How does he do it?

The Director has done it again. In a season where the odds seem stacked against the Director to finish off his championship three-peat, he has found a way to get his team primed and prepared for a big race season. With the first small amounts of snow finally falling in the first weeks of 2012, HURT juniors got a chance to test their ski fitness in High School races across the state. The results were definitive.....Skiing for the Director just plain PAYS!

Out of the muck and mire of NY's December rose the original HURT-three-headed behemoth of Halligan-Luban-and-Huneck. A.Luban, in his first Sprint contest of the year took the top spot and a few days later Halligan and Huneck went 1-3 in section 2's first 6k of the year.

Visual Approximation of the performance by HURT's three-headed monster.

Top 10 finishes were also turned in by Seth Mares (9th VB) and the Director himself, who went 7th in the JVB race. HURT added some big rookie talent in the off-season and the Sisters-Duclos (Sarah and Amy) went 9-11 respectively in the VG race and John Ferrone added a 2nd place finish to his already impressive JVB resume. Rookies Ethan Katz and Brian Charzan also added solid results in 42nd and 37th respectively in the VB race.

Full Junior results can now be found at New York's first comprehensive database for High School Nordic Racing. You can find this source at http://www.nyssranordic.com/NYShighschoolbeat.html. Be sure you stay up to date on the progress of HURT junior development.


HRT news reporter Maudry Angen caught up with the Director after his 7th place finish to ask him how he has been able to prepare his junior squad to make such a fast start.

MA: so what has been the strategy up until this point? Has it just been a lot of rollerskiing?

D: "This winter has been so bad we've had to dig real deep to get our skiers on snow. I sent B. Halligan all the way to Alaska to get him some on snow time. Everyone else has been forced to tape ice cubes to their shoes. Unfortunately, Halligan's trip to compete at the Junior Worlds Team Trial Biathlon Championships has used up our entire race travel budget for the whole year. But as you can see he is at least ready. Thanks to some refinancing and some austerity measures, (and leaving a smaller Senior team than in years past.....Chris L......holding down the decade!!) HURT should still be able to field a strong team at the new NYSSRA TourNADO! and the NYSSRA Championships. This season may just come down to those two weekends!

Check out the pics of Halligan's 8th place finish in the youth division! Sporting the new 2011-12 HURT gear!




MA: What about the Sr and Master team? Are they as ready?

D: "Well...It is hard to say...I have Andy F. and Chris Y. on a very strict child-rearing interval regimen that his them going to and fro in a semi-exhausted, sleep deprived state. This type of body and mind fatigue should have them ready to tackle the new challenges of the NYSSRA TourNADO. Dave PK seems to be amped up and fit, but he too is incorporating controversial interval sessions that involve dunking holiday cookies in milk, but he has been focused on keeping his hands high. We'll see if it pays off."

MA: Well....there you have it. Bring on the late winter!

Don't forget to register for the ESG TourNADO and Loppet weekend on Feb 3-5. Let's see if we can get all of NYS skiers there!!!

The "Odd Odd-Makers Odds" on the Loppet and Tournado weekend will be coming soon. Stay tuned.

Sacrifice

As the sun rose on the morn of HURT's great snow sacrifice it was learned that their leader, coach, wax guru, and good luck charm had fallen on his sword in order to bring the desperate HURT team a few flakes of December snow. Stanley, summer training extraordinaire, laid his own life down so that HURT faithful could focus on bringing some major speed to their killer Hills Rd. interval session.

We caught up with HURT skiers for some final thoughts about their fallen coach.

Brian H: Stanley: "You are the fatest bunny anyone had ever seen. but i loved you and will never forget the way you basicly owned our house and did what you want. I will never forget the softness of your coat and I will never feel anything so smooth or fast as that pair of Fischer carbonlites you waxed for me at nationals. i'll miss you little guy' :')"
Stanley The Bunny 2008-12/16/11 Rest In Peace

Sean H (saratoga biathlon): "When you were not eating the furniture, peeing on the couch & pooping anywhere you felt like it.....you were mildly amusing. I wish you could have coached Saratoga Biathlon, then we might of had a short at beating HURT."

The Director: This is a big blow going into the season. My feet just are not as lucky as his.

A. Luban: black armbands shall be worn in tribute!

DPK: I never met the guy. But I heard he was one hell of a guinea pig...and that's saying something.

Chris Y: So is it snowing yet?

Sacrifice to the SNOW GODS! Saturday!

