Juniors News

Over the past couple of months, EMXC did a fun, 3-week “team talks” series, with the goal of defining the atmosphere we want to cultivate as a team this season! Each week, we gathered as a team to have valuable conversations about why we love skiing and the things that make our team and sport so special.

In the first session, coaches Chris and Avery came up with

With racing right around the corner, EMXC skiers and coaches were thrilled to have the opportunity to ski on some amazing snow for our 2024 Thanksgiving camp. Better yet - we returned to MA to find a manmade loop of snow at our home trails on the Leo J Martin Golf course! Winter is off to a great start.

Day 1: Friday

Thanksgiving camp was extra

Last month, 36 EMXC Juniors skiers headed to Dublin, NH for a team training camp at Dublin School. Coaches Chris, Avery, Marika, Mark, Nick, Robert, and Devin attended to help lead camp. Camp is one of the highlights of the summer, as it cultivates a lot of opportunity for team bonding, culture-building, and fun and focused training!

Day 1

Regional Elite Group (REG) Camp

The Eastern Regional Camp unites the tops skiers from New England and Mid-Atlantic regions for a week of learning and training! This year, Fran and Leigh were nominated to the group and attended camp at UVM.

REG Recap from Fran

I had a great time at REG camp this summer! It was awesome to come together

Regional Development Group (RDG) Camp

The Development Team is chosen based on results from the winter and is named once a year. Athletes selected to the team have the opportunity to attend a 3-day camp in the summer to work with new coaches and ski with athletes from around the region. This year, Jasper and Alex attended camp at the Craftsbury Outdoor Center, where

The summer has been flying, and so have the EMXC skiers! We’ve been hard at work making technique improvements, building endurance and running skills, and putting a testing week and a big volume week under our belts.

Testing week included a strength test, a 3k running test, and a double pole test. To add to the already-challenging week, mother nature decided to make it HOT.

Two EMXC athletes qualified for Junior Nationals based on their results throughout the season. Fran Tucker and Alex Taylor were selected to represent New England in Lake Placid to compete with the best athletes in the country.

Athletes arrived in Lake Placid 2 days in advance of the first race to do some training on the course and get to know their teammates and

This year, Team Massachusetts finished the weekend in fourth place overall with 27,828 points, only 64 points behind third place Maine. This is a big deal, as the team shrunk the point gap of 605 points behind Maine from last year.

This is reflected by an impressive sprint effort for the boys team, as they won the sprint day with

The end of the ‘23/’24 season was a challenging time, with limited snow across New England and multiple championship weekends on the horizon. In the time between the last eastern cup and the final races of the season, the athletes put their heads down and did the necessary training to set themselves up for success. With no snow at Weston, this meant roller skiing, hill bounding,

Sunday, Classic 5/10k

Sunday started off chilly and warmed up quickly throughout the day. Coaches started off in insulated pants and thick mittens, and quickly had to delayer as the sun came out.

The U16 boys started off the day with a classic 5k. With bomb-proof kick, the boys had lots of fun and we saw some very strong striding from all of them. Zach Scopinich-Burgel, Jasper

What a weekend to end the Eastern Cup season on! Holderness put on a great show, with a thrilling course for the 1.1k skate sprint on Saturday and some pristine classic tracks for the classic 10k on Sunday.

Team spirit was high, glitter was EVERYWHERE, and smiles were contagious. There were lots of firsts, personal bests, and learning moments for many of our athletes, and some might

Massachusetts Qualifier

Due to constraining snow conditions throughout the state, the MA qualifier was hosted at our very own Weston Ski Track! We are so thankful for the snowmakers who made this race possible, and were excited to do some racing on our home course. Due to events happening earlier in the day on Saturday, the qualifier races began at 6:00 PM, and the last race toed the

EMXC went into the weekend prepared for chilly temperatures (we saw a high of 5 degrees F on Saturday) and classic skiing. The icing on the cake for the weekend was that the races were combined with a Supertour, so our athletes got to race against the best - including at least one 2022 Olympian!

Both races this weekend were classic races - the first a classic sprint and the second a

December was a busy month for EMXC Juniors. Athletes participated in this season's first Eastern Cup mid-month, and then made the trek up to Mont Sainte Anne for a fabulous training camp at the end of December. See all of Coach Avery's details below:

Saturday Recap (Classic Sprints)

Unsure of how sprint racing works? Here is a little breakdown of

We are excited to introduce Chris Stock as the new Head Coach and Program Director and Avery Ellis as the new Assistant Coach and Program Director for EMXC Juniors.

