Ruth Krebs looking fierce in the qualifier (Photo: Dave Priganc).

Last weekend, the Eastern Cup series kicked off at the Quarry Road Trails in Waterville, Maine, with the Roy Varney Eastern Cup Opener. The races are held in memory of Roy, a young skier from Turner, Maine. The weekend opened with skate sprints followed by classic individual races. More than 300 racers from new England and beyond came together to race!

The fast and furious skate sprinting was held on a meticulously kept ribbon of white. The 1.3k course didn’t take long to do, but sure made athletes work hard.

Qualifier results:

Men:
29. Cormac Leahy
53. Tzevi Schwartz
57. Leo Circosta
78. Charles Krebs
78. Samuel Clark
97. Charlie Kehler

Women:
18. Anika Leahy
22. Maggie McGee
23. Isabelle Serrano
25. Ruth Krebs
26. Amelia Circosta
42. Margaret Voisin
72. Sara McGill
79. Ayla Bodach-Turner

After the qualifier, the main attraction of the day happens-sprint heats! The top 30 of each gender move on to the Open Heats while the next 12 U18/U20s move to Junior Heats and next 12 U16’s move to U16 Heats.

In the men’s open heats, Cormac Leahy was 5th in his quarterfinal, ending his day in 26th overall.

CSC had a massive showing in the women’s Open Heats, with 1/6 of the field being comprised of green beans! Maggie finished 3rd in her quarterfinal, landing her in 14th for the day. Amelia was 4th in hers as well, placing in her 20th. Anika was 5th, ending her day in 24th, and Ruth was 6th, wrapping up in 27th. Also of note, half of the women’s final was former CSC racers, with Callie Young taking the win, followed by Every Ellis in 3rd, and Quincy Massey-Bierman in 4th.

On Sunday, winter happened! A blanket of snow covered Quarry Road, a welcome sight to dirt-sore eyes! All the women raced 5k, while U16 boys raced 5k and men raced 10k.

Men’s 10k:
35. Tzevi Shwartz (6th U18)
45. Samuel Clark (14th U20)
51. Cormac Leahy (14th U18)
71. Leo Circosta (24th U18)
83. Charles Krebs (20th U18)

Boys 5k:
14. Charlie Kehler

Women’s 5k:
30. Maggie McGee (10th U18)
32. Amelia Circosta (2nd U16)
34. Isabelle Serrano (9th U20)
38. Anika Leahy (4th U16)
46. Ruth Krebs (7th U16)
58. Margaret Voisin (17th U18)
95. Sara McGill (19th U16)
100. Ayla Bodach-Turner (34th U18)

See full results here. Eastern Cup racing takes a hiatus until January 29 and 30 in Lake Placid, New York.

CSC at Roy Varney Eastern Cup Opener