February Push

To date, the winter weather and racing season has been a tricky one for the HURT faithful: snow conditions have proved challenging at times, NYSSRA calendar races have been cancelled or postponed, Junior ranks have seen a lot of turnover from seasons past, and the rise have Adirondack Vauhti and Peru's top speed have had a lot of people questioning HURT ability to match speed and be relevant contenders.

The current Director has yet to been seen at NYSSRA races this season and many are wondering if his days are numbered. Not to mention masters ranks have been battling sickness and scheduling conflicts all season long.  Despite the fact that HURT has only 2 top points earners in the NYSSRA top 10,  many team members have stepped up to get out and race and grab points where they can....enough so that in the team competition it looks like they are once again poised to grab top honors.  A lot depends on the February push...

With February come fresh snow (a lot of it) and some of the best races of the season.  ADK Vauhti kicked the month off strong with a skiathlon event at Garnet Hill.  The 2 x 8K race featured fun tactical racing that put a small but race-savvy group against a deep Peru lineup and the fast skiing Vauhti team.

The trio of DPK, MDH and T. Huneck battled it out for strong finishes, with DPK leading the way and grabbing a podium spot...fighting tooth-and-nail with Tornianen and Wellford the whole way.

Up next this month comes the highly anticipated Empire State Games.  This year it features a distance skate race and two sprint events as a classic 7.5K on Sunday.  Lots of points, pride and glory are up for grabs.  The Ducli twins (through coercion, bribery and trickery...mostly) have been able to round up a massive junior field and for the price of lodging, pizza and some muffins are hoping to stack the juniors field with some major points earners.

The HRT newsroom is sending a full team of photographers and videographers to document the weekend.  For some in HURT nation, the weekend is overshadowed by the arrival PK heiress who is expected to grab top honors in the U0 age category (which also brings meaning to "February Push").

Rounding out the month bring the fan-favorites..."The Mini-Marathon" the "Tourathon" the "Shen Classic" and of course the "Cookie Clash".  Any combination of these races will have HURT skiers primed and ready for the championship weekend in March.  Stay tuned for more pictures, results and maybe a movie...

(sorry about the lack of movies this season, thus far...)

Ready to "Dual"

Father Huneck skiing strong

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.  

All that for pie?

Pouring rain, dense fog, spring temps and a slushy ski course greeted HURT skiers desperate for ski action yesterday in Osceola for the annual "Pie Race".  With treacherous winter storm conditions sidelining many HURT racers from last weekends opener in Lake Placid the Director was not about to let Mother Nature keep his team from raking in the points again.

So, under strict orders many brave souls drove west with trunks packed with their water skis and floaty-wings.

Poles were rendered next to useless on the soft deep snow of Osceola that had been saturated by the day of rain, visibility and course conditions made "survival" and "keeping equipment from breaking" the main goals for the day.  With legions of high school skiers skiing the course first, the human sized craters that blanketed the trail made for quite a memorable/forgettable "ski race".

The visuals tell the tale....

Visual approximation of the ski trails

Team photo after the event

Mid-race action. 

We interviewed some of the HURT athletes after the event about their experience....

Matt F:  "The more you fall, the more points you get right? I got a "6"!  BOOYAH!"

Chris Y: "Even my pie is wet."

DPK: "Poling would have been nice."

Owen P: "Thankfully my coach made me do a no-pole workout on Friday....I was good and warmed up...tired....but warmed up."

Ed L: Home course advantage!....these suckas don't ski enough on the TUG! 

Bernadette: I drove 6 hours for this?  at least the pie is here.

Seth: "Now I remember why I moved to the U.P! "

Let's all hope the weather rights itself and we can get some real ski racing in. Results here.  Kudos to the Camden crew who ran this race for all.  We thank you and hope you are dry.

Shock Wei-ves

From the desk of the HRT newroom!....shocking report!

The NYSSRA race season is poised to begin a little more than a week from now and most teams are getting together their plans for the season push for the championship.  Last week the HRT news desk picked up a message from the Peru Nordic rumor mill that Andy "Layer of Waste" Wei had been seduced by the black blood brigade and sold his soul to the Denizens of the North.  

Initially it was thought that this was nothing but a nasty rumor/misinformation/news report designed to intimidate, confuse and bewilder the nordic ski community.  How could Andy Wei leave a tried and true winning program for the champions-of-second-place?  Didn't he just drop some serious coin for the HURT racing kit?

Does the unassuming Mr. Wei really moonlight as a serious headbanger/thrasher?  

The HRT newsroom dove deep into this story...following leads to Boston, Glens Falls, Germany, The pits of hell, and Peru, NY to find the truth and get questions answered....

These pictures tell the tale...

Kiss Rocks Boston...special guest Andy Wei....1994

Dusseldorf Metal-Fest 2009

Peru Nordic Weekly training - Peru, NY

The following email was sent from an undisclosed location somewhere between the earth's mantle and outer core....

Dear HURT,

      I have always been a big heavy metal fan, have given in, and signed with Peru... just fits my style better... their blog entry on training zones based on Metallica songs... was 1) hillarious, and 2) works!  Hard diagonal striding uphill on frozen Marwes to "Battery" is awesome...

We caught up with the Director Koziol after the news of this event....

HRT: Are you surprised at the 11th our roster deal offered to Andy Wei by Peru?

D:  Shocked.  Even for Peru this type of coercion is out of their normal bag of tricks.  They really must be gunning for the title this year and are going no-holds-barred.  We suspect that we will see some HURT clad effigies in Andy Wei gear midway up Russian hill. 

HRT: What is your response going to be?  

D:  I am going to be tossing a lot of support to our young talented junior squad this season.  We are excited about the Connor H. threat from the Syracuse area.  We are going for young stars and this guy has a bright future on snow.  The thing about HURT is that we find ways to bounce back.

HRT: If it doesn't pay off, will you be dethroned or resign in disgrace?

D:  for sure, it will be done Napoleon style.