Introducing JORDI!

 

Hi there everyone!

My name is Jordi Kulis (Jordan #3… crazy stuff), and I am from Waterbury Vermont. During my high school years, I attended Harwood Union High School in Duxbury, VT. During my time at Harwood, I was on the cross country team, the nordic team, as well as the lacrosse team.

Over the past four years, I have also been a member of the Craftsbury Junior Racing Team, which trains out of the Craftsbury Outdoor Center in Craftsbury, VT (loots of Craftsbury in that sentence). One of my favorite summer workouts was when we went for a 50k distance rollerski from Island Pond, VT to the Canadian Boarder and back. I love spending time bonding with people over a good OD day, whether it’s on the road or on snow.

This summer, I took on living at a summer camp called Hosmer Point. Camp was about a 10 minute bike ride from my training center, and I worked with the Sapling program, which was a day camp 4-8 years olds. I trained by myself whenever I could, which mainly met waking up early to fit in one part of the training, and then leaving as soon as I could in the afternoon to fit in the second piece (shoutout to my coaches for waking up at 6:00 AM to do strength with me). I learned that threatening to play the song Wannabe by the Spice Girls can get a group of kids to clean a messy cabin in less than 2 minutes, and that 5 year olds can run around a pump track for a good hour without the slightest sign of exhaustion. 

The first few weeks of school have been amazing! The team has been so kind and welcoming, and I wouldn’t want to be anywhere else. My favorite part of training so far has been going on distance rollerskis and catching up on how everyone’s day is going. I’m looking forward to seeing what the ski season holds, and I can’t wait to compete alongside my new teammates. Go Saints!

Climb to the Castle

Beautiful Days! (Tim photo)

They say the sun shines brightly on those who challenge themselves. By “they” I mean a single college student, using his poetic license (recently suspended), sitting on the floor of his neighbor’s dorm room, who said that once 22 seconds ago. But on the 16^th of September the sun did greet, with a beautifully gentle vigor, the Skiing Saints as they accepted their challenge to ski up the whiteface toll road. This is the race of the pre-pre-season: a five-mile uphill skate race up an amazing pile of granite to a cool-looking granite structure, conveniently shaped like a castle.

At 8:00 AM the men took off. The Saint’s men were led by the forehead (got to keep that shin-angle sharp) of bib number six Timothy Cunningham. The butt-end of bib number six Timothy Cunningham brought up the rear of the men’s team. He was so amped and excited for the race that he didn’t even shake anyone’s hand. Which is a very big deal. Five minutes later the women exploded from the line. I didn’t see it but I heard it was a blast. Jackie Garso, Lucy Hochschartner, Steph Nicols, Erin Waters, Gabby Wangler, and Emily Seigel represented the Saints very well. All the way up the mountain the Saints pushed the pace, starting under a clear sky and bright sun, slowly piercing the sky and grinding into the clouds. The summit was cool, and the view was mystifying: we were surrounded by a cloud, the only sense of altitude was the silence over the cliff the race finished above.

Jackie on the PODIUM! - 1st age group, 2nd overall (NYSEF photo)

Jackie Garso had the day of her life finishing second overall behind a U.S. ski jumper/nordic combined athlete and setting a new PR by a modest (read incredible) 5:52 minutes! So, you could say things are getting pretty serious. Lucy also laid down new tracks with a 4:56 minute PR! Steph, Erin, Gabby, and Emily raced for the first time and made the race look easy (it’s hard and fun), each skiing fast and hard but with smiles on their faces! 

Women's TEAM (L-R Jackie, Lucy, Emily, Gabby, Steph, Erin) (Marge photo)

The day concluded with Lucy, Jackie and Tim doing some shooting training in LP and then meeting the rest of the group in Canton for a more relaxed evening. We couldn’t ask for a better way to spend the morning, though. -Tim

A note from Lucy - Tim also crushed the race, with a 30 second PR and a great attitude (read: no one likes uphills more than Tim, though Jackie comes in a very close second). It is also worth noting that both Jackie and I were on NENSA's new matched rollerskis, so our times are hard to compare to last year... However, I think we can safely say we were at least a bit faster. Especially considering Jackie's total domination! Also, Steph and Erin were both faster than anyone last year. So, the Skiing Saints are looking good for this year! Thank you to NYSEF and NENSA for a great event (and some great trucker hats). We don't have a weekly update for our recent recovery week, but we'll be introducing the first years on the blog soon instead, so keep an eye out. Happy fall!