Learn a little more about Chris and Avery:

What is your favorite “non-skiing” ski team memory from your career (social stuff, not training)?

Chris: Traveling with college teammates to training camps

For the first camp of the season it was great to have the majority of our athletes all together for the weekend, back from fall sports, school, and other activities.

On Saturday we had a big interval session where athletes got to practice their approach to tackling a course by thinking about something new each interval. Athletes were challenged to break the course into "chunks" and

The EMXC team is keeping busy waiting for the first snow of the season. Last weekend they enjoyed a special visit from former EMXC Olympic skier Julia Kern, shared their roller-skiing with YES program participants, and the coaches attended a clinic in Dublin.

Visit with Julia Kern

On Saturday morning Julia Kern joined the juniors for their weekly classic interval session. The

The end of summer training culminated in an amazing week of testing. Although it was a hot (and difficult) week, the athletes pushed through to achieve some big goals.

A few highlights from the week:

Sam Gallaudet broke a long-standing DP Test record with a 2 second margin and a time of 9:05. The previous record was set by Gavin McEwen in 2015 and

Head Coach Cate Brams has accepted an offer to join the University of Denver as the Assistant Nordic Coach. Cate has made huge contributions to EMXC. We are enormously grateful for her excellent and enthusiastic coaching leadership as well as her planning and executing on a vision for the structure and management of the Juniors program. Cate will continue in her role as Head Coach and Program

Last month, 25 EMXC Juniors skiers traveled to Bethel, ME for a team training camp at Gould Academy. The skiers were supported by EMXC coaches Chris, Meg, Cate, Mark, and Nick, as well as Gould Academy coach Jacob Volz. It was a great four days of training, team bonding, and learning! Some highlights from camp:

Day 1 - Wednesday

We kicked off camp with a run and strength session

Over the last month, five EMXC Junior athletes attended either NENSA's Eastern Regional Camp (REG), or US Ski and Snowboard's National Training Group (NTG) camp. Our EMXC skiers had the following to report after their new training experiences! Thanks to all of the coaches and athletes who gave their time, expertise and insights to make these camps so valuable to all the attendees.

EMXC Juniors recently enjoyed a well-deserved social gathering to celebrate another amazing year of training, adventures and competition. The evening was filled with delicious food, fun activities that allowed the athletes to demonstrate their sporting skills outside of skiing (basketball, corn hole, badminton and volleyball), a very valuable clothing swap, and bittersweet farewells to

It's that time of year again, and as you're breaking out the dryland training gear for the first time this year, here are some things to keep in mind!

Although this recap is quite belated, I tried to do my best to summarize what was a hectic and cold week in Alaska. - Cate

After a full day of flying (Boston to Seattle to Fairbanks), and the realization that Fairbanks is four hours behind eastern time, the team arrived in Alaska late Friday night to sub-zero temperatures (in Fahrenheit!). After some rest, everyone got out to scope the

U16 Championships in Fort Kent, Maine were an exciting three days for the Massachusetts team, culminating in a third place standing, behind Vermont and New Hampshire! The MA team has accomplished this only once since 2013, with a third place standing in 2018. Way to go, Massachusetts cross-country team skiers and coaches! Susannah Wheelwright, the MA U16 Team Leader highlighted many of the

Unlike other events, EHS and U16s are both scored based on a system where every racer for a team scores points based on finish place. This means that taking 100th vs 100st has the same points difference as 1st vs second. As a result, EHS is a high scoring event (total points for the weekend can exceed 30,000), and every single racer counts. At EHS, the overall depth of a team is what makes the

Mother Nature and the dedicated staff at the Weston Ski Track have been working hard this week to provide us with new snow! The fresh snow conditions are a welcome gift as we continue our training and head into our final weeks of competition--Eastern High School Championships, Junior Nationals and U16 Championships are right on the horizon! Please thank the Weston Ski Track staff when you see

Congratulations EMXC Juniors on an amazing showing at Eastern Cup #3 this past weekend! Quarry Rd Trails provided an awesome venue and supreme flexibility in the face of extreme cold temperatures. The postponement of Saturday's races to Sunday made for a unique EC experience...a double header day! Our EMXC athletes (and some amazing competition) showed up with high energy, enthusiasm and

Congrats to all the EMXC skiers who participated in the EHS/U16 Qualifiers at Notchview this past weekend. It feels like we have truly been chasing snow this year, and the positive attitudes, flexibility, and full focus of all our athletes and families really made for a fun day. Now get bundled up for a cold weekend and a day of adventure and racing on Sunday at Quarry Road Trails!

