Not a typical start

We here at the HRT newsroom have grown accustom to the following late November scene...

a) HURT nordic is fit, healthy and ready for the ski season to begin.
b) droves of HURT skiers descend on Kingston High School on a balmy November Sunday to ski away with the team title and enjoy a fun day of hammering away on rollerskis.
c) Return home to wait a month for snow to come. Athletes develop anxiety and frustration each day until the weather finally brings the desired white stuff.

Whelp...2013 has flipped this script right on its head and it has the HRT Newsroom anxiously awaiting the twists and turns of the season to be...

Here is what it looked like...


a) The planned contingent of HURT nordic skiers was decimated in the 11th hour by sickness as one by one HURT veterans pulled out of their Kingston commitment....leaving a small, stalwart shell of a team hoping to stave off challenging clubs from the area.
b) Frigid temps and high winds met the racers made the normal 'shorts-an-a-t-shirt' attire go right out the window.  Athletes were bundled like January in Finland.
c) Cold temps and wet weather means that many HURT skiers have been able to find local snow BEFORE thanksgiving...a rare treat for all.

What will this mean for the season to come?  With the early season sickness out of the way and lots of snow time on the horizon...does this have the Director smiling and licking his chops for a fifth team title?  Or does messing with the system mean all bets are off and its anyones game?

Stay tuned to find out....there is snow at VanHo and things are looking good for that season opener in a couple weeks.  Hope you are ready!!

Father Huneck was one of only a couple HURT master skiers to avoid the plague.

A. Duclos bests her sister by a hair on this day.

HURT squeaks out a team title thanks to some fast skiing and speedy wheels.  

Owen looks to win the "best hair" competition.  (didn't go to well for him)

The Duclos train skiing strong

HURT juniors carry the day.

Ready for Kingston?

KINGSTON RACE!!

November.....turkeys are scared, pumpkins are ripe, and the annual Kingston Nordic Ski race is on the horizon.

Come join HURT nordic for the annual pilgrim-age...(sweeeeet pun, huh!) down to Kingston high school for the annual tour-de-neighborhood hosted by our southern friends.  Put on your fast race wheels and get ready to race!

See this link for registration information: http://kingstonnordic.blogspot.com

Email us at hurtnordic (at) gmail.com if you are interested in carpooling or caravanning.

(visual approximation of a HURT carpool)

Suffer Season

Suffering through October and November is a ritual part of the nordic skiers calendar.  Daylight rapidly disappears, roads are often wet and leaf-filled, chill is in the air yet real snowpack seems hopelessly far away.  Meanwhile training volume and intensity gets ramped up and suffering takes on a whole new meaning.

Despite the apparent misery, it is also one of the most exciting times for HURT skiers.  Those in high school are looking forward to the start of their nordic season, new dates are added on the HURT calendar for team training and HURT Laydz sessions,  race dates are being solidified on the NYSSRA calendar , and new team gear and equipment comes rolling in from Mt. Borah and The Sportspage. Not to mention....HURT skiers secretly love all the hard training ;)

October also brings one of our favorite events: SUFFERFEST

It looks a little something like this...

It is the annual attempt by the Barbaric Berserkers of the Nordic Death Brigade to come south and establish nordic dominance.  Each year HURT has to show up in force to beat back the monsters of the north on the highway of hell known as Prospect highway.  Be sure you sharpen your ski tips, put on your fast wheels and prepare for the battle royale!

...only this is actually what they look like.

When: October 27th, 11:00am
Where: Prospect Mountain Highway, Lake George, NY
Details: Race starts at the toll base, ends at the top.  Bring shoes for the hike down and small bag to carry them up. Be there!


REMEMBER:  THE NYSSRA RACE FOR CLUB DOMINANCE HAS ALREADY BEGUN!

The team with the most NYSSRA members by November 1st wins the first "race".  POINTS ARE ON THE LINE!  Make yourself a member today!

From the Castle

Several HURT nordic skiers made there way up for the annual start-of-ski-season event on the Whiteface highway known as the Climb-to-the-Castle.  The press was out and about snapping pictures and snagging interviews and the following pictures and captions tell the tale...

The ex-Director thinking about how much more bovine hemoglobin he can realistically pump into his doped wheels.

