From the FasterSkier archive — posts syndicated from athletes’ and coaches’ own blogs between 2004 and 2012, kept online as published. Current coverage is at fasterskier.com.
Annika Martell racing during the NENSA club relays, Saturday, March 28, 2026 at Craftsbury. (Photo: Phil Belena)
The Craftsbury Green Racing Project has named Annika Martell as its new Head Ski Coach.
Martell brings a resume that spans nearly every corner of the Nordic skiing world. A Minnesota native, she headed east to ski at Colby College, where she captained the team and earned recognition for her leadership before graduating with a degree in economics and environmental science.
Her coaching career has taken a similarly wide path. Early on, she interned with the US Biathlon Association and coached juniors at Ford Sayre and the Berkshire Nordic Ski Club, before moving into elite-level work as an assistant coach with the Stratton Mountain School T2 Team. She spent four years as an assistant coach at Williams College, during which time she completed two stints as a Trail to Gold Fellow with the US Ski Team and served twice on the wax staff for Team New England at Junior Nationals.
Most recently, Martell was the Head Nordic Coach at St. Michael’s College, where she guided the program to highly competitive results.
Her background extends well beyond the ski tracks. She is a certified weightlifting coach and handled strength and conditioning duties at Williams. She also has experience in finance and operations management, and holds a Master’s degree in Sports Business from Drexel University.
The Craftbury Green Racing Project is still accepting athlete applications for the incoming 2026 snow class — Apply Here
Martell follows Jessie Diggins on course in Beitostolen in 2022. (Photo: Nordic Focus)
Tom Keefe and Sarah Tory with their trophies at the Bascom Lodge atop Mt. Greylock (Photo: Aubrey Smith)
Tom Keefe and Sarah Tory captured the Mt. Greylock Rollerski Race on Sunday, outdistancing their closest competitors by several minutes each. Tory, a senior and the women’s captain at Williams College, defended the title she picked up her junior year, while Keefe, a former UNH and Maine Winter Sports Center standout, took the men’s title in his first rollerski race in four years.
Beautifully paved and featuring a mix of steep switchbacks, steady climbs and, mid-race, even some flat and downhill sections, the eight mile road to the summit of Mt. Greylock gains 2,100 feet in elevation as it winds around the southern shoulder of the mountain. Cool temperatures and sunny skies greeted the 29 competitors on Sunday, with the later stages of the race plagued by slick leaves stuck to the pavement after a day of rain on Saturday.
At the front of the pack, the race was strung out quickly with a hard start from Bret Bedard. A crew of Williams skiers gave chase, with senior Mark Johnson (racing on classic skis), senior Keith Kantack, sophomore Ian Nesbitt and freshman Kalle Jahn, along with eventual champion Keefe, keeping pace with Bedard, leaving smaller pockets of racers to duke it out for mid-pack places.
Keefe used a burst of speed on a steep uphill section to break free of the lead pack and cruised to the win, leaving Johnson over a minute behind in second and Bedard another minute and a half back in third.
The 8 mile road climbs the southern shoulder of Mt. Greylock (3,491 ft) in the northwest corner of Massachusetts.
“It was my first roller ski race in four years,” said Keefe, “so I didn’t know what to expect. [My] goal was just to try and hang on to Bret and the Williams skiers as long as I could before they dropped me, [but] once I got clear, I got excited and it brought back memories of training up in northern Maine – I was having fun out there again.”
Tory, who was quick to acknowledge her “speedy rollerskis” in the wake of her victory, led sophomore teammate Christina Knapp early on, but broke clear of the women’s field with less than two miles down and skied the bulk of the race on her own.
“I had no specific race strategy,” said Tory of her win, “other than to start out conservatively because I knew it was going to be at least an hour to the top. I tried to ski relaxed and focus on my technique.”
Knapp finished a three and a half minutes back in second place with Williams senior Maddy Wendt rounding out the podium with a strong race in third place.
High school racers Josh Harrington (Mt. Greylock Reg. HS/Williamstown, MA) and Hannah Benson (Kennett High School/Jackson, NH) took a weekend off from their cross country running races and competed alongside a field dominated by college racers. Harrington took 14th place overall and Benson placed 4th for women.
FasterSkier’s Nat Herz was tenth and, in case you missed it in his blog, was supported by his mom who captured the roving reporter on the other side of the camera in the following video:
