As fall turns into winter, here are a few reasons to celebrate now and some things to look forward to.

NATIONAL CHAMPS COME TO CRAFTSBURY

This winter, Vermonters will have the opportunity to toe the line with some of Camiseta Sanfrecce Hiroshima the top cross-country skiers in the country when the Craftsbury outdoor center hosts the U.S. cross country Ski national championships in January. It’s the first time since 2012 that the Nationals have come to Vermont. Last year’s Nationals were in Anchorage, Alaska.

Running from Jan. 3 through 8, 2019, the event features an open mass start on Sunday, Jan. 6, with a 30K race for men and a 20K race for women. Both races will be loops, making for great spectating. Both events are open to anyone who wishes to register.

On Friday, Jan. 4, Olympians and U.S. Nordic team members such as Ida Sargent of Barton (who grew up training at Craftsbury), will race in the classic sprint series. “Anyone can enter the time trial [for the sprints],” says Craftsbury Nordic Race director Ollie Burruss.

“The top 30 in the men’s and women’s fields will qualify for an open heat to compete for several rounds of head-to-head racing for the national championship. The spread from first place through 30th is a difference of about 15 seconds, so it will be an action-packed afternoon,” said Burruss.

Skiers will be competing for SuperTour points, which contribute to their ranking and ability to qualify for a spot on the U.S. team at the world championships in Seefeld, Austria.

This year’s event will also feature sit ski races for para-athletes and will serve as a qualifying event for the Paralympics. athletes will race in a staggered sprint format. “If you have any base-level knowledge of cross-country skiing and see someone race on a sit ski, you are just blown away by how strong you have to be to compete and by how tough they are,” said Burruss.

Other events include a 10/15K classic individual start, a classic sprint, a freestyle mass start and a freestyle sprint.  —Abagael Giles

RETURN OF THE STOWE DERBY?
For the last three years, one of Camiseta Watford FC the most iconic races in Vermont has been cancelled due to weather. This year, the Stowe Derby, which has historically drawn as many as 900 racers in classic, freestyle and now even fat bike divisions, is being moved up to January 13, with the traditional date of Feb. 24 as the “rain” date. “We’re crossing our fingers,” says Camiseta Nagoya Grampus Brooke Mitchell of the hosting mount Mansfield Ski Club.

The Stowe Derby typically takes skiers from the top of the Mt. Mansfield Toll road in Stowe, over roughly 20 kilometers and more than a 2,700 foot elevation drop down to the town of Stowe, on a combination of alpine and Nordic ski trails. between 1945 and 2016 the race was only canceled twice; once due to lack of snow and once during the heat of world war II.

Then came 2016, one of the worst snow years on record. The following year, scouring winds and rain left the course with a surface like a luge-run. In 2018, lack of snow also made the course unsafe.

“This year, with the new date and the traditional date as a back-up we’re hoping we can make it happen,” Mitchell says. To get updates, visit mmsc-mmwa.org. —Lisa Lynn

NOVICE MARATHONER MAKES OLYMPIC TRIALS
For most runners, qualifying for the Olympic trials is a long-term dream. For 28-year-old Meagan Boucher, it happened in her second marathon.

On October 21, the St. Johnsbury resident qualified for the 2020 Olympic marathon team trials after setting a women’s course record in the 30th annual Baystate Marathon in Lowell, Mass.

Meagan Boucher of St. Johnsbury winning her second marathon ever. photo courtesy Baystate Marathon.
Boucher ran the course in 2:42:23.7, shattering the previous course record of 2:45:36. To earn a spot at the Olympic Trials, she had to finish with a time of 2:45:00 or less. Boucher beat her only other marathon time (the 2017 new York City Marathon) by 15 minutes.

Boucher, who grew up in Manchester, N.H., teaches geometry at St. Johnsbury Academy and is the assistant coach for the cross-country team. In her first year at the university of new Hampshire she earned a spot on the cross-country team as a walk-on and competed in middle distance events and steeplechase.

She became interested in running marathons after a running injury caused her to shift her focus to triathlon. “It really opened me up to the routine of training for two, three hours a day. but then I realized that what I really cared about in those races was the running leg,” said Boucher in October.

Her initial goal was to run a sub 2:50:00 marathon. “Then I asked my coach, Sam Davis, if I should just go for it. He was apprehensive at first, but then we had a conversation and he said I should,” said Boucher. Davis, a well-known coach from Burlington, helped her to develop a plan to pace herself such that by the halfway mark of the marathon she would be on pace to qualify for the Olympic Trials. “I didn’tnullnull