December 18, 2005 (Stowe, VT): On the second day of racing for the TD Banknorth Eastern Cup series, at the Trapp Family Lodge in Stowe, VT, USBiathlon’s best man, Jeremy Teela, outsprinted Maine Winter Sport Center’s Brayton Osgood (Putney, VT) for the chocolate and the win, in the men’s 10km mass start freestyle race. Fellow MWSC skier, Tom Keefe (Berkshire Trails (MA)) was 3rd. Osgood and Keefe will compete for a place on the US Winter Olympic Team, at the Trials at Soldier Hollow, in Utah, January 3-11th. Teela already has a place on the US Biathlon’s Olympic Team. UVM’s Ryan Foster (Weston, VT), Anders Osthus, and Juergen Uhl placed 4-5-7with Dartmouth College (and Team New Zealand’s Olympic hopeful), Nils Koons, in 6th. The rest of the top 10 men’s field were Vermonters, including Garrot Kuzzy and Tim Reynolds (Bristol, VT) from Middlebury College)in 8th and 10th, and , Putney Ski Club’s Patrick O’Brien and Kevin Cutt’s in 9th and 11th. Masters men racing in the Open field included former Olympian and Hyde Park VT resident, Marc Gilberston, 9th overall, and the talk-of-the-day – the Manhattan – yes, as in New York – Ski Club members, Sproule Love and Tim Donahue, in 25th and 35th overall.

Burke Mountain Academy’s Liz Stephen (E. Montpelier, VT), still a junior skier with an early decision acceptance to Middlebury College, has already shown in the early season NorAm/Super Tour races that she is ready to make the US Olympic Team – if she chooses. She skied away from the women’s field, and finished over a minute ahead of the Subaru Factory Team’s Kate Underwood (Woodstock, VT). Underwood had a terrific race, biding her time and skiing with UVM’s Emilia DeMarchis, Team Atomic/Ford Sayre’s Dorcas Wonsavage (Hanover, NH), Middlebury College’s Evelyn Dong, and USBA’s Denise Teela (Colchester, VT). First Teela succumbed to a muscle cramp, then Dong fell off the pace, and finally Wonsavage caught an edge in the soft snow of a downhill, so Underwood and DeMarchis took the race in hand. It was Underwood who took the final sprint, finishing one second ahead of DeMarchis, 1:09 behind Stephen, and 14 seconds ahead of Wonsavage. Dong was just five seconds out of 4th. Soon after she crossed the finish line, Stephen was back on her feet to cheer on fellow Burkie, Elise Moody-Roberts, who finished in 6th, a second ahead and two seconds behind UVM’s next skiers-Carina Hamel’s in 5th, and Kate Crawford in 7th. Their teammates, Anja Jokela, and Marion Solbjorg were 8 th and 9th. Teela finished with a 10th.

The Junior 2/J2 boys and girls (age 14-15) skied a 5km freestyle race earlier in the day. Stratton Mountain School girls swept their race with the help of some advice from their coach, Sverre Caldwell. The hilly (read: mountainous) course required some respect, so mid-way through the race Caldwell told them to ease up and save their attack for the 3rd kilometer. And lo -“They listened to me!” said Caldwell, as Megan Killigrew, Karmen Whitham, and his daughter, Isabel Caldwell, came into the finish 1-2-3, 10 seconds apart and 10 seconds ahead of 4th place Kaitlynn Miller of the Stowe Nordic Outing Club. Vermonters continued to stack up in the finish, with terrific results by Mt. Top Ski Club’s Keely Levins (Rutland, VT) and Mount Anthony HS’s Julia Seyferth (Bennington, VT), the first two non-ski school skiers in the top 10. They finished ahead of Maine Nordic Ski Club’s Holly Whitney and Gunstock Nordic Association’s Evgenia Badamshina (Gilford, NH). New York skier Stephanie Crocker (Poughkeepsie) was 9th (skiing for the St. Paul’s School, NH), and Jane McClelland was 10th (Keene Valley, NY- New York Ski Educ. Foundation). The top 9 were all within a minute of first place, McClelland only 1:06 out of first.