The 2023 Race for Snow isn't over yet! The online auction is still open until January 29th! Don't miss out...place your bids NOW and support Protect Our Winters!

Link to Online Auction: https://www.32auctions.com/RaceForSnow2023

Kudos to all our incredible event organizers and team volunteers (athletes and family members) for an incredible 2023 Race for Snow event. It was spectacular!

This week will feature some nice and easy recovery, and an opportunity to catch our breath after all the training, race organizing, and glitter-wearing that happened last week. We’ll have an additional day off, either Thursday or

Great work this weekend up in Craftsbury. It was awesome to get to ski with so many of you, work on technique, and enjoy the snow. I know I can speak for all the coaches when I say that this weekend got me SUPER stoked for the rest of the year of racing and training!

Training Plan

This week will be really easy — focus on getting some rest. Don’t worry about “hitting your planned

It was an unseasonably warm and humid morning last Sunday, as competitors started to show up around 8am at the base of Mt. Greylock. Besides EMXC, the field included some of the strongest New England teams, including the SMS juniors, GMVS, and Craftsbury GRP, not to mention college racers from Harvard and Williams. We held a pre-race team meeting covering the complex logistics of the

This week will be our last big volume push before thanksgiving and getting on some real snow!! This is a good week to try and zero in and get as much training done as you can!

Daylight SavingsIn an attempt to make sure people can get one practice during the week on skis during daylight savings, we will be doing two morning practices and two evening practices on Wednesdays until we are

So, the cross country or soccer or field hockey season is over, and you’re itching to get back to ski practice. But, you’re tired -- you’ve had a lot of meets and games in the past few months -- and you’re not sure if you should take a rest first, and for how long. Sound familiar?

At the end of fall sport season, it’s common to feel confused about how to make a

Great work last week with all the testing!! A lot of solid results. It was a tough week to PR as a result of the rain, cold, and the repaving of the DP test hill, so if you didn’t PR, keep that in mind! The bigger thing than PRs at this time of year is to practice the process of completing a TT, and to come out of it feeling as though you have something you’ve learned for next time!

As part of an effort to give back and to the areas in which we rollerski, immediately AFTER Heath's Bridge practice on Saturday, October 22 we are planning an "old school" strength workout: installing trail markers, cutting and moving brush piles, and removing invasive species from along trails. This is an opportunity to create some good-will with the neighbors there, as well as to learn a

This week we will be doing our third and final formal testing week of the year. This means that it is the last week we’ll dedicate, more or less, to testing before we get to the winter season. This doesn’t mean that we won’t do any more time trials — in fact, we’ll do lots more! But this is the last week where we’ll try and get all the dryland time trials (strength test, 3k test, and DP test)

This week will be a relatively easy week, with two off days and some hill-bounding. The goal is just to get some rest, and to hit some quality sessions! Access the training plan through our Members Only section.

The days are getting shorter, the pavement is getting harder, and the leaves are starting to clog the storm drains... all sure signs that its time for the 33rd annual EMXC Fall Classic rollerski race!Mark your calendars - this year's race will be held on Sunday, October 23rd at 9am. The course starts and ends at Milk Street in North Andover, MA and consists of two 7.5km loops on rolling

Beloved coach, leader, and educator. We are so proud of you!

Now is the time to dig out ski clothes, boots, poles and skis that you’ve outgrown. Come to the equipment and clothing swap to to find your too-small, but good-condition gear a new home!

Label items for sale:

*Venmo tips: To facilitate easy Venmo payments,

EMXC Juniors - This week will be a medium volume week with a focus on just getting a bit more volume and intensity under the belt. We’ll do two intensity sessions this week, as will begin to be our norm as we get into the fall. If you are running cross country or playing a fall sport and haven’t checked in with your point coach about how to balance training, this is a great week to do so! And,