Mr. "I will never do this event again" Huneck looking pleased that he nailed the clothing for the weather this year....shorts: warm and sunny at the bottom...ski suit top: windy and cold at the summit.

Owen "was this really my idea?" Putman skiing strong to the finish

We don't know what is going on here, the colors are too dull to make anything out.

HURT men gettin' it done on tough day! (Missing top HURT finisher and SLU stud

Will Frielinghaus...he is doing repeats of the hill.....Congrats to all)

This is the "Ugh...sorry coach...yes, we did come al the way up to Lake Placid with our rollerskis in the car only to stand up here and watch people ski by.  Now, how many pushups do we have to do?" picture.

ex-Director leading the way for the HURT juniors. 

Senior Stud Frielinghaus Shows his Skiing Stuff for SLU

Underdogs?

Can a four-time reigning champion be an underdog?  The HRT newsroom was shocked when the AP Polls were released this week following the annual NY "Welcome-to-Nordic-Season" event known as the NYSEF Climb to the Castle rollerski sufferfest.

The top five preseason ranked teams...

AP Preseason NYSSRA Nordic Rankings: 
1) Peru Nordic - new additions and a strong endorsement from nordic champion/mountain goat/USSAbadass L. Stephen
2) RNR - reloaded and always a lot of Junior talent
3) HURT - we can't kick the champs out of the top 3...yet
4) ADK Vauhti - New kids on the block. Lots of enthusiasm
5) Cayuga Nordic - lots of age group points from this team of nordic stalwarts

(for full rankings of all the nordic clubs visit www.iamwastingtimeatworklookingatnordicskirankings.com)

News has been swirling this off-season that this may be the end of HURT nordics championship run...with a high graduation rate, departure of all the members of famed "Three-headed-monster" (and all its derivations), and the schism caused by the formation of upstart Adirondack Vauhti... this has all left HURT nordic looking leaderless and directionless entering fall rollerski season.  This is not helped by the fact that the brothers-Koziol (Jackson and Travis) seem to look increasing alike...The HRT newsroom spent the last two hours taking to "The Director" about the upcoming season*...

HRT: What are your hopes for the upcoming season?

D: I like sledding.

HRT: Can you recover from the loss of so much team talent?

D: You know whose got talent?  America.  I saw that on TV.

HRT: How has training been going?

D: CHOO! CHOO!

*(There is a chance we may have interviewed the wrong Koziol...we are looking into it.)

How will HURT Nordic Respond?  What will be the new teams identity? How will the new landscape of NYSSRA Nordic be formed this race season?

We look forward to answering all these questions as the season ramps up.  It all starts this weekend at the Fall bi-annual NYSSRA meeting where race dates and season calendars get laid out.  Come be part of the process and help grow nordic skiing in NY.  Visit this page for full details: http://www.nyssranordic.com/nordicskiracing.html.  We'd love to have your input and help.

Another friendly reminder...if you, your parents, brother, sister, dog, neighbor, classmate or friendly neighborhood Olympian has not signed up for NYSSRA and HURT...encourage them to do so. https://www.skireg.com/Net/nyssra-nordic-membership-2012-2013

Stay tuned for information on the upcoming race season and fall training events.  

What the fall brings

Lots of questions are swirling around HURT nation as August winds down and a busy autumn looms.  Will HURT be able to respond effectively to the loss of talented skiers to Adirondack Vauhti? Can they recover with the graduation of many of their top points earners and talented juniors? Will they cement a dynasty with a half-decade of NYSSRA team titles? Can they finally get it together and win the team championship relay? Can the Director cope with the pressure? (photo evidence shows it may not be going well....

(oh dear...)

The answer so far has been simple...we gotta train. hard. and a lot.  If a resurgence is going to come, it is gonna be because new stars are willing to step up to the fill the void.  For HURT, Matt Forshey seems poised to take the bull by the horns to lead the next crop of top talent.  He has already notched some great junior performances on the range of Jericho  and is building some great form into the early season.  If Matt doesn't provide the answer, it looks like a certain dynamic duo will lead the way.  It is unknown who it will be, but HURT has some double-trouble coming down the line....will it be "The Ducli" twins Sarah and Amy?? The "CHAAAAZAM" brothers Adam and Brian? Or perhaps "Tom and Jerry" duo of Owen Putnam and Aaron Huneck?  The season hasn't really started so any number of HURT juniors could find themselves in the driver seat of the teams success.  Surprises are sure to come up! 

