Craftsbury - Eastern Cup #3
February 12, 2026
The training week leading into our third Eastern Cup was chilly, but was nothing compared to the temperatures we would face on the actual race days in Craftsbury. Saturday the temps hovered in the teens, and when coaches arrived at the venue on Sunday, the car temperature read -9F… Nevertheless, EMXC athletes persisted and showed up prepared, focused, and seemingly unaffected by the cold.
Saturday
Saturday was a 5/10k individual start skate race on Craftsbury’s North 5k course. It’s a course with many sustained climbs and winding downhills, and our athletes were up to the challenge. Saturday was combined with the UVM Carnival, meaning our skiers got to race against the college kids.
The open women’s field led out the day, with Hannah P, Hannah L, Abby and Iris representing EMXC in the race. EMXC alumni Amelia, Sophia, Shea, Evie, and Elizabeth also raced for their college teams. Hannah Petersen landed herself in the mix with some of the college skiers and her pal Hannah Leese reported having a great race, too - feeling strong throughout and proud of how she attacked the downhills, which were made friendlier due to a little fresh snow to cushion the trails. Abby said that she felt good considering her tough week at school, and made a plan to try to get some rest in the week following. Iris went into the race with a new fueling plan (pasta for breakfast!!) and said she had good energy throughout the race.
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The U16 girls went directly after the older gals. Anna finished her first ever Eastern Cup race and landed herself right next to June, just outside the top thirty! April nearly broke the top twenty with another strong race. Emma continued her streak of top tens with a 6th place finish.
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The racing continued straight into the Open men’s field, where ten EMXC athletes left the start gate. Calvin had a great race, noting that it was one of the first races he’s had this season that he felt he could really dig deep and enter race-mode. Zach and Matthew K continued on upward trajectories, logging some of their best racing this season.
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Our younger boys showed UP and also had some standout racing. Thomas was the 5th New England finisher and Egor the 7th, which marked their best results of the season thus far. Lincoln was the first starter of the day, and used the college skiers entering their second lap of the 10k to catch rides throughout the course. Ryan finished his first ever eastern cup race - noting that individual start races can be really challenging with nobody around you. Safe to say he faced that challenge, and learned a little bit for next time!
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Sunday
Sunday was CHILLY and the snow was once again quite slow. The race organizers delayed the racing to allow the sun to warm the air, and the races were on! The sun made a huge difference in combination with lots of layers, face tape, vaseline, toe warmed, and the like. The preparation of our ~very~ responsible athletes and our awesome team of coaches made this challenging day go smoothly.
The first mass start to go off was the open women's field at 10am. The races felt a little less hectic, as many of the college teams had gone home after the carnival races on Saturday. Hannah P was spotted attacking the steep hill up to the upper stadium in the classic race with powerful striding, and she noted that this was one of the hardest races she had ever done. She approached the race tactically and skied with other racers around her the whole race. Keira came back from a tiring week of school to have a gutsy race and put out some lovely striding and gliding.
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The open men went next in slightly warmer temperatures. This race had many pro racers from the Craftsbury GRP, which meant the pace started out HOT. Our skiers settled into the race, found packs to stick with, and continued to move up throughout the race. Brendan came back from a funky day on Saturday to churn out one of his best races of the season - he said he finally found his pain cave! Matthew, Jasper, and Calvin pushed each other and worked together for the duration of the 10k, with Matthew having a standout race as well.
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The U16 girls went next. Emma stuck with a pack for the race and said she felt great on all of the uphills. April had one of her better classic days, fighting tired legs to keep a high tempo herring bone and making big strides in her striding technique. June used her quick tempo skiing to keep good energy over all of the hills. Anna caught a ride from a Craftsbury skier all the way to the finish, and held off a skier coming in hot behind her!
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The U16 boys finished off the day with our strongest racing of the weekend. Egor pulled out some extremely gritty racing - moving up from 6th place at the bottom of screaming mimi and pushing into 3rd. He held off a hard-charging field to earn EMXC's first U16 Boys podium this year. Thomas deployed some extremely powerful striding and running up screaming mimi to fight for a seventh place finish in a really competitive field, and Lukey showed off really energetic, high tempo striding all the way over the last big hill to have a personal best result. Ryan maintained excellent striding form and had a huge finishing push thanks to cheering from coach Nick.
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Weekend Reflection
All in all, this is exactly the path we want the team to be on this time of year, with skiers prioritizing good energy and continuing to improve their racing processes! We are really excited to continue this positive trajectory into one more Eastern Cup, and then put in some work at our February Camp. With a really quick turnaround to the next Eastern Cup at Oak Hill, this is a perfect opportunity for each skier to reflect on what worked for them and what they learned, and to try to carry that into this final weekend of regular season racing.
Next up: Classic sprinting and a skate 5/15k at Oak Hill!