Grasshoppers Crush NE Summer SJ/NC Champs!

Team Grasshop piled in the Sprinter during the wee hours Sunday, bound for Storrs Hill. Blessed with plastic from a former life on the Lake Placid K90, the K25 in Lebanon NH shows true signs of character. These include, but are certainly not limited to:

• No snazzy porcelain track
• Bumpy landing hill due to a 2x4" retaining system
• Some (read: lots) of organic matter poking up through the plastic

Convinced that good training and competition on this hill would make 'em all a whole lot tougher, Team Grasshop put up a heck of a fight against some of the top Master's jumpers on the East coast. Following a trial and two-to-count event on the hill, the Hoppers then swarmed the streets of Lebanon, negotiating a hilyl 1.4 mile run course to determine who would don the olive wreath as 2011 NE Nordic Combined champion.

All athletes did an excellent job on a spankin' new hill for 'em--kudos. New skills in the bag. And just wait for winter!

Riggens showing his power on the take-off

Ladies' Class NE Summer SJ/NC Champ Gabby Armstrong

J4 Boys SJ Podium: 3rd Scotty Schulz, 2nd Trent White, 1st Rory Riggins

J5 Boys SJ Podium: 3rd Matt White, 2nd Kaleb Cook, 1st Landon Livreri

Team Grasshop. Maxin' and relaxin'.

Der Starthaus.

Dion Cup Trip: September 12th

Dear Grasshopper,

Do you ever feel like you're stuck in this dead end town? Jumping the K18 getting a tad bit stale? Feel like you need to throw caution to the wind, cut your ties, and hit the road with Coach Bliss? If you answered yes to any of the above questions, then you'll love coming with us to the

Dion Cup Competition 2010

• Where? Lebanon NH, Storrs Hill. K25 (very similar in size to our K18, even though it's a "K25")
• When? Sunday, September 12th. Depart Lake Placid 6am, return to Lake Placid 6pm
• Nordic Combined? You bet. A short (1 mile) running race will follow the jumping competition
• Cost? If you're a NYSEF athlete, costs will only include minimal gas money and entry fee. Bring snacks and a lunch!
• Life on the road? Awesome. Completely awesome.

For more information on the Sunday, September 12th, contact Coach Bliss at evanb@nysef.org

Lebanon Winter Carnival

Another great day for jumping down in Lebanon as NYSEF had 9 athletes competing on all the hills Leb has to offer. We started the day off with Logan Livreri tackling the K10 with his new jumping equipment that he has only been on twice before this trip and he killed it!! Logan had two jumps of 9.5 meters almost setting new hill records and coming away with a gold medal for his first ski jumping meet.

We than moved up to the k25 Where there was a whole slew of young and eager jumpers ready to test the bottom of the hill. Landon and Avery both had solid jumps and bringing home the silver and bronze in the J5 class. Young Rory Riggins who jumped in the J4 class on the k25 had two respectful jumps and also ended up on the podium in 2nd.

With a short break between the small hills for lunch we than moved up to the main event in the afternoon on the K50. On the K50 we had about half the field representing NYSEF and they did not disappoint. In the J2 class we had Luke and Miles taking first and second with Nate showing huge signs of improvement coming in fourth. As for the ladies there were only two brave enough to take the plunge and it was Danielle and Annie showing some of the boys how it was done both having solid jumps and a smile on their faces every time they came back up. Zach cleaned up in the J1 class winning by over 80 points and also coming close to breaking the hill record held by Jonathan "The Featha" Kling.

I hope we can keep rolling tomorrow as we will be in Hanover to test our metal on the K10,K20,K30 and the cross course! Should be a good one.

Evan