Leaves starting to change out on 458!

Full Results

Up and up and up

What a crew!

Sandwiches make Lucy '20 happy

Summer isn’t technically over until September 22, however the cold temperatures in the North Country proved that fall is coming fast and furious! Some people on the team took advantage of this and drove to Tupper Lake to hike as an OD option.

Sandwiches also make Gabby '21 happy!

It's unclear what Tim '21 is doing...

The group turned out to be a good size to move and groove; Tim, Lucy, Jackie, Steph, Graham, Matt, Erin and I started around 10:30 at 40°F and set off into the woods. The first five miles were gradual rollers, so we could keep a consistent run throughout this. I was wearing tights and a short-sleeved shirt and oddly enough I was drenched by the first hour! We didn’t pass too many people, but the ones we did pass had overnight gear and I bet they were chilly last night…it was 39°F at SLU when I woke up!

Graham '22 with a "portable peanut butter packet"

Graham '22 having a good time, as usual

We crossed a bridge at one point and stopped for a water break and this is apparently where we took the wrong turn. Going straight would’ve taken us to Seymour, however we took a right at the rock cairn and continued to Seward (which we didn’t know until we saw the sign at the summit). It started getting steeper at this point, and the run turned into a hike up the muddy ascent. There were some pretty large rock faces that tested your leg length, but luckily, we had each other to literally pull each other up. (Thanks Graham for that extra boost!!) We passed some good look out points toward the top, however there wasn’t much of a view at the summit. We did manage to get some cool photos with Graham’s phone using portrait mode.

Steph '22 on her first ADK hike!

Matt '21 crushing the hike and the granola bar

After a quick bite to eat, we headed back down the mountain. A few of (well, most of us) succumbed to the terrible Mud Monster on the way down and our shoes quickly turned brown. We ran into a nice lady with her beautiful golden retriever on the flats and she asked us “What’s with all this running??” Apparently, she doesn’t know that running will get you places much faster than walking…just saying. 😊

Roomies :)

Our moving time was around 3:50, total time being 4:55, which turned out perfect! We hit The Hub in Tupper Lake on the way home, which is an organic store/restaurant where a couple of us got homecooked organic food. The food was super yummy and hot. It's worth going back again. (They supply the Adirondack semester kids with food, so the lady recognized our SLU clothing when we walked in). Then we got back in time for the well-earned Dana dinner and homework.

Nom nom (Erin '19)

All in all, we had beautiful weather for this hike and got in some good team bonding time. We are looking forward to another great week of captain’s practices and cooler temps. Fall is almost here!! Thanks to Graham for all the photos! 

Until next time,

Gabby Wangler ‘21

First Week Back!

            Hey everyone! We’ve just gotten our first week behind us, and things are looking good. It was a much-needed recovery week for some of us, so there isn’t a lot to report in the training department; however, it's been a ton of fun with so many new faces this fall. We just had some easy runs, our new strength program – Volt, an easy classic, GAME DAY J, the alumni xc race, and a skate OD.

In some ways, everything is the same as usual. August in Canton is way too hot and humid. The skis are just as scenic with all the cows, horses, and corn, and the roads could maybe use some repaving. We did the Run 4 Ryan cross-country race as usual.

Jackie and I got some great views out in the middle of nowhere

Above the clouds! (and in them) on Skylight

            But there are always some new things each year too, plus all of our new teammates! For instance, on Sunday morning, we got to hear someone practicing their bagpipe on our OD ski. ETown was also beaten by every member of the men’s team in the Run 4 Ryan race (that's the first time I remember that happening), and it seemed like the whole women’s team was satisfied by our races and that no one blew up (hey, sometimes it is hard to remember what it feels like to RUN a 5k).

Jackie and I'd say the sunset hike was worth it

            It’s been a long break from the blog, but from here on out we’ll be getting back to regular posts. I hope that all the followers of the blog had great summers! I know we all spent it getting a break from school, gaining work experience, hanging out with friends, and doing some training of course too. Since we don’t have too many pictures from this first week, here are a few from my summer. I tried out taking it a bit easier to hopefully have more energy going into the fall, which for me meant doing more hiking/running and less rollerskiing. It was awesome, and now I’m ready for all the hard workouts this fall will bring! Anyway, thanks for reading, and keep an eye out for the first years’ introductions coming soon!

Missing summer nights without homework...