Four area competitors are featured in the 2002 calendar published by the National Cross-Country Ski Education Foundation to help support the U.S. Junior National Team.
Patrick Weaver of Lenox, a member of the 1998 Olympic team at Nagano, Japan, and a contender for a berth on the 2002 team at the Utah Olympics, features the March page with an eight- by 11-inch action photo taken at last year’s national championships.
While there has been almost no X-C skiing on natural snow in the East this year, Weaver makes his ski home in Bend, Oregon, the Western headquarters for aspiring World Class Racers.There is almost too much snow at Bend and throughout the Northwest and the Rockies.
Weaver, a graduate of Lenox High School (where he was Massachusetts state champ) and University of New Hampshire, has been placing high all season on the ample snow in the Northwest and in British Columbia. He was national champion in the 30-kilometer event in 1998 and also in the 50-k race in 1999.
Weaver is currently in Telemark, Wisc., for a series of races through Dec. 16, and will then head for Bozeman, Mont., Jan. 5, for the National Championships, where a high finish should be of great help in making the Olympic team.
The son of Dr. Terry Weaver and Mrs. Weaver, he is sponsored by Home Depot, Rossignol Skis and Exel Poles.
Bret Bedard of Cheshire, who won every high school race he entered last season at Hoosac Valley, moved on to greater triumphs later in the winter and is the current Junior 2 National Champion. The son of Mr. and Mrs. Brian Bedard, he has been coached by Bob MacDowell of Cheshire for many years.
Bret will not be skiing for Hoosac this season as he will be traveling extensively for major junior races. He is 16 and the defending Massachusetts champion.
Two Southern Vermont residents, Rayan Foster of Weston, and Andy Newell of Shaftsbury, are also featured.
Foster, who attends Stratton Mountain School and is coached by former U.S. Olympian Sverre Caldwell, finished first in the Junior Nationals J2 relays and second in three other championship events.
“I started skiing because my dad made me ski to my grandparents’ house,†Foster was quoted in the calendar.
Newell, also a SMS/Caldwell skier, won the Junior Nations Sprint and was 12th in the U.S. Seniors’ Sprint. He was named National Male Cross-Country Skier of the year and rated both a small “mug†shot and a larger action shot.
The calendars, loaded with X-C information, are available for $15 at Berkshire Outfitters in Cheshire. Proprietor Steve Blazejewski said proceeds will be shared by the foundation and by the Hoosac Valley Team. They are also available online at www.nccsef.org.
The NCCSFF awards grants to individual skiers and programs throughout North America.
On a local level, the Berkshire Trails Nordic Club sponsors races on all levels, including last winter’s New England Bill Koch League Festival at Notchview Touring Center in Windsor, with more than 300 kids involved. This winter the Berkshire club will host the New England Nordic Skiers Association Eastern Cup races at Notchview.
Local Bill Koch chapters are at Notchview and Hickory Hill in Worthington and at Prospect Mountain Woodford, as well as at Weston.
Brian Bedard heads the BTNSC and can be reached at 743-5980 or at P.O. Box 519, Cheshire, MA 01225.
Needless to say, all junior racers are eager to hit the snow, and no one is more eager than Bud Fisher, Williams College Nordic ski coach and assistant athletic director. Fisher had planned a November training camp, but no skiable snow could be found in the Northeast. The Christmas camp will again be at Mont-Ste-Anne, Quebec.
Williams Alpine Coach Ed Grees and assistant Sverre Melybe of Norway were able to get in some Thanksgiving training at Copper Mountain and Loveland, both in Colorado, and hopefully will enter several Eastern races over the holidays. With the help of Melybe, several Williams skiers trained in Norway last August.
Fisher said that one of the top Berkshire juniors will be cross-country skiing this winter at a Norwegian academy. Jake Whitcomb of Worthington, son of Wahconah Regional cross-country coach Dave Whitcomb, otherwise would be the third Whitcomb kid to ski at Wahconah, following brother Matt, a Middlebury team member and grad, and sister Kate, currently on the Middlebury team.
Thanks to the various programs in the Berkshires, numerous skiers have made the teams at Williams, Middlebury, Bates and other “ski†colleges.
And Williams has helped skiers at both the Mount Greylock Regional High School course and at Prospect, home area for the Ephs and site of the annual Williams Winter College Nordic events. The college has provided funds to improve both the high school and Prospect trails.
There are numerous great ski touring centers from Butternut Basin in Great Barrington northward to MountainTop and Mountain Meadows, both around Killington, but as of Monday, none have opened.
Killington and a handful of resorts opened last month for Alpine skiing, but offer only a few trails.
The economic impact is staggering, not only in lost income (which can never be made up) and lost jobs.
Only skeleton crews are at work at areas yet to open, including all Berkshire resorts. Okemo, which employs some 1,100 seasonal workers, has yet to call in many of them. Even Jiminy and Brodie have a combined 1,500 workers at full operations.
Also suffering in the Berkshires are the motels and restaurants which used to be crowded during deer hunting season. Now, with more deer shot in Worcester County than in Berkshire, hunters don’t rush to the western part of the state anymore.
And the snowmobile business is also way down, with almost no safe riding conditions.
Perfect conditions are reported, however, at ice skating rinks from Berkshire School in Sheffield, to the Pittsfield Boys and Girls’ Club, the Williams Rink and the Vietnam War Veterans Rink in North Adams, as well as the Riley Rink at Hunter Park in Manchester, Vt. and the rink in Hoosick Falls, N.Y.
But the ice at the Vietnam Rink, owned by the state Department of Environmental Management and operated by the Massachusetts College of Liberal Arts has not been as busy as in former years, according to rink supervisor David Casey. As a result, MCLA is attempting to get new skaters, thanks to the help of various sponsors, including Shine Wire Co.
Get out there and let them slide!
John Hitchcock of Williamstown writes frequently about the area sports scene.
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Winter Storm Warning Issued for Berkshires
Another snowstorm is expected to move through the region overnight on Friday, bringing 5 to 8 inches of snow. This is updated from Thursday's winter weather advisory.
The National Weather Service in Albany, N.Y., has posted a winter storm warning for all of Berkshire County and parts of eastern New York State beginning Friday at 4 p.m. through Saturday at 1 p.m.
The region could see heavy to moderate snowfall rates of 1 to 2 inches per hour overnight, tapering off Saturday morning to flurries.
Drivers should exercise caution on Friday night and Saturday morning, as travel conditions may be hazardous.
Saturday night should be clear and calm, but warming temperatures means freezing rain Sunday night and rain through Monday with highs in the 40s. The forecast isn't much better through the week as temperatures dip back into the teens with New Year's Eve looking cloudy and frigid.
Many homeowners are showing their holiday spirit by decorating their houses. We asked for submissions so those in the community can check out these fanciful lights and decor when they're out.
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