August 7, 2009
Meet Our Clubs: Coastal Nordic Ski Club
Summary: The second interview in NENSA's Meet Our Clubs series.
Club Name: Coastal Nordic Ski Club
How many years has your club been in existence? 13 years
How many members do you have? How many are kids? Masters?
Over 60 member families representing approximately 200 people. Of those, over 100 are kids and there are probably 20 to 30 masters skiers. There are a number of adult members who joined to support their kids and are recreational skiers.
Where does your club normally ski? What is the terrain like there?
Our "home area" is Twin Brook Recreation Area in Cumberland, Maine. The club has a unique and very successful public/private partnership with the Town of Cumberland. The town provides a wonderful venue with a 10K trail system that includes woods and fields. The club owns an Areco snow gun, a large generator, and a rather old Pisten Bully groomer which are stored on-site at Twin Brook. The club and town co-own a Skidoo Skandic snow machine and a Tidd-Tech groomer. The club subsidizes the grooming and makes snow when needed. Over 200 middle and high school skiers from half a dozen schools train at Twin Brook on most afternoons during the season. The terrain is gently rolling with lots of twists and turns (the first John Morton designed trail system in Maine).
Club members also frequently ski on the 20K of trails at Pineland in New Gloucester, Maine. The terrain there is challenging with relatively few flat areas (also designed by John Morton).
What is your club’s mission?
Coastal Nordic Ski Club was founded in 1997 with the goal of developing, supporting and promoting cross-country skiing and related activities in the greater Portland, Maine area. Coastal Nordic is a community-based Nordic ski club committed to meeting the needs of a wide range of skiers - including youths, juniors, seniors and masters.
What does a typical winter schedule look like for your club? What programs do you offer? How many participants do they have?
The club provides grooming and snowmaking (when necessary) at Twin Brook on a regular basis to support school skiing programs on weekdays and local recreational skiing on weekends. The club also sponsors--along with local town rec departments--a BKYSL program that meets at Twin Brook twice a week during January and February. This past winter (2008/09), there were 90 participants.
Coastal Nordic also sponsors Maine Coast Nordic, a competition-oriented youth program for middle school and high school skiers aspiring to compete in races beyond the school calendar, including NENSA Eastern Cup races and the JOs. Maine Coast Nordic athletes train together during the summer, late fall (after high school sports season is complete) and winter when not training with their school programs. There are over 20 athletes in the program and the current Maine Coast Nordic Coach is Jordi St. John. Past coaches of the program have included Kat Bennett, Paul Stone (current head coach at UVM) and Morgan Laidlaw. CNSC/Maine Coast Nordic alumni include Meghan Burns (St. Lawrence, JOs, NCAA competitor), Ben True (Dartmouth, JOs, World Junior Championships, NCAA All American), Ben Knowles (St. Lawrence, JOs), Lucy Garrec (Colby, NCAA competitor, JOs), Holly Whitney (Williams, JOs), Sam Tarling (Dartmouth, JOs, Scandinavian Cup), Lucas Milliken (Bates, JOs), Adele Espy (Middlebury deferred, JOs, World Junior Championships), Ingrid Knowles (Bates), Rachel Hall (Stratton Mountain School, JOs), and Sam Humphries (JOs).
Does your club put on any events? What kind of events? Describe one that you feel especially proud of!
The club hosts a moonlight ski at Pineland each winter, including a big potluck dinner and skiing by (hopefully) moonlight. Additionally, the club hosts the Close to the Coast 10K ski races at Pineland and the New England Rollerskiing Championships in Cumberland.
Is your club active in the summer? What kind of activities do you do?
The only regular summer activity occurs within the Maine Coast Nordic program.
What are some of the ways that your club encourages new members & excitement for nordic skiing?
We offer some instructional clinics for masters through our Maine Coast Nordic coach. We also encourage carpools and group training for masters who occasionally race on the New England circuit.
What do you think works really well for you club that could be used as a model for other clubs?
I think the aforementioned public/private partnership with the Town of Cumberland is a great cooperative model for other clubs to consider.
Describe one of the favorite stories/highlights of the winter...
Several years ago, we made snow at Twin Brook when there was no natural snow to be found almost anywhere in New England. With help from Cumberland town employees, we were able to create a 1.5K ribbon of snow on an otherwise brown expanse of field that 200 middle school and high school skiers were able to race on. It was quite a sight!
