Onion River Nordic News

Montpelier, VT – February 4, 2009 – Onion River Nordic Ski Club raised $670 from its membership and provided a matching grant of $500 to support local Nordic skier Liz Stephen in her bid to become one of the top U.S. National Team skiers and an Olympic hopeful for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver, Canada.

Stephen grew up in East Montpelier, attended U-32 and Burke Mountain Academy and is currently traveling around the world racing as a member of the U.S. Cross Country Ski Team. She was recently one of 13 skiers named to World Championship Team, which will compete in the FIS Nordic World Ski Championships held Feb. 19 to March 1 in Liberec, Czech Republic.

 

Read the full press release: ORN Press Release - 02032009.pdf
To read Times-Argus Article, click here.
Keep track of Liz at: www.lizhstephen.blogspot.com

 

WEDNESDAY CLUB CHALLENGE - FREESTYLE SPRINT RACES AT MORSE FARM

ORN is hosting Stowe Nordic and Craftsbury Nordic ski clubs this week for part two of our three race series. We expect to have over 40 adults racing on the Morse Farm trails on Wednesday afternoon and we invite all of our members to come out and race, assist or spectate. This is a low-key event where everyone who races helps improve our club scoring, and some of the final rounds should be pretty exciting as the elite skiers and ex-Olympians of Central Vermont duke it out on the sub-1 km course. 4:00 Registration (Free) and at 4:30 races begin.

THURSDAY NOONTIME CLINIC - ADVANCED SKATING - V2 AND HILL CLIMBING

This week we'll focus on some of the more advanced techniques employed with skating. If you have a decent grasp of the fundamentals this clinic should help you take a few steps forward in your abilities in the flats and steeper hills. Meet at noon at Morse Farm.

LIZ STEPHEN SKIING WELL AND IN THE NEWS

East Montpelier's Liz Stephen had a great race at the Nordic World Championships in the Czech Republic recently (2/21), finishing 15th in the Women's 15 km pursuit race. Anything close to the top ten is a great result and hers was particularly inspiring because she beat some of the world's best women. The World championships have nearly the same cachet as the Olympics among the skiing nations, and it's inspiring to see someone like Liz, who trains at the Morse Farm when she's in town, skiing among the best.

Here are a couple of accounts of her success:

www.skitrax.com:  Stephen Standout in Pursuit
www.fastskier.com:   Kowalczyk Wins World Championship Pursuit, Stephen 15th

SKI EQUIPMENT IN DEMAND - KIDS SKATE GEAR

From time to time we include a classified ad in our newsletter as members are either looking to get rid of some gear, or trying to find some good deals. So here is today's request:

Seeking skate skis for my kids ages 7 and 9. If anyone's got used gear to sell, we'd be interested in 155-160 cm skate skis, preferably with NNN bindings. If anyone has any leads, please call Karen at 223-6277 or email kliebermann@pshift.com.

WEDNESDAY CLUB CHALLENGE AT CRAFTSBURY - 5KM CLASSIC

There will be a good-sized contingency of skiers heading to Craftsbury tomorrow for some afternoon recreational skiing, followed by a 5km mass-start classic race at 4:30. If anyone wants to join the fun, the race format counts every racer as an asset regardless of pace so you can represent ORN at any speed! Hope to see some of you up there for what looks to be a glorious afternoon. The ORN waxing support crew will also be available for pre-race assistance for all club-members.

NEED TIMERS AND SUPPORT FOR NEXT CLUB CHALLENGE AT MORSE FARM

Many of you indicated on your membership forms that you would be willing to help time or assist in a club event, and now is your chance to make good on that offer. With skiers coming in from Stowe and Craftsbury next week to attend our sprint format races at Morse Farm, we'll need some help in pulling off a smooth race. Please contact nick@onionrivernordic.org if you are available at 4 pm on Wednesday, March 4th to help out.

THURSDAY NOONTIME CLINIC - SKILLS, DRILLS AND CONDITIONING ILLS

This session will expose you to some specific tactics to employ when honing your technique and your fitness. Just skiing for fun is great, but there are lots of things you can do to work on the finer points of the sport besides touring, and there are plenty of common mistakes we make when trying to improve our level of conditioning. Meet at 12:00 on Thursday at Morse Farm. For both classic skiers and skaters alike.

SATURDAY AND MONDAY YOUTH PROGRAMS ARE ON FOR THE UPCOMING WEEK

We are still planning to have our BKL program running this vacation week so we hope to see you out there. There have been several questions about when we will end the programs and it is somewhat snow-dependent. If we have decent conditions available we will run these programs through March 16th.