In the boy’s J2 5km freestyle all but one in the top 10 were from Vermont. Chase Marston from the Sleepy Hollow Nordic Club (Charlotte, VT) played a good, tactical race, following Stratton Mountain School’s Kyle Dewey until the final 100meters, where he put 1.9seconds on him for first place. Craftsbury Nordic’s Ethan Dreissigacker (Morrisville, VT) was 17 seconds back in 3rd, a good 33 seconds ahead of fourth place Michael Gibson, Stowe Nordic Outing Club. Craftsbury’s Alex Schulz (Johnson VT) was the last Vermonter to keep ahead of 6th place Maine Coastal Nordic’s Sam Tarling (Cumberland, ME) by just three seconds. The sprint for 8th place was won by Kalle Jahn (Brattleboro, VT), with 9th going to David Sinclair (Waitsfield, VT). And Gunstock Nordic Association’s Will Anderson (Norwich, VT) was 10th.

The Masters men and women had their own wave start, two minutes behind the Open class of J1-OJ-SR and Masters. The strong fields, of nearly 40 men and 20 women, plus the comments of the racers, themselves supported NENSA’s recommendation to allow a Master’s Only start. “It was much less crowded, less intimidating”, said Ford Sayre’s Cheryl Carlson (Lebanon, NH). Carlson had a fun race, skiing first with overall winner Trina Hosmer (Stowe, VT), and trading places with Craftsbury Nordic’s Judy Geer (Morrisville, VT) -8th -and Carlie Geer (Hinesburg, VT) – 7th – and 4th place finisher Coastal Ruth Hall (Cumberland, ME). It was Berkshire Trails’ Maggie Ryan (Northampton, MA) that made the most of her travels, to place 2nd overall in the Master Women’s wave – a treat that earned the podium finishers a bouquet of flowers, handmade local chocolates, and the chance to be on the evening news, compliments of WCAX!

In the Master’s Men wave for once it was not the Cambridge Sports Union that won best-place-for-greatest-distance traveled award. That had to go to Sproule Love (NY, NY) and Tim Donahue (NY, NY) both of the Manhattan Nordic Club. To finish a minute behind of former Olympian Marc Gilbertson deserves bragging rights. But right behind them was Chris Nice and Rick Powell in 4th and 7th – both of the Ford Sayre Ski Club, in Hanover, NH – located in the temperate Upper Valley. Andrew Milne was the first CSU (Medford, MA) skier to conquer the Stowe hills – something not found on his home turf of the Weston (MA) Ski Track. CSU Teammates Rob Bradlee (Reading, MA) and Joe Bouscaren (MD/former Olympic sculler) were 6th and 8th. Keith Woodward (5th), Mansfield Nordic’s Tom Thurston (Waterbury VT) (9th), and Grafton Ski Club’s Reid Greenberg (Chester, VT) (10th), were #2 and 3 and 4 Vermonters in the top 10.



Over 550 skiers started in Saturday and Sunday’s TD Banknorth Eastern Cup races this weekend at the Trapp Family Lodge. Saturday’s sprints were Junior Olympic Qualifiers for New England junior skiers gunning for a place on the winning New England Junior Olympic Team. Sunday’s 10km mass start races were the first eventson the Zak Cup series for Masters skiers – a chance to win the overall in one’s 5-year age group and earn a pair of lycra tights, provided by VOMax of Northampton, MA. The TD Banknorth Eastern Cup travels to Maine in January, for the Eastern Cup at Sugarloaf, January 14th – a 5 and 10km freestyle, and the Eastern Cup hosted by the Chisholm Ski Club, in Rumford, NH – a 15km mass start classic race – January 15th. For more information, visit www.NENSA.net.