April 04, 2015 – At the conclusion of the 2014 season, NENSA began awarding the Gallagher Cup to the champions of the season long EasternCup series. Our champions are determined by EasternCup points. The male and female atop the EasternCup points rankings at the conclusion of all eight EasternCup races are our Gallagher Cup winners.

“The Eastern Cup circuit is New England’s, and one of the nation’s, premier race series and we feel the competition and community behind the series speak to Mike Gallagher’s legacy as an athlete, coach, and community leader,” said NENSA executive director, Zach Stegeman. “We thank the Gallagher family for supporting us in our approach to honoring Mike’s legacy for NENSA.”

The 2015 Gallagher Cup award goes to Craftsbury Green Racing Project teammates Kaitlynn Miller and Gordon Vermeer. They’ll be added to the list of Gallagher Cup champions along with Katherine Ogden of Stratton Mountain School and Patrik O-Brien, then racing for Craftsbury Green Racing Project claimed the inaugural Gallagher Cup awards in 2014.

“I’m really happy my teammates and I got to race all of the Eastern Cups this winter — great venues, great competition, and such a fun NENSA community,” said men’s Gallagher Cup winner Gordon Vermeer of Craftsbury’s Green Racing Project. “It was actually a major goal of mine to win the Gallagher Cup this year. I am honored to receive it. Thank you NENSA!”

“I’ve enjoyed racing Eastern Cups for the past ten years,” said Kaitlynn Miller, who won this year’s Gallagher Cup in her first season as part of the Green Racing Project. “I’m very pleased to have won the Gallagher Cup this season along with my teammate, Gordon.”

This season bucked the usual EasternCup schedule to accommodate the mid-season USSA SuperTour. The series opened with a glorious weekend of racing hosted by Frost Mountain Nordic at Rikert Touring Center near Middlebury, Vermont. Olympian, Andy Newell headlined the competition in a huge field that featured a large group of professional skiers, junior racers with national ambitions, up and comers, and a contingent of Masters racers. From there it was on to Black Mountain in Rumford, Maine for a fast weekend of races in conjunction with the Bathes College EISA Carnival. From there, Vermeer and Miller got to race on home snow as they, and the entire EasternCup circuit got to test themselves against some of the nation’s best in the USSA SuperTour host by Craftsbury as part of their ten-day 2015 SuperTour Festival. The EasternCup series wrapped up in New Hampshire with Ford Sayer hosting the Silver Fox Trot in Hanover, and Holderness School hosting their Cheri Walsh Memorial on the school trail system.

Pepa Miloucheva, head coach of Craftsbury’s GReen racing Project said, “I was glad that this year our travel schedule didn’t conflict and we were able to race at most of the EasternCup races. It was nice for all of us to have the elite and the junior athletes travel and race at same events as a team. In general, I think it is important that the elite skiers in the east participate in the EasternCup Sereis when they can, as this will rise the level of the skiing in New England.”

Miloucheva concluded, “I am happy for Gordon and Kaitlynn in winning the Gallagher Cup Award; he in his last, and she in her first year as a professional skier!”

A standing award has been donated by a Vermont family, to reside at the NENSA office, and winners receive a smaller pottery award from TwoPotters of Vermont.

About the NENSA EasternCup Series:

The NENSA Eastern Cup series is the premier race series in New England and one of the most competitive regional events in the country. Participation consists of college, juniors, seniors and masters racers all vying for Eastern Cup points. The juniors have the added incentive to earn separate points for the highly competitive New England Junior National Team. USSA National Ranking points are up for grabs at each of these races (FIS points too, in most cases), for skiers looking to gain better seeding in USSA races and potential starts in OPA and World Cup races. The racing format of the Eastern Cups allows skiers to go head to head against the best skiers in our region, who are also some of the best in the country. One can find the traditional race format of interval start races at these events, along with full sprints with heats brackets, short distance prologue races, and exciting mass start races in both classic and skating technique. For full Eastern Cup results, click here.