Get to training and join us for the season!

(visual approximation of how Aaron and Owen ski together)

Here is a little bit of what we've been up to:

Not Dry Heat

In 2012, HURT nordic hosted a junior ski camp that ended up being during one of the hottest weeks of the calendar year.  So for the last twelve months HURT organizers have been poring over meteorological charts, weather maps, doppler radar and farmers almanacs that would help them pick a nice summer week of good weather, modest temperatures and low humidity.

Needless to say, HURT organizers really stink at being meteorologists.

The 2013 HURT camp was a humid, brutal sweat-fest with temps nearing the triple digits with air so thick you could chew it.  It did not keep skiers from thinking about the upcoming winter and the nordic race season.  The athletes beat the heat and took major steps toward reaching their individual goals of top finishes in JN Qualifers, Junior Nationals, Eastern High School Champs, J2 (U16) championships and club and school races.  It was a week that brought together skiers from RNR, NYSEF, HURT, and unattached skiers from all across the state.

The week was filled with strength sessions, OD skis, technique work, classic intervals, skate sprints, agility on dryland and skis, uphill time trials, mountain hike, and bounding sessions.....all that balanced out with plenty of swimming, splash pads, ping pong, napping, eating and recovering.  We would like to thank again STEWARTS SHOPS who donated ice cream sundaes for our kids and PRICE CHOPPER who donated a nice gift card for food.  We also want to thank THE SPORTS PAGE who continues to support the HURT nordic team and our nordic events.


It was a great week for NY skiing and youth skiing.  Visit our facebook page to view a video recap of the weeks happenings.  Here are a few pics:

summit of Buck Mtn

Our Camp Champions

West Mtn TT

Here are the final results for our camp competitions:

Dryland Speed and Agility:
Tommy Ernst  1:46
Sarah Duclos  1:47
Adam Luban  1:58
Matt Forshey  2:02
Amy Duclos  2:08
Adam Marino  2:10
Brian Chrzan  2:11
John Ferrone  2:12
Adam Chrzan  2:12
Maddi Schriefer  2:17
Owen Putnam  2:24
Megan Kellogg  2:25
Aaron Huneck  2:26
Gabbi Rodbell  2:29
Emily Cromie  2:29
Connor Hyrnuk  2:31
Eric Houk  2:33
Ethan Katz  2:39
Everett Sapp  2:39
Ryan Young  2:57
Maile Sapp  3:01
Ben Francisco  3:08
Eliza Blood  3:13


Uphill Time Trial Run
Ben Anderson - guest  14:44
Adam Luban  15:15
Jason Hettenbaugh - coach  15:19
Matt Forshey  16:44
Connor Hyrnuk  17:07
Aaron Huneck  18:32
Ryan Young  18:33
Tommy Ernst  18:35
Brian Chrzan  18:41
Eric Houk  18:42
Seth Mares - guest  18:57
Jon Ferrone  19:22
Adam Marino  19:41
Megan Kellogg  20:03
Sarah Duclos  21:07
Amy Duclos  21:31
Ethan Katz  22:38
Owen Putnam  22:51
Maddie Schreifer  25:50
Adam Chrzan  27:15
Ben Francisco  28:09
Gabbi Rodbell  29:55
Eliza Blood  32:07
Emily A.  33:38
Maggie Borgos  33:51

Ski Agility Course
Matt Forshey 1:00
Everett Sapp 1:00.13
Adam Luban 1:02
Austin Huneck - guest 1:08
Adam Marino 1:09
Eric Houk 1:10
Connor Hyrnuk 1:10
Ryan Young 1:12
Aaron Huneck 1:13
Maile Sapp 1:14
Sarah Duclos 1:19
Amy Duclos 1:20
Adam Chrzan 1:23
Ben Francisco 1:23
Maddi Schreifer 1:25
Ethan Katz 1:26
Megan Kellogg 1:26
John Ferrone 1:27
Brian Chrzan 1:29
Gabbi Rodbell 1:34
Eliza Blood 1:37
Emily Cromie 1:47