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The skating competition for the Bay State Winter Games takes place this weekend.

Bay State Winter Games Return to Berkshires This Weekend

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
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WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — Kevin Cummings knows how quickly a good idea can snowball.
 
The executive director of the Bay State Games is excited to see games offer two new events when it returned to the Berkshires for its 31st season.
 
"I started with the organization in 1984, and I remember '85 was the first figure skating competition," Cummings said. "We had under 50 skaters."
 
This year, there will be hundreds of skaters descending on Williams College's Lansing Chapman Rink for three days of competition that run from 9 a.m. Friday, Feb. 12, through 6:30 p.m. on Sunday.
 
But the big news in the Bay State Winter Games is the addition of cross country skiing and snowshoeing, which will take center stage on the festival's final weekend, Feb. 27 and 28.
 
With last year's addition of bowling, that makes for six sports (master's ice hockey and downhill skiing are the others) in six venues over the course of four weeks. The games started Jan. 30 with downhill skiing at Bousquet Ski Area in PIttsfield.
 
"We've doubled the number of sports in the Winter Games in two years," Cummings said. "We're pretty excited about that.
 
"It's a little bit of a risk with cross country skiing and snowshoeing because of the snow. We used to have cross country skiing, and one of the reasons we stopped doing it was the uncertainty of the conditions. But with the interest out there, it was worth giving it another shot."
 
Cummings said the Winter Games' newest events have the support of enthusiasts within the disciplines. Joe Miller, director of the state high school Nordic championships and Amber Dodge, the youth program manager of the New England Nordic Ski Association, are on board with the cross country skiing. Bob Dion of North Bennington, Vt.'s, Dion Snowshoes is on board with the snowshoeing event.
 
The cross country skiing will be held at two venues over two days. A freestyle (skate) race will be held at Windsor's Notchview Reservation on Saturday, Feb. 27. A classical race will be held the next day at Canterbury Farm in Becket.
 
The entry fee for the Nordic events is $25 for youngsters through Grade 8 or $35 for people in high school or older. There will be 10 age divisions ranging from Grades 1 and 2 up to age 60-and-over.
 
Snowshoeing will be a one-day event at Canterbury Farm on Sunday, Feb. 28, and registration costs $30.
 
There will be six age divisions for snowshoers, starting with juniors 19 and under, who will compete in a 5-kilometer race. Adults will compete on a 10K course.
 
All of the competitions are free to view for spectators. There is one event that charges admission at the Winter Games, the annual Bay State Skate, the Saturday night figure skating show that features the Christmas Brook Figure Skating Club, regional U.S. Figure Skating Association and Ice Skating Institute medalists and medalists from the winter games themselves.
 
Tickets to the show are $10. Winter Games athletes are admitted free of charge — one of the features that sets the games apart from other competitions.
 
"When we were planning for this year's games, the word to us from figure skating officials in the New England area was that the trend over the last year or so was numbers for competitions were down," Cummings said. "Events that used to be three-day events are now one-day events.
 
"But we literally are where we were last year. And that's a credit to the experience. People tell us that the experience of the Berkshires is as important as the competition itself.
 
"The folks at Christmas Brook work hard making sure it's all about the athlete's experience. And that's a credit to them and other volunteers."
 
More information about the games is available here.
 
Local participants at the 2016 Bay State Winter Games (as supplied by the Bay State Games on Tuesday) include:
 
FIGURE SKATNG
Adams: Emily Daigneault, Alexis Desroches, Ashton Goyette, Shaleigh Levesque, Mackenzie Rougeau.
Cheshire: Hannah Fuller.
Dalton: Rebecca Drager.
Hinsdale: Katie Malone-Smith.
Hoosick Falls, N.Y.: Ayla Senecal.
North Adams: Vincienza Alicandri, Samantha Dorwin, Yvonne Koperek.
Pittsfield: Aimee Boulais, Madison Quinn, Scott Raymaakers, Daniella Santamarina, Brooke VanBramer.
Pownal, Vt.: Maia Sheppard, Lara Shore-Sheppard.
Williamstown: Abby Coleman, Samantha Whittum.
 
BOWLING
Adams: Matthew Melito.
Clarksburg: Amanda Vallone, Brandon Vallone.
Dalton: John McKenna.
Hinsdale: Micahel Oakes, Tiffany Oakes, Chris Paro.
Lee: James Feeley, J.P. Sorrentino, David Zukowski.
North Adams: Jacob Boillat, Nickolas Johnson, Olivia Mazzacco, Preston Oakes, Nicholas Vallieres, Kalley Vanuni, Zach Yeaton, Aleasia Yeaton.
Pittsfield: Craig Clemons.
Stamford, Vt.: Gavin Bourdon.
Williamstown: Mark Hayden.
 
CROSS COUNTRY SKIING
Dalton: Samuel Pyser.
Worthington: Katarzyna Wisnauckas.

Tags: bay state games,   skating ,   winter sports,   

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Williams Seeking Town Approval for New Indoor Practice Facility

By Stephen DravisiBerkshires Staff
WILLIAMSTOWN, Mass. — The Planning Board last week gave Williams College the first approval it needs to build a 55,000-square foot indoor athletic facility on the north side of its campus.
 
Over the strenuous objection of a Southworth Street resident, the board found that the college's plan for a "multipurpose recreation center" or MRC off Stetson Road has adequate on-site parking to accommodate its use as an indoor practice facility to replace Towne Field House, which has been out of commission since last spring and was demolished this winter.
 
The college plans a pre-engineered metal that includes a 200-meter track ringing several tennis courts, storage for teams, restrooms, showers and a training room. The athletic surface also would be used as winter practice space for the school's softball and baseball teams, who, like tennis and indoor track, used to use the field house off Latham Street.
 
Since the planned structure is in the watershed of Eph's Pond, the college will be before the Conservation Commission with the project.
 
It also will be before the Zoning Board of Appeals, on Thursday, for a Development Plan Review and relief from the town bylaw limiting buildings to 35 feet in height. The new structure is designed to have a maximum height of 53 1/2 feet and an average roof height of 47 feet.
 
The additional height is needed for two reasons: to meet the NCAA requirement for clearance above center court on a competitive tennis surface (35 feet) and to include, on one side, a climbing wall, an element also lost when Towne Field House was razed.
 
The Planning Board had a few issues to resolve at its March 12 meeting. The most heavily discussed involved the parking determination for a use not listed in the town's zoning bylaws and a decision on whether access from town roads to the building site in the middle of Williams' campus was "functionally equivalent" to the access that would be required under the town's subdivision rules and regulations.
 
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