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Everyone said it was supposed to be better than the BKL Festival. But the whole format sounded a little unappealing to me. In this, you had to ski for your state, not for your club. There were new coaches that I had never met, and quite frankly, didn’t trust them either. I waxed my own skis, and did pre-race warm-ups on my own because the coaches weren’t very supportive. But other than that problem, the whole weekend was a blast.

I didn’t have a great classic race, mostly because I had just spent four hours in a car. And again, back to the coaches, they didn’t get the kick wax right so I was slipping a lot up the hills. We got a lot of down time after the race, which was nice because most people, including me, were really tired. But they didn't keep us well informed about what was going on the next day. So we didn’t find out until breakfast the next morning when we would be able to wax and everything like that. But I guess it didn’t matter, because I had the race of my life that morning. It was incredible. I don’t think I knew that I could ski that well. The sprints didn’t go quite as well, but still respectable for me. It didn’t help that it was fifty degrees out and the whole course was a big puddle. But it was the same conditions for everybody. That night was the awards banquet. The top ten skiers from the three races went up to be recognized. New Hampshire had three people in all that went up. We ended up with last place. Though it was rumored that we would have got third place if it weren’t for a tag mistake in the relay. Pavel and JC skied the third legs fro the first two teams. JC’s team finished the second leg first, and Pavel went out to get tagged instead of JC, so both their teams got disqualified. They would have got eight and ninth place.

With a couple minor setbacks, the whole weekend was great fun. But if I had the choice I would have people come with clubs or school teams, not the state. Still, I would encourage people to work hard to make the J2 team. It’s an experience that you don’t want to miss.

The Bill Koch Festival was held March 1,2,3, this year, at the end of the school break week. I'll remember this ski meet because I didn't ski very well. The weather was warm and rainy, the snow was soft, I fell down and I had been sick a few days before. Also my Dad was waxing my skis because Coach Alexei couldn't be there.

The festival was held a long way away in Farmington, Maine. There weren't many hotels there so we had to stay in Waterville which was a 45 min. drive away. The Hacketts and Sara Ellen Godek stayed at the same hotel. We did some swimming and played Nintendo at the hotel.

On the first day of the festival it was a bright sunny day. It was a nice day to be outside but it made the snow soft and slushy. We had the relays and sprints that day. The sprints were new this year and kind of hard because the snow was so soft. On Sunday the weather changed to rain, the course turned to puddles and it was foggy for the individual races. Kids were falling all over the place. Someone I know, Anna Marie Smith, skied by in her bathing suit! It was over her ski suit. Even though it was wet and rainy, a lot of people were there. Cross-country skiers aren't wimps! Everyone was friendly and we all had fun. And there's always next year.