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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.

Tag: Lost Nation Roll

  • Rollerski Season…Rolls, as Freed, Ogden Ski to Wins at Craftsbury Lost Nation Roll

    Rollerski Season…Rolls, as Freed, Ogden Ski to Wins at Craftsbury Lost Nation Roll

    Craftsbury Outdoor Center hosts the Lost Nation Roll in Vermont Friday. (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

    Any given day at Craftsbury Outdoor Center in the summer is a hive of activity. A sculling camp here, a group run there, and throw a rollerski race in too. Everyone though, comes back to the Center’s porch, eventually.

    On Friday morning, a group of middle school-aged runners, containing more than a few skiers among them, went out for their morning group run. When they came back around, a few lit into the hushed, excited panic of recognition…“is that Ben Ogden!?”

    Ah Vermont – where it’s over the fields and through the woods to where the Olympians go!

    Ben Ogden at the Lost Nation Roll in Craftsbury, Vermont. (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

    Ben Ogden was indeed back racing in his home state on Friday, as Craftsbury hosted the Lost Nation Roll. The Northeast Kingdom offering has become an unofficial soft launch of the new season in the East. And with that season being 2026, the presence of Olympic and Olympic-aspirant racers in cross-country and biathlon was noted. Overwhelmingly though, the Lost Nation Roll is characterized by the chorus heard around Craftsbury Friday morning: “it’s just nice to see everyone again!”

    A field of 50 plus racers drawn mostly from the collegiate and pro ranks raced the 10 k skate individual start on the 2.5 k Craftsbury rollerski loop, which features a shallow, rolling set of hills capped by the “Dennis’,” a long twisting downhill which rolls into a transition-practice ready uphill pitch.

    In the Women’s field, Craftsbury Green Racing Project (GRP) Biathlete Margie Freed got on course early in the field, and finished early over the field, skiing to a 1 minute 28 second gap over her closest competitor. That closest competitor was GRP teammate Michaela Keller-Miller in 2nd, with Dartmouth’s Amelia Tucker rounding out the podium in third place. Neve Gerard, training with Craftsbury this summer, was the top placing junior in 9th Overall.

    Margie Freed skis to the win at the Lost Nation Roll. (Photo: Ben Theyerl).

    “I ski this loop just about every day which means I know it pretty well…” said Margie Freed post-race. “I like to push up and over ‘Dennis,’ and I focused on pushing that section well today.”

    Ben Ogden also got an early start in the Men’s race, and subsequently set the bar for the field. The field which skied out after him contained a deep, competitive set, with the top 5 finishing within 30 seconds of Ogden’s winning time of 21:29.30. That pack contained a pair of homecoming efforts from new college graduates, with Brian Bushey, back in Craftsbury after 4 years with the University of Utah, in 2nd, and Jack Young, newly graduated from Colby College, finishing 4th. Splitting the difference was US Army World Class Athlete Program (WCAP) biathlete Sean Doherty in 3rd. Tabor Greenberg scored the top junior placing in 6th.

    “I really like this rollerski track, so it was fun to come out and crush it with everyone today,” said Ogden post-race.

    Ogden also cued in on the more subtle differences rollerski race efforts offer compared to snow skiing (outside of, you know, much higher consequences for falling), “[this] was different than many of the courses I race in the winter in that the hills are short – overall, it’s flat, meaning you have to really work the downhills and flat sections well. I was tempted to charge so hard on the hill knowing they’re so short, but you must measure your efforts so you can push a V2 alternate for sustained amount of time.”

    Ogden also reflected on where the rollerski race effort fit into the matrix of preparing for the upcoming winter, “[Today] was a perfect midsummer effort because you had to sustain a hard effort…that’s what is on the training menu right now.”

    Leigh Niedick starts out on course. (Photo: Ben Theyerl)

    Based on turnout, a hard, sustained effort is a popular menu item regionwide. The Lost Nation Roll kicks off a Series of NENSA Rollerski Races which stretch from September right up to the snow falling this November.

