Pummeling by Peru

Although many NY skiers spent the last 10 days wondering if winter weather and ski racing would ever return to their neck of the woods, it is clear that some have found ways to keep up their fitness, motivation, and speed.  This past Saturday, thanks to the herculean effort of Bob Underwood and the Queensbury ski community, the Queensbury Invitational ski race was held in Lake George for the high school and NYSSRA club racing communities.

With a little more than a month before the NYSSRA championship races, a clear message was sent, and it was not the message HURT nation wanted to hear.  The Blood Thirsty Brigade from Peru made it clear that despite their current team points deficit they are in for the fight and are stacked with speed.  After Peru grabbed the top 4 spots of the men's race (Allison, Wynn, Newell, Wellford) and grabbing valuable points in the women's race (Zullo), HURT faithful were left scratching their heads and questioning Director Koziol's grand plan.  Top team points on the day went to Peru which tightens the gap leading into races next week.

It is clear that work needs to be done...

A new hope... the weekly workouts on Wednesday have taken on a new twist that should boost motivation, get the team skiing fast and challenge skiers to push their thresholds of pain and lactate. 

This Wednesday:   Ks for MLK

In honor of the great skier*, nordic combined athlete*, social activist and civil rights leader Martin Luther King Jr.,  HURT nordic dedicates its Wednesday Workout in his name.  We are reminded of his great words...
*not historically confirmed

"I have a dream that my four little children will one day live in a nation where they will not be judged by the color of their kickwax, but by the quality of their kick."

The event will  work as follows....Each skier will reach into a bag a draw a color of kickwax at random.  Options will range from Polar up to Swix 70 and have to ski the interval loop for a time using that kickwax.

Be sure to join us at 6pm for the race.  Please check the team calendar or Facebook for the location on Tuesday night.  We are going to wait and see which location will have the best snow before making the call.  Let's hope some of the flurries in the forecast add up to accumulation.

Huneck Grabs Cup Lead

Tim Huneck had the first token selected at random from the Director's Cup and thus was declared the winner of the New Year's Resolution Race. Here are the full results:

1. Tim Huneck
2. Dave Paarlberg-Kvam
3. Aaron Huneck
4. Cameron Lewis
5. Sarah Duclos
6. Amy Duclos
7. Owen Putman
8. Chris Yarsevich

In the race, skiers completed a lap of the 1.2 K course at Queensbury High School. They then tried to ski each successive lap faster than the one before. For each faster lap, skiers received a token that was placed into the Director's Cup and chosen at random by the Queen. The Queen was selected for this important role because she is next of kin to the Director, has no vested interest in who wins (other than seeing the Cup leave her house), and most importantly, possessed the only hand among those assembled that fit into the Cup.

Stay tuned for the next event in the Director's Cup series scheduled for next Wednesday, January 15. Location and type of event dependent on weather and the whim of the Director.

Look what we've done....

Ever wonder what happens to you after years and years of nordic skiing?  Do you wonder what impact skiing has on your health, wellness, happiness and personality?  What happens to you when you join HURT nordic?

We can now answer these questions...

click to enlarge

#oops #wearesorry #wheredidwegowrong? #sendusmoreofyourchildrenandwe'lltryagain #can'ttheDonnellyHeg'sYarsevichsandPK'sgiveusafreshcropofkids?

The Director's Cup

The Director's Cup

Since it's founding five years ago, HURT has been a large presence on the Nordic scene: 4 NYSSRA Club Championships, dozens of individual winners, countless podium trips; the list goes on and on. About the only thing holding the team back from reaching even greater heights is a weekly race series. Well, you can scratch that off the list too. 

Beginning this week HURT skiers of all ages and abilities will have a chance to compete in the Director's Cup, a weekly series of races with a sometimes unusual format that will get you skiing faster, and, more importantly, having fun. If that's not enough, the overall winner of the series will get to take home the The Director's Cup.

The cup was hand-crafted by the Director himself some time ago. (Note: By Director I mean the original Director, the George Washington of HURT Nordic.) It took quite a lot of convincing to get the Director's mother to agree to let this masterpiece go, as you might imagine, but she has finally relented. If you win the cup, however, you won't get to keep it forever. It will be a revolving trophy that will pass from winner to winner each year. 

The Director is still working on the complex point system for determining the overall winner and format for the events, but the first event has been set. It is this Wednesday, January 8, at 6 p.m. at the Queensbury school trail. It's called the New Year's Resolution Race. As a HURT skier, you resolve to ski faster, and that's what you'll try to do. Ski a loop around the proposed snow-making course and take your time (all timing for these events is self timing). Now, ski it again and try to go faster. Keep this up for 40 minutes, always trying to ski faster (better pace yourself). Count one point for the first lap and each lap you ski faster than the one before. Go slower one time? That's OK. Make that your new starting time. Try to go faster the next time. At the end of the event, you'll put one token for each point you earn into the cup. The Director, or his next of kin, will then pull a random token from the cup. That will be the race winner. The Director will continue pulling tokens until everyone who competes earns a place. The more laps you negative split, the more tokens you have in the cup. 

So you see, anyone can win. You can even do one forty-minute lap and still have a chance. The Director expects to see you at Queensbury this Wednesday.