Pre-Season!

The 2022 MVXC season kicked off on the last “real” day of school with our first “Kick-Off Cookout” since 2019, graciously hosted by the Kimballs. Being a running team we of course started the festivities off with a run, followed by a TON of delicious food, some slip-n-sliding, and of course…the official game of the MVXC Team…Nuke-Em!

A long hot summer saw a couple of us meet up in Stowe for the 100on100 Relay Race. 9th-grader Lily and 12-grader Sam joined forces with Coach Irving, his daughter (Ceili, a 9th-grader at Newfound), and alumni Emma York (currently running for UNH) and Kristi Schoffield, fresh off her NCAA victory in the 800 Championships. Each runner ran three times for a total of between 14 and 19 miles. The team did very well, finishing about 22nd out of 80 teams. The entire team finally back together in August for the 17th Annual Pre-Season trip to the White Mountains. Rain, running, more rain, hiking, some more rain, a trip to Whales Tale (in the rain), and loads of food filled the week. Our hike up one of the Whites most infamous trails, the North Slide of Tripyramid, was very successful (and rainy), with only one set of tears and no need to call for a rescue helicopter. It’s always a win when everyone survives! Kudos to the athletes for having a great time despite the weather. Lots of Nike-em and Mafia distracted us, and ZERO bears for a change.

The final pre-meet event was the 2nd Annual Women’s Running Clinic, which saw the girls team go to Bedford for clinics on the mental aspects of running, elite panels, exercise and stretching, and everyone’s favorite, self-defense.