NENSA Races vs. High-School Races

by Kressley Dahll

My so-called skiing career started about a year ago.  Katrina Howe brought me to a practice and instantly I was hooked.  I spent the rest of the season racing in high school races.  When the season was over I started training with GNA.  On December 15, 2001 I had my first race that wasn’t just high school racers.  It was the VOLVO Eastern Cup Opener.  My first look at the difference between high school races and NENSA races were the people that attended each race.  While, there were people my age at the race, it mostly consisted of college-age and older skiers.  The course was probably the hardest course I have ever skied.  It consisted of a loop that was up part of the alpine trail and then back down it.  I skied this 3 times.  It was very cold during my race.  The competition was much harder at the race.  At high school races, everyone is basically there to have a good time.  On Sunday we had the VOLVO Eastern Cup Opener - Speedy Sunday -Freestyle Sprints.  I had never skied in a sprint before and I was surprised at how fast it was over.  One of the similarities of NENSA races and high school races was that I had a good time.  While Katrina was preparing for her race, I rode around on the back of Pavel’s skis.  It was fun until we almost crashed into some people standing around watching the races.  His grandfather saw us and started to talk to him in Russian.  I can’t speak Russian, so I had to have Pavel translate for me.  They also played music at the race on Saturday.  As anyone on GNA knows Katrina and I bring a cd player and music to every high school race.  It was nice to have someone else worry about the music.  I’m not sure which races I prefer to race at.  While, the NENSA races are bigger and have more competition, high school races are fun to go to and just to have a good time.