Vermont US Eastern Cup

At the beginning of the holiday break I travelled down to Vermont with Team Hardwood for our first race of the season! We all stayed in absolutely gorgeous cabins and the ski trails were probably one of the most fun trails I've ever been on. Lots of really long climbs dominated the course, but after each climb there was a twisty, icy, fast downhill. The slippery man-made snow on the course made these descents even more nerve-racking (especially on the mass start day).

The first race was a 5km interval start classic. Like always at the beginning of the season, I feel like an uncoordinated monkey trying to get grip on classic skis. But overall, I was fairly happy with that race! It was hard to get an idea of how I truly did in my races because it was an open women category (16 and above). However, it was pretty cool to be ranked next to some of the fastest US skiers though.

Jessica Roach (new team member and coolest gal ever) after her first race on Team Hardwood and on classic skis!

The second day was a 10km mass start skate race, and let me tell ya, THE biggest mass start of my life! About 150 women, 7 skiers wide on the start grid. I was wearing the 99 bib, so being so far back, it was my goal to work on my passing skills. But this race was not without its crashes. About 50 metres from the start line, the field had to funnel into the trail where it dipped and made a right turn. As you have may already guessed, yes, there was a domino effect from one front skier that fell and took out the rest of the pack. Dan Kerr took a video of this and you can see it below! Look for the girl in the pink headband that falls right in front of the camera (me).