Bill Koch Festival

Joe Krebs at the start of the lollipop race (Dave Priganc photo)

NEVT animal gang! (Dave Priganc photo)

Last Updated: 05.Mar.2019

Last weekend was the pinnacle of most youth skiers' winter: The New England Bill Koch Festival! This year’s Festival was at the Rikert Nordic Center in Ripton, VT. The Festival’s theme was animals, so the Opening Ceremony parade saw animals of all stripes, patterns, and sizes The weekend was comprised of a mini-marathon, relay, and skate individual race, as well as lots of fun! 

The first race on the docket was the classic relay, where athletes are in groups of twos or threes, generally with other kids from the same club or district. Craftsbury is part of the Northeast Vermont district. In the 1st and 2nd grade relay, Charlie Sterner teamed up with Stowe skier Genevieve Graces for 5th, while James Kehler and Jonah Wohlberg were 15th. In the 3rd and 4th grade girls’ race, Stella van der Linde and Rosalie Barstow were 10th. In the 3rd and 4th grade boys’ race, Thomas Kehler and Zeke Wohlberg teamed up for 3rd, while Charlie Isselhardt and Henry Sterner were 7th. In the 5th and 6th grade girls’ race, Anika Leahy and Amelia Circosta were 1st, followed by Isabel Linton and Ruth Krebs were 2nd. Marie Voisin and Emily Linton were 5th followed by Miriam Serota-Winston and Camille Morineau in 23rd. In the 5th and 6th grade boys’ race, Wesley Strong and Charlie Kehler were 7th, followed by Soren Stelma-Leonard and Emmet Cusack in 24th and Sam Dunn and Linden van der Linde in 28th. In the 7th and 8th grade girls’ race, Meg Voisin and Anna Isselhardt teamed up for a 7th place finish. For the 7th and 8th grade boys’ race, Leo Circosta and Orion Cenkl teamed up for 2nd, Owen Jones and Cormac Leahy were 3rd, Sage Grossi and Charlie Krebs were 8th, and Alan Moody and Aidan Moffet were 22nd. 

On Sunday, everyone did individual start freestyle races of varying lengths. In the 1st and 2nd grade race, Charlie was 8th, followed by James in 11th and Jonah in 50th. In the 3rd and 4th grade boys’ race, Thomas was 6th, Charlie Isselhardt was 9, Henry was 11th, and Zeke was 12th. In the 3rd and 4th grade girls’ race, Stella was 19th followed immediately by Effie Dunn in 20th. For the 5th and 6th grade boys, there was a huge Craftsbury crew, with Charlie Kehler was 15th, Wesley was 25th, Sam was 48th, Soren was 52nd, Emmet was 55th, and Linden was 68th. In the 7th and 8th grade girls’ race, Anna was 9th and Siri Dunn was 37th. There was also a huge Craftsbury turnout in the 7th and 8th grade boys’ race, Cormac was 2nd, Orion was 5th, Owen was 8th, and Leo was 10th. Charlie Krebs was 11th, Alan was 23rd, Sage was 27th, and Aidan was 55th. 

See full results here. BKL racing continues in Craftsbury this weekend with the Spring Fling.