Link to VTCM page for seed lists, start lists, detailed schedules and everything else you'll need to know about this weekend's TD Bank Eastern Cup.

For a lot of us February Break falls the week of 19-26 February. The last weekend of JNQ racing and New England points racing falls on the 18^th and 19^th so the break can be a time to rest up but if we’re not careful it can be a time when we lose focus and edge before the events we have been working for all season. To help get you to the starting line keyed up and ready, the Burke Nordic Team and its Norwegian guests are hosting a short tune up camp on the school campus in East Burke, Vermont.

Dates are 21 Feb through 23 Feb and we will focus on activities to help sharpen your performance at whatever season finales you have coming; starts, corners, finish straight aways and lunges. There will be ideas for the final days leading up to events, chances to work on any technique elements you want to go over, and a workout that will let you experience the whole of a sprint race; individual qualifier, and head to head quarters, semis, and finals.

Burke has established a relationship with the NTG and during the last weeks of February a coach and two J2 (age 15) athletes are visiting us here in New England. They will compete in the JNQ races on the 18^th and 19^th as guests. They return to Norway and their season’s major final races at the “Hovedlandsrennet”, so they are eager to keep up a good preparation schedule. Bjorn Ilsemann, the NTG Coach, and the BMA gang decided it would be a perfect opportunity to hold a focused camp and as BMA’s campus will be largely vacant we have the time, a great kitchen to make good meals, and a comfortable place to stay. People are welcome on a daily basis as well.

Coaches will include Bjorn Ilsemann from NTG, Pete Phillips from BMA, Paul Smith, a UVM grad and Burke Alum and others. Cost is $150, and the camp begins on 21, Feb at 10:00 AM and finishes on Thursday the 23^rd at 3:00 PM. Space is limited. Arrangements can be made to arrive on Monday the 20^th.

NOTE: So as not to run too close against the Vermont State Meet, but maybe to help kids tune up for it athletes are welcome to come on a daily basis. The full three day camp will still be available. Call or email for more information. two days in addition to the full show.

Contact: Pete Phillips, Head Nordic Coach

Burke Mountain Academy; 802-626-1516 ext 1010 office; 802-473-8100 cell, pphillips@burkemtnacademy.org gamlefisken@gmail.com

Our eleventh annual New England Women’s Ski Day returned to the Bethel Inn Resort and Nordic Ski Center and we were glad we did! It was the perfect place for those who wanted to overnight on Saturday after some great skiing, enjoy the social hour in their tavern, have dinner and a good rest before Sunday’s event. We held registration, buffet lunch, and our wrap-up fun events at the close-by Convention Center where there was more than enough comfortable room for us to spread out.

Ski industry reps from Swix, Toko, Fischer, Rossignol, and Salomon set up tents right out the door of the Ski Center, along with L.L.Bean, SKIDA, and event sponsors Mahoosuc Guide Service and True North Adventureware. Wax techs were there ready to wax our skis, equipment reps fitted us up with top of the line gear, there were terrific L.L.Bean vests and jackets to try on, SKIDA hats with fabulous prints to buy, warm outdoorwear from True North, and two wonderful guide dogs lying on their beds of straw on the snow wanting to be patted.

The heart of Women’s Ski Day is our clinic instruction time. Once again we had wonderful ski instructors, all women, some of them former Olympic cross-country skiers (one was a two-time Olympic biathlete), some of them are head coaches of college ski teams, some of them international-level athletes still, all donating the whole day to helping women learn the joy of cross-country skiing. Event organizer and head coach Trina Hosmer said of our participants, “This is a group who have never had anyone pay attention to their skiing... I had more women than ever come up to me after, glowing with praise for what a great day they had and how much they learned.”

Our participants come from all age groups, starting at age 13, and all ability levels. Every year we have a few who have never skied before and have always wanted to try but hit the barriers of no equipment or no opportunity for instruction; every year we see them finish the day with huge smiles on their faces. We have enough instructors to keep our clinic groups small and able to handle the variety of abilities, but as Trina said afterwards, some of the magic of this event is in the camaraderie of different age groups coming together:  “I ended up in the afternoon uphill/downhill clinic with some high school skiers and grandmothers in the same group, and I thought this was going to be challenging but in the end everyone loved it. The h.s. skiers put some life in the legs of the older skiers and the older skiers impressed the h.s. skiers with how hard they were trying to learn something new at their age.” [ed. note: Trina and I are both grandmothers, just so you know we’re not putting down grandmothers!]

Our benefit organization was REACH, Rape Education and Crisis Hotline, founded in 1981 and serving rural Oxford county and the towns of Harrison and Bridgton. Over the years their prevention efforts towards ending sexual violence have grown, while they maintain crisis intervention services. They educate and serve children, teens, women and men, free of charge, and in the past year alone provided 275 programs to 3,300 students, school staff and parents.

Many thank-you’s to those who participated... To our main sponsor TD Bank, to the NE Nordic Ski Association and in particular to NENSA Intro Programs Director Abby Weissman... To our Silver Sponsors Designer Gold, L.L.Bean, Swix, and our wonderful host the Bethel Inn Resort and Ski Center... To our Bronze sponsors Akers, Bancroft Contracting and Mahoosuc Guide Service and to our Friends True North Adventureware...  And to everyone who worked registration and behind the scenes at the Ski Center, and especially to our fabulous instructors! Thank you all, and we’ll see you next year!

Anne Donaghy and Trina Hosmer

Click here to see more photos on NENSA's Flickr page. All photos taken by Matt Trueheart (MUHS Coach).

This February the NENSA Adaptive program will partner with Sports Associates at Gaylord Hospital to offer an adaptive Nordic clinic at Winding Trails in Farmington, CT.  The clinics will mark the first time that NENSA’s Adaptive Program will offer a program in the area and the first time that Sports Associates will participate in a Nordic program.  For more information about the clinic and how to participate or volunteer, check out the poster here: CT Adaptive Nordic Flyer.