Last Updated: 13.Mar.2015

The TD Bank Bill Koch Festival, the premier event of the season for youth skiers in New England, took place this past weekend at Mountain Top Resort in Chittenden, Vermont. This year’s festival theme was “Spirit of Winter” and featured a freestyle relay on Saturday and an individual classic race on Sunday. In between races, there was a paintball biathlon, free style park, ice cream making on snow, a mini-marathon in memory of Mountain Top’s former Nordic director Mike Gallagher, as well as general merriment.

On Saturday, the 1st and 2nd graders had a mixed gender relay. Anika Leahy and her partner Anya Carlson (Onion River) skied to 4th place and the Charlies (Isselhardt and Kehler) took 7th place. In the girls 3-4 relay, Emily Kimball (Morrisville) and Anna Isselhardt placed 8th, while Mae Searles and Kata Gilbertson placed 11th. The triple threat of Alan Moody, Cormac Leahy, and Sage Grossi skied to a first place win in the 3-4 boys relay. The 5th-6th grade girl relay saw Quincy Massey-Bierman (Craftsbury/MNSC) taking first place with partner Camille Bolduc (MNSC). Meghan Kimball (Morrisville) and Aliza Wright took 15th. The 5th -6th grade boys had the closest race with David Moody and partner Jack Young squeaking by a boot toe to 3rd place. In the 7th and 8th category, Claire Ellis and Adrienne Remick skied to 11th and Griffin Wright (with partner Makail Tipton of Maine) skied to 7th.

Sunday was the individual classic race. In the 1st- and 2nd grade boys, Charlie Isselhardt was 10th and Charlie Kehler was 13th. Anika Leahy skied to 2nd place in the 1st and 2nd grade girls. Her brother also skied to 2nd place in the 3rd-4th grade boys – Alan Moody was 4th and Sage Grossi was 7th for Craftsbury and NEVT. In the 3rd-4th grade girls, several first time festival racers hit the course – Anna Isselhardt (11th), Mae Searles (20th), and Kata Gilbertson (31st). Quincy Massey-Bierman edged Ava Thurston to take the 5-6 girls category (making a full sweep of the weekend). Aliza Wright placed 8th. Jack Young was 5th and David Moody was 16th in the 5-6 boys category. In the 7th and 8th category, Claire Ellis was 18th, Adrienne Remick was 27th, and Griffin Wright was 6th in an impressive display of double-poling on the boys’ side.

Congratulations to everyone for a great weekend!

Results
Video Footage (courtesy of Pepa)