KickZone eNewsletter ~ February 14th Edition

Greetings NENSA Community!

We are almost a week into the Olympic Games in Pyeongchang South Korea, and some cross country ski history has already been made! Jessie Diggins finished 5th in the Skiathlon last Saturday, the best finish EVER for an American woman in the Olympics! Jessie then finished 6th in the classic Sprint finals on Tuesday, another best finish ever for an American in the Sprints. Sophie Caldwell finished 8th, tying her pervious record (from Sochi) of the best ever finish for an American women in the Olympics. See boxes below for full write ups on these Olympic events. It was so inspiring to see 3 American women finish in the top 12 in the Sprints! I can not wait to see what they all do next. There is still lots more racing to come ~

Click HERE for full info on how to watch our US Olympic Cross Country Ski Team.

This past weekend included the final Eastern Cup races, which overlapped with the Dartmouth Winter Carnival on Saturday. See box below for photos, and links to results, and rankings. Our New England Junior National Team naming is going on now.

(By the way, that link for RESULTS will also take you to results for the Bretton Woods Marathon, also held last weekend, and all other Zak Cup and Marathons this year).

Our youngest NENSA members are getting ready for the New England BKL Festival to be held at the Leo J. Martin Ski Track in Weston MA, this Saturday & Sunday. The organizers are doing an amazing job creating a really special event for our BKL members! See box below for the latest Festival updates and late registration info.

And finally, there have been so many great stories - podcasts, articles and videos on cross country skiing, and some of our current Olympians, in the news lately. I have included a few more links from this week in the box below - enjoy!

I hope to see you at the NEBKL Festival this weekend, or out on a snowy trail soon! Be sure to check out our jam packed Calendar of Events below ~ lots more winter fun still to come!

Best,

Amie

Amie W. Smith

Executive Director

New England Nordic Ski Association

Amie@nensa.net

www.NENSA.net

Be sure to follow us on fb, Twitter and on Instagram @nensa_nordic

NENSA News from the Field

Highlights and Notes from NENSA and the Nordic World

Photos and Results from the Final Eastern Cup Races at Holderness NH

THANK YOU Dave Priganc for once again, providing NENSA with these amazing photos of our race weekends! Pictured here are our U16's JN Team, named after the last EC race Sunday. Thank you SWIX for our great New England JN Team hats!

PHOTOS from Sunday's Classic races at Holderness
RESULTS for Saturday's EC/Dartmouth Carnival & Sunday's EC races
RANKINGS for the 2018 New England JN Team

Diggins Just Seconds From a Medal in Skiathlon last Saturday

Jessie Diggins (Afton, MN) posted the best U.S. women’s Olympic cross country finish in history, placing fifth in the skiathlon event as the first medals of the Olympic Winter Games were awarded Saturday afternoon at the Alpensia Cross-Country Skiing Center.

“I’m really proud of my race. I could not have pushed harder,” said Diggins. “Being seconds away from a medal and seeing it right there - I know it’s possible, I know I have what it takes. I think I’m in a good place in these games.”

Full story HERE

Diggins Sixth in Classic Sprint , Caldwell Eighth:

Jessie Diggins (Afton, Minn.) skied with guts and determination, challenging for a medal in the Olympic classic sprint but falling just short in sixth. Sophie Caldwell (Peru, Vt.) was eighth on a windy night at the Alpensia Cross Country Centre.

Full Story HERE

LOTS More Cross Country Skiing in the News this Week:

Link to NBC sports video piece on Olympian Andy Newell.

In case you missed it, here is a link to the podcast on the Caldwell family Olympic dynasty featuring three generations of Caldwells, that aired on ‘Only A Game’ on NPR this past weekend. A refreshingly positive take on XC skiing from a national media outlet.

And click here for an article on Kikkan Randall: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features/what-a-badass-olympic-skier-can-teach-us-about-work-life-balance/

And click here for an article on Jessie Diggins, and her glitter & grit: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2018/feb/14/jessie-diggins-olympics-cross-country-usa

NEBKL Festival UPDATES:

Amazingly, the snow has held at the Leo J Martin Ski Track in Weston, MA for the BKL Festival this weekend. There is a good base, and they will make snow when they can this week (see pic from yesterday). It will be a low snow situation, but the crew at Weston has been making snow piles to ensure we are ready for skiing Saturday morning. Check out the Weston Ski Track Conditions here.

LATE REGISTRATION is NOW OPEN on Skireg until Thursday at 5 p.m.

Find all up-to-the-moment INFO on the Festival website: https://www.bklfestival2018.com/

Upcoming Events

A Look Ahead at the NENSA Calendar

Upcoming Events:

February 17-18 New England Bill Koch Youth Ski League Festival (BKL)

February 17 New Hampshire U16/EHSC Qualifier 2

February 18 Vermont U16/EHSC Qualifiers

February 24 The Bogburn Classic

February 25 Stowe Derby

February 25 Race For Snow, Weston Ski Track, Weston MA

March 2-4 Women’s Nordic Weekend Retreat, Sweet Cider Farm, Auburn, ME

March 3 Rangeley Lake Loppett

March 3 Ford Sayre Silver Fox Trot (BKL and Citizens)

March 3 Maine U16/EHSC Qualifiers

March 3 Andover Winter Carnival, Andover ME

March 4 L.L.Bean & Maine Coast Waldorf School Winter Carnival & Kid’s XC Ski Race

March 4 Ski, Shoe & Fatbike to the Clouds, Great Glen NH

March 5 Strafford Nordic Relays , VT

March 5-10 Ski Orienteering World Masters and World Cup Finals at Craftsbury VT

March 9-11 NENSA U16 Championships

March 10 Flying Moose Classic

March 11 Mansfield Nordic Skiathalon

March 16-18 2018 NENSA Eastern High School Championships

March 17 Quarry Road Recreation Area Marathon

March 21 Fast & Female Champ Chat , Craftsbury VT

March 23-28 US Ski & Snowboard Supertour Finals

March 24 2018 Craftsbury Spring Fling

March 25 New England Club Relay Championships

March 31 Fast & Female Power Hour with Kikkan Randall, at LL Bean in Freeport ME

Link to full month by month NENSA.net Calendar Listing HERE

Renew your NENSA Membership today, and THANK YOU!

Take pride in joining the New England Nordic community with your NENSA membership in knowing your dues are coming right back to you in the form of NENSA programming and our ongoing support of venues, clubs, athletes and coaches across the region.

NEW this fall ~ "upgrade" your membership to either a Contributing Member ($100) or a Lifetime Member ($500 single/$750 couple) and or partner sponsor Out There Nordic will send you either a $20 or a $75 gift certificate for your increased membership support to NENSA! It's a win-win, for you and for NENSA!

There are more reasons than ever to re-new your NENSA Membership! In the past few weeks we have added 4 new NENSA Members Only Benefits & Offers to our website ~ and the list is growing every week! Check back often as we will be adding a few more from our wonderful sponsors next week! Go to our "NENSA Members Only Benefits and Offers" tab, under Membership, on NENSA.net to see the latest offers!

Questions?? Email george@nensa.net or call ( 207-688-6503) George in our NENSA office - he is there to help you!

Click here to renew!

New England Nordic Ski Association | 49 Pineland Drive, Suite 301-A, New Gloucester, ME 04260

Call: 207.688.6503 | www.nensa.net