    Bringing everyone ‘round to the Craftsbury porch is done with the recognition, and hope, that connections will flow off it. Ogden ended his day up at Craftsbury with a reflection and some plans:

    “I try to never miss an opportunity to race [at Craftsbury], just because I love the community. It’s so fun to catch up with so many people from over the years. Even though we’re [geographically] all close in Vermont, it takes something like this to get us all out again. Like, I just made plans to hop in with the GRP guys for a workout next week. That’s a successful day.”

    Lost Nation Roll RESULTS

     

     

  • NENSA Summer Series Kicks Off with Lost Nation Roll and Some On-Snow Action

    NENSA Summer Series Kicks Off with Lost Nation Roll and Some On-Snow Action

    The 2022 NENSA Summer Series hosted its first rollerski race of the season at the beginning of July. The Lost Nation Roll took place at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center on July 3rd, and by all accounts, was a huge success. Both men and women raced 10 k in an interval start format on the Outdoor Center’s paved rollerski loop. 

    Charging out of the start gate, Quincy Massey-Bierman (Middlebury College) heads out for 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    Coinciding with the Eastern Regional Elite Group (REG) camp, around 40 top Eastern juniors boosted the race attendance numbers. NENSA’s Competitive Program Director, Justin Beckwith, explained that this year’s edition was the third open event they’ve co-hosted with Craftsbury and it was the best attended. Beckwith said, “It’s exciting to see the community out cheering and of course to have elites from CGRP (Craftsbury Green Racing Project) and SMST2 (Stratton Mountain T2), with three [U.S.] Ski Teamers in the mix, Ben [Ogden], Will [Koch] and Sydney [Palmer-Leger].” As Lost Nation Roll was the first race out of the seven in the NENSA series, it was also the debut moment for the podium cheese provided by Cabot, which was certainly a highlight. 

    Geo Debrosse of Mansfield Nordic Club gets underway in the open men’s 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    On the men’s side, Ogden (SMST2) topped the podium, finishing in a time of 23:25.3. Brian Bushey (University of Utah) came in second, +11.9 seconds behind Ogden. Finn Sweet (Craftsbury Ski Club/UVM) completed the podium, in third place (+13). The 6 k U16 boys competition was won by Micah Bruner of SMS (13:04.9).

    For the women, Margie Freed of CGRP took top honors, with a finish time of 26:29.6. Behind her, Evelina Sutro of SMST2 finished second (26:55). In third position, Kelsey Dickinson, also of CGRP, finished in 27:04.7. Ruth Krebs, skiing for Craftsbury Ski Club, won the U16 girls race in 15:39.3. 

    Margie Freed (CGRP) topped the podium in the Lost Nation Roll 10 k (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    Beckwith extended thanks to the race hosts, saying, “Craftsbury’s track and their amazing community / race crew make hosting a race easy and fun.” 

    Up next in the series is the first of three hill climbs, the Rollins Roll up Mt. Kearsarge in Warner, New Hampshire on August 21st. About the upcoming event Beckwith said, “While we know we will have a strong junior showing we are really hoping to boost masters participation in our three hill climbs throughout the series (Rollins, Climb to the Castle, and Mt. Greylock).” As incentive, Beckwith explained that there will be a special overall prize for the best two of three placements for masters from Allagash Brewing. 

    Taking place the same day as the Lost Nation Roll, was NENSA’s second Learn-to-Roll event of the 2022 summer season. Spearheaded by NENSA Youth & Introductory Program Director, Kait Miller, the clinic provided an opportunity for any skier looking to try their hand at rollerskiing for the first time. 

    Kelsey Dickinson (CGRP) navigates course obstacles on her way to a third-place finish in the open women’s race (Photo: Paul Bierman)

    Miller explained that over the course of the summer she hopes to add a few more Learn-to-Roll opportunities in combination with scheduled rollerski races. She said, “So far the Lost Nation Roll is the only event we’ve done this with and it seems to be a good format with some clinic participants showing up early to watch the races.” 

    Capping off an action-packed day, skiers headed to Craftsbury village for a little time on natural snow. Emerging from Craftsbury’s summer snow storage, the strip was fashioned into a jump course which saw some great aerial moves. 

    Full results from the Lost Nation Roll race can be found here. More information on upcoming NENSA rollerski events are available here.