SAVE THE DATE - SPRING PARTY ON MARCH 15th AT MORSE FARM

ORN will again be holding their end-of-season party on Sunday, March 15th. Last year we did a BBQ, some races and a few kids activities so look for a repeat performance, and let's hope for similar weather as last year.

WAXING CLINIC AT ONION RIVER SPORTS TONIGHT WITH SWIX REP NICK MAHOOD

As we approach spring skiing conditions, come hear what Swix professional wax technician Nick Mahood has to say about getting the best out of your skis. Nick will cover basic techniques, but will also touch on waxing for race conditions. Beginners and advanced waxers are welcome, come prepared with questions. This event is FREE, refreshments and raffle prizes for attendees. 6:15 to 7:15 at ORS.

CLUB JACKETS ARE IN - PICK UP AT ONION RIVER SPORTS

The embroidery and printing came out great, and now it's time to show our colors. For those members who ordered jackets, you will find the box upstairs in Andrew Brewer's lair at ORS (you can ask directions if you've never been to the 2nd floor - just mention you're picking up an ORN Jacket). The jackets are labeled by name, so carefully sort through, find yours and drop a check for $80 into the envelop taped to the inside of the box. First person I see at Morse Farm wearing theirs gets 15 minutes of personal clinic time on the technique of their choice.

NO SPRINTS THIS WEEK - BUT LOTS TO DO AT THURSDAY HIGH SCHOOL RACE

With the local H.S. teams competing on their home turf up at Morse Farm this Thursday, we are not running the sprint races this week. Instead, it would be great if anyone available for helping out on Thursday afternoon would contact Greg Gerdel at jggerdel@aol.com to pitch in helping marshal or time the race. And good luck to our local skiers!

THURSDAY NOONTIME CLINIC - DOWNHILL TECHNIQUE POINTERS

With the incoming snow it should be great conditions to refine our downhill technique in both the classic and skating disciplines. If you're the slightest bit sketchy in your downhill turning and stopping abilities you should join us for an hour of tips and tricks on how to deal with the hills. Meet at 12:00 in the Morse Farm parking lot.

INTER-CLUB CHALLENGE RACES HELD ON THE NEXT THREE WEDNESDAYS

We're honored to have been invited into the traditional Stowe/Craftsbury club challenge race series this year and hope to get as many of you as possible out for a few of the events. Next week we start up at Craftsbury for a classic technique race - usually around 5km. The following week will be a sprint format held locally, probably
at U-32. Then the final race is up at Trapps with a Freestyle race, hopefully using their terrific new FIS-compliant race course. These races are scored based on time AND participation so coming out and skiing your own pace is VERY helpful to get ORN some team points. If you are interested in joining our group of masters racers please contact Dan Voisin at dvoisin@stone-env.com to coordinate for carpooling.

 

A GREAT WEEKEND OF RACING AT MORSE FARM!

It was another terrific showing for the Nordic Trifecta of Morse Farm/ORS/ORN as over 100 racers aged 3 to 50+ descended upon our local trails for the Maple Onion 15km and BKL events. Thanks go out to all who supported these races, including the groomers, race marshals, parents and race directors who came together to put on a great show. Some notable mentions for our club skiers:

Chloe Schiff - 1st place girls age 7 and under
Brian Bushey - 2nd place boys age 7 and under
Walker Bean - 3rd place boys age 8-9
Hugh Pritchard - 2nd place overall 15km

WEDNESDAY SPRINTS/THURSDAY CLINIC CANCELED - WATCH FOR SOFT TRAILS

The warm mid-week weather is going to make for some lousy racing conditions so the sprint races and noontime clinic will not be held this week. The combination of warm temperatures and rain will be creating some very soft conditions at U-32 and Morse Farm, so ORN encourages everyone to take a short break from skiing until the trails firm up again. Ruts caused by skiers on rotten snow can be VERY difficult to fix once things cool down, so in the name of quality trails please stay off of anything that even slightly resembles mashed potatoes. It looks like Thursday night should be cold enough to firm everything up again. Thank you for your cooperation.

CLUB JACKETS ARRIVE NEXT WEEK

We had almost 20 individuals invest in our Onion River Nordic Jackets this year, which should be returning from the embroiderer by Monday. We will begin distribution starting on Monday at 3:15 at our ORN Kids
Team practice at Morse Farm. If you can't make that time slot please contact Nick to arrange for a pick-up/drop off. Thanks to Onion River Sports offering the jackets at cost to our club, we were able to keep the overall price, with embroidery and silk screening, to $80! Please make checks payable to Onion River Nordic.

