By Peter Oliver
Last Wednesday, 145 kids from Harwood and other schools in the region competed at Ole's in ideal conditions – warm, bright sunshine, perfect snow – in a cross-country ski race. The technique was freestyle, aka skating, and the distance for high-schoolers was 5.6 kilometers, with the distance for middle-schoolers cut in half.
It was an impressive turnout that produced some impressive results. Many of the competitors were just getting into the sport and exhibited technical skills that, while full of enthusiasm, still required some refinement. A few others, however, demonstrated a skill and fitness level that suggested they were ready for prime time.
Philip Hekeler of Harwood smoked the boys' varsity field, soloing to victory in 20 minutes, 44 seconds, more than a minute and a half ahead of the second-place finisher. On the varsity girls' side, Orli Schwartz led a breakaway sweep by five U-32 girls, winning in a time of 24:26.
Were the many parents, coaches and fans in attendance at Wednesday's races witnessing the efforts of future world-championship contenders? You never know, but. ... Yesterday, the two-week Nordic World Ski Championships got under way in Falun, Sweden, and among the competitors are Caitlin Compton Gregg, a 1998 Harwood graduate, and Liz Stephen, who attended U-32 before graduating from Burke Mountain Academy in 2005.
The two have done all right for themselves since leaving the region to take on the world. Compton Gregg, a two-time Olympian, has won five national titles while Stephen, another two-time Olympian, has become the top U.S. distance skier. She recently finished second in a World Cup race in Russia – the best World Cup finish ever by a U.S. woman in a distance (non-sprint) race. She also finished fifth overall in the highly competitive, multi-day Tour de Ski. (You can watch live world championship action at usskiteam.org or universalsports.com.)
Both Compton Gregg and Stephen will have a formidable task ahead of them if they expect to bring home world championship medals. Competitors from such Nordic countries as Sweden and powerhouse Norway begin racing not long after they have learned to walk. And the world's top woman, Norway's Marit Bjoegen, was competing on the World Cup before Stephen, initially an alpine racer, had even taken up cross-country racing at Burke.
But you've got to start somewhere and increasingly that somewhere is Vermont. At this year's world championships, Compton Gregg and Stephen will be joined by native Vermonters Sophie Caldwell, Andy Newell, and Ida Sargent on the 16-person U.S. team. Still other U.S. team members, including Jessie Diggins and Simi Hamilton, competed scholastically in Vermont. In other words, if you want to see the future of U.S. cross-country skiing, a scholastic race in Vermont – maybe at Ole's – is a good place to start.
While Hekeler and Schwartz were the stars of the day last Thursday, that hardly means they were the only racers who might have dared to dream of future world championship participation. Perhaps there was some middle-schooler out there just getting into the sport, not even certain yet about how to lace up a pair of boots. That young skier just might be the next Compton Gregg or Stephen in the making. Again, you never know.
And you never know – you might see a future world-championship contender at this Saturday's paintball biathlon at Ole's, although it is highly unlikely. Not all races are geared toward determining who is championship material; some are mainly about who can have the most fun and that's where Saturday's event fits in. Any and all comers are welcome to plunk down five bucks to get in on the ski-and-shoot action.
Here's how it works: Ski an easy 2.5-kilometer course and take five shots at a target, with each missed shot resulting in a 20-second penalty. The skier with the best net time wins, with prizes to be awarded in age categories and any other category that the organizers deem appropriate. Two years ago, a woman competed while towing her infant in a sled, so young mothers – think of the kid-in-tow category as your chance to win. A 2 p.m. start this Saturday. For more info, contact Ole's at 496-3430 or
