January EHS Nordic Happennings

Hello Skiers and Families – Lots of Info. Below

Happy New Years! As we transition into January, the ski team is gearing up for a very busy month. Next Thursday (Jan. 8) marks the beginning of a three day race series dubbed the ‘Tour de Chittenden.’ The remaining tour races will take place on Saturday, January 8th and Monday, January 10th. Five days later (Friday, the 16th) the team will be traveling to the Range for MMU’s annual Pursuit Race. A week later, January 23rd – 25th is our highly cherished ski camp in Craftsbury. And finally, to close out the month, on January 31st Essex will be heading south to host at Rikert Ski Center in Ripton, VT. This year we have ten schools from all across Vermont slated to race. This is an awesome chance for us to shine as a program.  

I understand this is a very busy month ahead, especially with midterms around the corner – Skiers: Please do your best to balance out school work and get lots of rest! Parents: As an effort to make the month run as smoothly as possible, I am posting the volunteer sign-up sheets for both our Craftsbury trip and our hosted meet on the 31st (see below under announcements). Several have already signed up. Thanks in advance for all your support. As a ski program we cannot thrive without your help!

Announcemts  
1 - Concessions: The boys and girls Nordic teams are in need of volunteers to work the concession stand at two upcoming EHS basketball games. Girls’ team is scheduled for this Friday (the 2nd) at 4:30 and the boy’s team Monday, (the 5th) at 5:30. Please sign up here to ensure we have the needed help. This is very important that we support boosters as they have provided our team in years past with Money for new uniforms and ski apparel. 
Sign-Up

2 - Fundraising Monday: There are still a few of you have not given me your fundraising money. It is very important I get it by this Saturday’s practice, since our account is now in the negative.  

3 - Craftsbury Trip: 
Food and Driver Sign-up

4 - Essex Hosts 
Volunteer Jobs Information
Volunteer Job Sign-Up

Weekly Schedule

Friday, January 2nd:
- 9:00 Practice at EHS.
   - Ski work 
   - Videos
   - Core/Run
- Girls team works concessions

Saturday, January 3rd:
- Practice at Sleepy Hollow. Bus leaves EHS at 9:00. Bring a lunch and lots of liquid!
- Skate time trial followed by a long classic ski cool down / technique work

Sunday, January 4th:
- OYO – Distance: If you have the transportation, Sundays are the best days to fit in overdistance skis at a slow pace/L1. Get together, carpool, etc – the more on snow time all the better. If you’re unable to ski, jogging is sufficient.

Monday, January 5th:
- Practice (technique TBA) at Sleepy Hollow. Bus leaves at 2:45 will return at 5:35.
- Boys team works concessions

Tuesday, January 6th:
- TBA. Plan to ski but will depend on snow conditions

Wednesday, January 7th: 
- Prerace at EHS
- Wax

Thursday, January 8th: at Sleepy Hollow 
Tour de Chittenden Race 1: Freestyle Prologue – 2k
- Bus leaves EHS at 1:50, excused at 1:35.
- Place: Colchester High School Fields, Back Up Plan- move to Sleepy Hollow
- Time: All Boys – 3:30, All Girls - 3:45, All Middle School – 4:10
- Format: Wave Start skate technique
- Course: Sleepy Hollow - All categories ski the same 2k race
Details:
- Leader bibs will be awarded to winners of boys and girls varsity races for us on Saturday

Friday, January 9th:
- Prerace at EHS
- Wax

Saturday, January 10th:
Tour de Chittenden Race 2: Classic Distance – 3/6k
- Place: Craftsbury Outdoor Center
- Bus leaves EHS @ 10:00am
- Start time: 1:30 Varsity Boys, Varsity girls will start when boys are on last lap
JV Boys will start when Varsity girls are on last lap, immediately followed by JV Girls, immediatedly followed by MSB, and MSG
- race order: varsity boys, varsity girls, jv boys, jv girls, ms boys, ms girls
- start order: reverse order from results on Thursday (those without times for thursday will go first), wave start of 4 every 30 seconds.
- varsity will do 2 laps of 3k course, JV and Middle school will do 1 lap- Leader bibs: awarded to top boy and girl varsity skiers based on combine times from prologue and distance ski for use on Monday

Sunday, January 11th:
- PM (will announce time) wax for Monday’s race

Monday, January 12th:
Freestyle Uphill Climb- .75k - 1k
- Bus leaves EHS at 1:30, excused at 1:15.
- Place: Cochran’s Ski Area
- Time: Varsity Boys- 3:30pm , Varsity Girls- immediately following last VB, JV Boys- immediately following last VG, JV Girls- immediately following last JVG
- Middle school- immediately following last JVG
- Format: Pursuit start using results from Saturday’s Distance Race
- Course: curvy uphill climb
- Cochran’s Ski Area requires a waiver signed by each skier and parent- we will email these to you and have copies available at Saturday’s race. SKIER MUST TURN IN A SIGNED WAIVER AT SATURSDAY’s RACE TO COMPETE IN MONDAY’S RACE!!
- Busses can drop off at the upper parking lot but will the pull back down to the lower parking lot and back in (see attached map), parents can park above
- The area is closed on Mondays but will be opening the lodge and bathrooms for us, and turning on lights for race- no food available in lodge. Please be respectful of area!
- Parents wanting to watch should bring Yak-Tracks or snow shoes for walking up the hill (we are encouraging spectators but want them to be safe too!)
- NO SKIING DOWN THE HILL- this is a liability to all of us- coaches, skiers, schools…. Additionally we don’t want any broken equipment or bodies! We will have a walking trail marked off.