ONION RIVER NORDIC NOW ON FACEBOOK

Yes, it's true. ORN is now officially part of the social networking movement (I can hear the groans from our luddite members, but hey - it's all about the kids!) So for all you Facebookers out there, come over and write on the wall, start a discussion, add some photos, throw in a trail report, or whatever else you can now do on Facebook. We will continue to focus on the weekly newsletter and website for our official club communications, so this site is ALL yours, members:

http://www.facebook.com/home.php#/group.php?gid=136053720416

 

CONGRATULATIONS TO ALL THE CRAFTSBURY RACERS AND TOURERS FROM ONION RIVER NORDIC

The day was spectacular, and seeing everyone out there with well-waxed skis (all praise Mr. Voisin!) was a great moment for our club.... Not to mention the successful guerrilla marketing tactics of setting up the ORS tent with our club banner RIGHT next to the Swix and Toko tents on the main path to the start line! And thanks to Dave Jablonski and Morse Farm for opening their doors to us on Friday evening for a healthy round of waxing and face-stuffing. It's great to see our growing Masters contingency stepping up to challenges like the Craftsbury Marathon, and we hope to see more of that in the seasons ahead. For a taste of what Masters racing is all about I invite you to read Bill Holland's entertaining race report: I Beat Carl Swenson's Mother!

SPRINT RACES MOVED TO TUESDAY - U-32 AT 6:30

With the High School skiers having a race on Thursday, we have moved our club race to Tuesday night. Registration opens at 6 pm and first heats go out at 6:30. The skating should be sweet tonight, and the grooming is always spectacular under the lights. This is a free event open to all abilities, and we also encourage non-racers to bring a headlamp and hit the trails as there is lots of terrain available outside of the 1 km course.

THURSDAY CLINIC - SKATING FUNDAMENTALS: PHASE TWO

For those of you who attended two weeks ago, we'll pick up where we left off on our quest to master the key aspects of skating. This week we'll jump into some V2 Alternate training, as well as brushing up on our V1 hill climbing abilities. This clinic will be geared for beginner and intermediate skaters, and even those who are self-taught veterans. Meet at 12:00 in the Morse Farm parking lot.

MAPLE ONION 15KM RACE - SATURDAY MORSE FARM AT 10:00 - PARTICIPATE OR VOLUNTEER

Tomorrow ORS/Morse Farm/ORN will be hosting the annual Maple Onion 15km Freestyle Race and we invite as many of you as possible to come participate. The course is basically two laps on Maple Loop and Sugar
Loop, and if you're not into racing we could sure use some volunteers as course marshals. This simply entails cheering on our local skiers as they come through tricky intersections while making sure everyone turns in the right direction. To race, registration opens at 9 a.m. and to volunteer simply find Aaron from ORS at the start and ask "How can I help?"

BILL KOCH LEAGUE RACES AND ACTIVITIES ON SATURDAY - BRING KIDS AND/OR HELP OUT

With the double whammy of adult racers in the morning and youth racers in the afternoon, this is a great time to get the kids out to experience the excitement of a regional VT race. All kids are welcome to join the BKL races and each course distance will be appropriate on skier ages. For kids 7 and under there are two non-competitive events consisting of the Lollipop Race and the Little Onion Loppet (see below for details), and of course there will be creemees involved for the younger crowd (hey, it is Morse Farm). Whether your kids are racing, skiing or cheering, volunteers are needed to marshal the course so please see Nick from ORN to help out with this great event. Registration opens at 9:15 and events start at 12:15. $4 BKL Members, $5 Non-Members, Free for kids 7 and under.

FIRST ANNUAL LITTLE ONION LOPPET DEBUTS THIS YEAR ALONGSIDE BKL RACES

To complement the Maple Onion Ski Race and BKL Youth Program, Onion River Nordic Ski Club will be hosting a fun-filled, non-race for our newest skiers on Saturday in conjunction with the BKL Races.

• Ages 2-5, new skiers (first season), or soon-to-be new skiers
• Skis, sleds, snowshoes, or parents on skis carrying kids welcome
• Maple Creemee Coupons & prizes for all participants
• Registration 9:30 am - noon
• Start time ? 12:15 pm

Contact laurysaligman@yahoo.com 505-0582 with questions