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