Last weekend, a mid-sized contingent headed to Central Vermont for the next installment of the Vermont Cup, at the Woodstock Nordic Center. The trails in Woodstock are a little narrower and more old school, which is super fun! The 5k course sends you out on a big loop, which features a few harrowing corners (S-turns and hair pins!) and some good grinding climbs. Coach Jeff grew up skiing these hills, so he was a massive asset to the racing crew, even providing them with a hand drawn course map and a written course preview.

Saturday’s race technique was classic, followed by freestyle on Sunday. As is the standard this year, all races were individual start, but this doesn’t tamp down the competitiveness one bit!

Serviceman (among many other titles) Ollie shared some insights about the races. Thanks Ollie for making us feel like we were there spectating at the spectator-less race!

“It’s always tough to catch glimpses of racing while also doing ski service all day and the Woodstock course made that especially challenging with the layout, but what little I saw on Sunday was great. We caught a few minutes of the U16 girls and they were ripping. Wish we’d been able to holler a little more at Ruth Krebs - 7 seconds out of the win as a U14 is pretty awesome. Our U18/20 girls continue to impress with just how dialed and self-reliant they are. We saw them after their 10k and they were all stoked with how it went, but looking at ways to make it better. The junior coaches have done an awesome job at instilling that mature outlook on racing and in a tough season like this, it definitely is paying dividends. Finally, props to Aiden Casey and Jed Kurts for racing from the second seed of men into the top 10. They were both hauling around a course that by the afternoon had more than a dusting of fresh snow on it.”

Saturday Classic:

U16 girls:

1. Amelia Circosta (1st U14)

4. Claire Serrano (2nd U14)

9. Anika Leahy (3rd U18)

10. Anna Isselhardt (7th U18)

11. Margaret Voisin (8th 18)

Charles Kehler vrooming! (Photo: Dave Priganc).

U16 Boys

3. Leo Circosta

7. Charlie Krebs

10. Charles Kehler (1st U14)

Camille with some powerful striding (Photo: Dave Priganc).

Women 10k

6. Camille Bolduc (1st U18)

15. Isabelle Serrano (3rd U18)

19. Maggie McGee (7th U18)

24. Ayla Bodach-Turner (12th U18)

Tzevi Schwartz mid 15k (Photo: Dave Priganc).

Men 15k

10. Aiden Casey (2nd U18)

11. Tzevi Schwartz (3rd U18)

15. Jed Kurts (6th U18)

16. Samuel Clark (7th U18)

25. Cormac Leahy (11th U18)

28. Orion Cenkl (14th U18)

Sunday Skate

U16 Girls 5k:

4. Ruth Krebs (1st U14)

5. Amelia Circosta (2nd U14)

7. Anna Isselhardt (5th U16)

8. Margaret Voisin (6th U16)

13. Olivia Serrano (11th U16)

U16 Boys 5k:

6. Leo Circosta

9. Charlie Krebs

Women 10k:

4. Quincy (1st U18)

5. Camille (2nd U18)

8. Maggie (3rd U18)

11. May (6th U18)

19. Ayla (12th U18)

Men 10k:

3. Jack Young (1st U20)

7. Aiden Casey (3rd U18)

8. Jed Kurts (4th U18)

9. Cormac Leahy (5th U18)

13. Samuel Clark (8th U18)

15. Tzevi Schwartz (9th U18)

A shoutout to CNSC/GRP U23 alums Rena Schwartz, Callie Young, Phoebe Sweet, Lina Sutro, and Bjorn Westervelt for having speedy races this weekend as well!

See full results here (as of publishing time, skate results are under live results). Vermont Cup racing takes a break this weekend and wraps up next Saturday with the VT Cup Finals in Craftsbury on February 20.

Juniors on the Podium at the Vermont Cup