  • The not so Lost – Lost Nation Roll

    During the long pandemic slog, there have been times to celebrate small victories. One of those moments was the Lost Nation Roll – a skate rollerski race on October 25 at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center. Over a month ago now, during which Covid-19 restrictions have become more restrictive in Vermont, athletes were able to compete and grasp, even for a few hours, some normalcy.

    Justin Beckwith, the competition director for NENSA and Ollie Burruss, a person with similar responsibilities at Craftsbury, navigated a labyrinth of safety protocols to ensure the show goes on.

    It goes without saying that organized sport right now can seem frivolous. Covering sports even more so. But what the Lost Nation Roll illustrates is that good people can make good things happen. And make them happen safely.

    “We opened it up to 100 spots for the rollerski race,” Beckwith said. “And you know, we’ve had plenty of races that are bigger than that in the past, but it’s on this brand new roller ski loop which was cool. We didn’t fill up the start spots and we didn’t have collegiate skiers outside the one’s residing at Craftsbury, and that’s because of institutional regulations at some schools. But the reality is, each competition is a small victory in itself.”

    Let’s steer away from results for a bit. We’re bombarded enough with them anyhow. The one result that matters is this: it was a win-win for all those involved. That included Jessie Diggins, Julia Kern, Caitlin Patterson, Katharine Ogden, Susan Dunklee, Ben Lustgarten (he’s maybe not done yet), Adam Martin, Ian Torchia, Akeo Maifeld-Carucci, and Ben Saxton to name only a few starters. Sure, we are talking about a cadre of skiers who are Vermont-based. But they showed up, masked up, sent it around a regional training resource on a state of the art rollerski loop and provided some junior skiers a sense that the world is not all doom and gloom and sixty feet apart. (Just six feet.)

    “We’re screening all these folks as well, right as they come in. And so we’re abiding by all the local guidelines,” said Beckwith. “But on top of that, we’re really spending a lot of time having athletes populating forms on-line prior to the race. So if somebody answers a question incorrectly, or has a sniffle, or a slight cough, we can flag that, and we’re seeing really good compliance.”

    As we can see on the international level, the stakes are high for moving from region to region. The IBU World Cup last week reported several positive Covid-19 cases whereas Norway, Finland, and Sweden announced their withdrawal from the remaining December World Cups. No positive cases were reported from the Ruka round of racing, thus far, which included not only cross-country skiing, but ski jumping and nordic combined. As everybody has been expecting for months, more of our time has been spent indoors with the onset of winter. With that, globally, we’ve witnessed a corresponding uptick in cases. 

    Vermont too, despite their hard line safety mandates, and what appears to be good fidelity to mask wearing and social distancing, has experienced their share of Covid-spikes as well. Some are related to youth hockey in the region.

    Like many across the country, Beckwith and Burruss and the scores of volunteers in Craftsbury, make us see what is possible. However, this is not news, the possibility of racing has become more fleeting as the early part of the winter season drifts in. News this week from Canada and the slew of cancelled races up north is all the ground truth we need.  

    “Essentially, Vermont just became a sporting Island,” Beckwith said during our conversation. He was referring to the hot-off-the-press state guidelines detailing youth sports and Covid-19 restrictions. As of October 27, as Beckwith claimed, Vermont became a literal sport island as a preventive measure to curb community spread.   

    The latest guidelines restrict Vermont athletes to competing, practicing, scrimmaging, formally or informally, with only other Vermont athletes within the state. If a Vermont athlete competes or practices out of state – they are looking at a mandatory quarantine when they return. The language is clear: 

    “Any athlete or team leaving the state to participate in a recreational sports practice, scrimmage, pick-up game or competition must complete a quarantine before returning to work or school; visiting any public facility; or participating in any event outside of their home. This quarantine requirement applies regardless of whether the activity is taking place in a quarantine-free county on the state’s most recent cross-state travel map published by the Agency of Commerce and Community Development.”

    We could go on, and maybe we should, and list all the fine folks and all the fine athletes who made the Lost Nation Roll safe and sound.

    It’s the little victories. The Lost Nation Roll may have been the last best race for awhile.