45 degrees and raining?!? on December 15th?!? Ground that isn't even frozen?!?

The Director is taking things into his own hands. Another weekend in December will go by without a NYS ski race and things aren't looking good in the extended forecast. Time to change the winds. This Saturday at 9am meet with your skate rollerskis in Burning Bush for a killer set of intervals. 10 x Hills Rd at L4. Let's get the whole team out to show winter that the time has come to end this non-sense. Park at the Burning Bush public park in the Country Knolls neighborhood in Ballston Lake, NY and we will ski down to the start of the interval loop. See you there. If you ordered a team suit, you can come and pick it up then.

See you there.

Like Kingston like Sjusjoen

The following report was filed by the new HRT team news room reporter Maudry Angen on Monday after chasing HURT across the state as they skied in their annual "Festival of Pain" and Kingston Rollerski race.

(Article originally posted at www.sortafasterskier.hrt.uk.co)

Monday morning saw headlines across the country read "HURT SKIS LIKE A BUNCH OF WOMEN" and as the Director flips through the pages of his morning post a big grin slides across his face. There is no bigger compliment. This past weekend saw HURT nordic take a page out of the Norwegian women's team playbook and dominate the annual rollerski race and "nordic free-swag-and-nordic-emporium-extravaganza" known to most as the Kingston Nordic Ski Race. It was done the same way that the Norwegian women made the world cup opener in Sjusjoen look like child's play. With pure dominance and disregard for other mere mortals on skis.

Two time defending champion HURT rendezvoused in Albany with members from as far away as Syracuse in order to drive down en-mass to stake their claim to their FIRST three-peat of the season. The Director (who made his own rollerski race debut) was joined by Chris Yarsevich, David Paarlberg-Kvam, Austin Huneck, Tim Huneck, Martin Donnelly-Heg, Jan Mares, Seth Mares, Adam Luban, Ed Luban, Brian Halligan, (Sean Halligan - HURT for a day), Alec Davis, Matt Tornianen, and Roger and Joan Henry .

HURT ran away with championships in both the 5K classic and 5K skate race and MDH was able to shave even more time off his 5K double pole record.

In the skate race, usually uncontested champion, Sean Halligan was pushed to the limit by Sufferfest champion Austin Huneck until in the last few 100 meters the back wheel of young Huneck's rollerski goes flying off. After a dramatic crash and subsequent shedding of poles Huneck was able to skate-board in on one ski to ensure a 1-2 finish in the skate race. When asked to comment after the race, young Huneck shrugged his shoulders and said "I guess that is where they get the expression 'the wheels came off the bus' from"

We caught up with the Director after the race and he offered the following statement.

"It was a huge effort by everyone today. We had fast skiers with fast wheels, fast skiers with slow wheels, slow skiers with fast wheels, slow skiers with slow wheels, fast skiers with loose wheels, and even a couple loose skiers with well....nice legs. We covered every competition category and are truly ready to three-peat in the NYSSRA points series as well. We will see you on SNOW!!"

Check out the coverage from the weekend.





HURT MEMBERS: PLEASE PLAN ON A TRAIL WORK PARTY on 11-27-11 at 2:00pm. Bring rakes and clippers and hand saws so we can keep our training ground free of pine needles. More details will be found in your email. Hope to see you there.

HAPPY THANKSGIVING EVERYONE.

-Director

Kingston Rollerski Races Highlight Festival of Pain

The Kingston Rollerski Races are Sunday, capping a fun weekend of training. The HURT Festival of Pain kicks off tonight, with a loosely organized (i.e. doing it alone), 90 minute over distance run. Tomorrow, will feature the famous Feeling It 40K skate rollerski, and Sunday the fun Kingston Races. Bring on the training volume!

Director to Coach: Where Is the Mental Strength Test?

High School Ski teams have started practice. That means performing baseline strength tests for all the young skiers.

The Director was disappointed by merely being tested physically. After putting on a clinic during the physical strength tests (pushups, situps, box jumps, etc) he was ready to really set the standard with his mental sharpness (contract negotiations, owner/manager/player labor negotiations, signing bonus deals, etc).

Drive for 25!

Not only is November 15th HURT's youngest athlete's first birthday (Anna), but it is also the day of the Drive for 25. Help the National Nordic Foundation raise money to develop our nation's nordic ski talent.

Drive for 25 info:
http://nccsef.org/news/?p=2604

Donate Here:
http://ccgeneralfund.causevox.com/