as the NENSA team along with Abby Weissman (NENSA), Matt Trueheart (Middlebury High School coach), Sarah Dominick (MWSC athlete/coach), and Jake Whitcomb (former Middlebury College skier). Even with a 10-15 minute snafu, we still managed 9th in our division (out of 493) with a 3:13 time!

On Monday morning we got a group of Mansfield Nordic Club athletes together for holiday training in Jericho. After some juggling and warmup, we went through our 8x 30" legspeeds on the track. We even put a few hurdles on the track and Emma Hamilton and Anna Franceshetti showed us just how smooth it is possible to get over 'em. The boys and I were probably jumping 10" above the hurdle, and our lack of flexibility made it look more like a bucking bronco than anything.

Henry, Ethan, Amy, Tatum, and Emma kickin' it

We then did an intro to spenst (I'm sore) and finished with our first few minutes of rollerskiing this season. I'm keeping the focus on fun and skills, so all we did was play some games, figure-8's, and long-glide/slalom type drills.

"Kill the Carrier". Just kidding - "keep away"

The full list of skiers that I saw at the marathon:

1. Callie Braun - CVU / MNC
2. Sam Longenbach - CVU /MNC
3. Emmett Peterson - CVU / MNC
4. Sienna Searles - CVU / MNC / St Lawrence
5. Anna Franceshetti CVU / MNC
6. Sean Delaney - CVU / MNC
7. Eli Enman - Sleepy Hollow / VTXC / MNC / CVU
8. Sheldon Miller Craftsbury
9. Erica Lustgarten - mother of Midd / St Lawrence
10. Kort Longenbach - father of CVU / MNC
11. Jared Supple - Colby
12. Liz Hollenbach - NWVT
13. Eric Barker - Coach @ MMUHS
14. Will Sweetser - MaineWSC
15. Sarah Waterman - Coach @ MMUHS
16. Paul Allison - MNC Coach (2:36!!!)

...I'm sure there were lots more!