Newbie’s guide to the NCAA Nordic skiing championships
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  • What: NCAA Skiing Championships (Nordic)
  • Where: Black Mountain, Rumford (venue fact sheet here)
  • When:
    March 12: men's 10K classical (10 a.m.) and women's 5K classical (noon)
    March 14: women's 15K freestyle (10 a.m.) and men's 20K freestyle (noon)
  • Bates qualifiers: Sylvan Ellefson '09 (Vail, Colo.), Sam Evans-Brown '09 (Gilmanton Iron Works, N.H.) and Natalie Ruppertsberger '11 (Plainfield, N.H.)
  • Starters/results: Official start lists and results for all events

  • NEW! Video tour of the course led by Ellefson '09 and Evans-Brown '09

What's at stake

Taking in an NCAA championship Nordic ski race offers the chance to see tomorrow's Olympic and World Cup team hopefuls ski for the title of All-American (top-10 finishers) or, better yet, NCAA champion.

It's also one the few times you'll see athletes from NESCAC schools like Bates and Middlebury compete with athletes, often from abroad, from larger, athletic scholarship-awarding Division-I schools such as the University of Denver and University of Utah.

One of the best vantage points is the walking bridge connecting the deck of the lodge with base of the alpine ski trails.

It's all the more reason to take pride in Bates' Nordic skiers who earned All-America honors at NCAA championships: Sylvan Ellefson '09, Justin Easter '03, David Chamberlain '98, and Justin Freeman '98.

Where to watch

The sights and sounds alone make the events on March 12 and 14 worth watching. At Black Mountain in Rumford, one of the best vantage points for seeing wave after wave of Lycra-clad athletes is the walking bridge connecting the deck of the lodge with base of the alpine ski trails.

All Nordic competitors will pass beneath the bridge four times en route to the finish stadium, located to the left of the lodge, according to Roger Arsenault, race director of Black Mountain's Chisholm Ski Club.

Plus, if it's a cold day, you can easily duck in to warm up in front of the lodge's two soaring stone fireplaces. (Those wishing to avoid the great outdoors altogether can watch what Arsenault calls "live timing" statistical results projected on a screen in the main floor of the lodge.)

Spectators seeking a boots-on-the-ground perspective can take in the races from designated areas to the right of the lodge near the mass-start area. Arsenault says signs will be posted to direct spectators to walking trails near the snowmaking pond and High School Hill, a notoriously steep portion of the race course that can slow even the fittest skiers to a crawl.

Classical vs. Freestyle

The technique
Classical races (Thursday, March 12) feature the most recognizable style of Nordic skiing, characterized by long, powerful strides. When classical skiers seek extra speed, they may change their technique to the double-pole kick, in which both arms aggressively pole at the same time to propel the skier forward. Competitors will be disqualified for employing the freestyle technique at any time during a classical race.

Freestyle races (Saturday, March 14), on the other hand, feature a technique popularized by former U.S. Olympian Bill Koch, who used it to great effect in winning the overall World Cup title in 1982. The side-to-side freestyle technique is also called "skating" for its similarity to an ice skater's movement.

The course
Classical competitors spend most of their time gliding in the race course's parallel sets of deeply set tracks, which help guide the skis.

Freestyle courses are groomed flat, without parallel tracks, and freestyle competitors are more likely to ski in jumbled groups that range across the entire width of the trail rather than single-file along parallel sets of tracks, as they do in classical races.

The start
Classical races begin with what's called an interval start, in which individual skiers start the race at 30-second intervals. Because of the interval start, classical races are competitions against the clock. Members of a school's coaching staff sometimes radio information about their skiers' times/places to each other, which they then pass along to the skiers on the course.

Freestyle races begin with a mass start. Competitors line up in columns of classical tracks, and when the gun goes off, skiers must double-pole in classical tracks and remain single-file in their columns for approximately 50 meters. Then they can transition to the freestyle technique. In the transition zone, as skiers leave their orderly columns and begin the side-to-side freestyle technique, the race can take on a roller derby appearance, as competitors jostle for position.

Spectating Do's and Don'ts

Do cheer on all the athletes
In addition to cowbells (a sound sure to put steam in the stride of any Nordic skier), you're likely to hear regular spectators shouting "Heya-heya!" or "Up, up, up, up!" (especially to skiers struggling up High School Hill). Only coaches are permitted to run alongside skiers (for up to 30 meters) to shout interval times and encouragement. Do carry a set of Nordic ski poles with you
They make trekking through the snow to vantage points easier. Plus, if a skier breaks a pole (which can happen during a fall), rules allow him/her to accept an offered pole to finish the race. Competitors, however, are not allowed to take skis offered to them during a race. (If you see racers take off and frantically scrape the bottoms of their skis, they're doing so because the applied wax is slowing them down.)

Do walk only in designated areas
Small flags planted in the snow will designate the race course boundaries at points of intersection not demarcated by trees. Evergreen boughs stuck in the snow at regular intervals may also be used to designate the boundary of the race-course.

Don't walk near the electronic timing devices near the stadium finish to the left of the lodge
Arsenault says stray walkers can trip the finish-line beams, "generating false results." If you get too close, a polite member of event staff will likely shoo you away.

Don't walk on the race course
Fifteen-foot-wide classical ski race trails feature two, parallel sets of tracks. (You'll see those on Thursday, March 12.) Skiers are more likely to fall on classical tracks sullied by footprints. And the same is true for the carpet-like skating lanes that will be groomed for the "freestyle" races on Saturday, March 14. Arsenault likens walking down the middle of a race course to "walking out into the middle of a basketball court or a football field in the middle of a game."

—Marc Glass '88