Caribou, Maine Nordic skiing guru Dick Taylor has a new book out and it is a "must-have" for all coaches. The book is called Pocket Thoughts for all Coaches. It is a 31 page booklet put together by Dick, one of the counties most respected authorities on cross country skiing. It is full of concise pearls of wisdom that will help you understand better ways to train, what good technique is and how to achieve it and other mysteries of cross country skiing. Great to help pass long van rides in most productive ways and sure to stimulate a lot of conversation. If you only read one book on cross country skiing - this should be it. 

To get your copy today send a check for $7.00 to:

Dick Taylor, Box16, Bethel Maine, 04217 or email him at rw.taylorxc@yahoo.com

Outdoor Retailer Launches L.L.Bean Healthy Hometowns Program

Freeport, ME - Today L.L.Bean is announcing a $1 million donation to Healthy Hometowns, a program designed to provide Maine children and families the opportunity to get outside and discover new outdoor activities.

The L.L.Bean Healthy Hometowns Program expands upon the winter program developed in northern Maine by the Maine Winter Sports Center into a year-round, state-wide effort. The Maine Winter Sports Center, an organization that has a demonstrated ability in making a difference in the lives of Maine's youth, is currently active in just over 100 communities in Maine. The nationally and internationally recognized program's emphasis has been on engaging communities with cross-country skiing. This donation will enable the organization to expand both the reach and the activity offering. The funds will be used to purchase year-round outdoor equipment, coordinate programming at the community level throughout the state, and hire staff to train local volunteers. As the program expands to more communities, the focus will encompass activities such as paddling, hiking, mountain biking, orienteering and camping.

The L.L.Bean Healthy Hometowns Program will launch in the communities of Freeport and Bangor, as well as expand in areas of western and northern Maine, such as Farmington and Presque Isle, where the program is already present.

QUEBEC – It is said that for an experience to be an adventure, the future outcome must be unknown.  By this reasoning, perhaps the late season Adventure Initiative trip to the Chic Choc mountains in Quebec could not be called such.  After all, when you take a group of excited skiers, and introduce them to mountains full of snow, and comfortable backcountry huts, the outcome is without question.

Charlo, New Brunswick-  As spring was arriving early in Aroostook County, there was still snow over the border in Canada on the trails in Charlo, New Brunswick.  The Maine Winter Sports Center Development Team was welcomed by the Cross Country New Brunswick Ski Club to participate in their 4th New Brunswick Cup of the winter season. There were sunny skies and great skiing conditions for skiers of all ages who came to race for the weekend.

It’s been a whirlwind three months for Russell Currier of Stockholm. Currier competed in several World Cup Biathlon events and finished sixth in two races. He recently returned from Europe and sat down with Rene Cloukey to look back at the season. http://wagmtv.com/sports/currier-looks-back-at-world-cup-season

Unfortunately due to the unseasonably warm weather, snow conditions have deteriorated at the 10th Mountain Center and the the Maine State Biathlon Championships planned for this Sunday, the 25th, have been cancelled.  This event will be back next year.  Til then, enjoy the spring weather and the dry season ahead.

 A new youth event and cash prizes for marathon winners makes the Acadia FCU Marathon an even bigger hit.

Madawaska, ME--The fifth annual Acadia FCU Ski Marathon is set for Sunday, March 18.  With fantastic help from Mother Nature over the past months, the snow is perfect and the forecast is for sun.  The event will offer something for everyone: a kids tour, a 20km touring class, a 20km freestyle racing class and the signature 40km freestyle race.

 The 11th annual Himie Towle Ski Frolic brought out the biggest field in the 2012 Aroostook Cup series with over 120 skiers participating. 

 Despite a snowstorm, kids from all over Aroostook Country headed to Caribou for the annual youth ski fest. 

Pinkham Notch, NH-  A mix of rain and snow on Saturday morning made for difficult waxing conditions at the Bill Koch Festival held at Great Glen trails in Pinkham Notch, New Hampshire.  This year, 575 elementary and middle school-aged cross-country skiers from all over New England participated in this annual festival.  Despite the difficult weather conditions in the morning, the sun shone on the Maine Winter Sports Center athletes representing Northern Maine as they had top finishes in both the relay and again on Sunday in the individual races.

RANGELEY – Members of the MWSC Arooskis Adult Nordic Program awoke on Rangeley Lake Saturday morning to blowing snow and winds gusting 20 to 30 mph.  A late night weather system moved through the region depositing a few fresh inches of snow along the 25km race course at the Rangeley Lakes Trails Center, and mixed precipitation threatened to dampen the more than 140 participants in this year’s event. 

CARIBOU - Despite 20 inches of new snow and thirty mile an hour winds, 56 skiers were out Sunday to participate in the first February Frolic sponsored by Cary Medical Center, Northern Skiers and the Caribou Parks and Recreation Department.  There were two race venues, with the annual New Years skate ski race held at 11 a.m. at the Caribou High School Ski Center and then the 37^th annual Henry Anderson Ski Dag held at 1:30 p.m. at the Caribou Ski Trails located at the Caribou Country Club.

Presque Isle, ME- This past Friday the Maine Winter Sports Center coaches and athletes held the Middle School Ski Racer Workshop at the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle.  Perfect snow conditions and sunny skies helped make for a successful and fun day for this annual event.  Over 30 skiers attended this workshop which was aimed at introducing new skills to skiers, improving technique for experienced racers and allowing Middle School coaches’ time to experience other games and coaching methods. 

The Maine State Biathlon Championships is a great opportunity for those individuals new to biathlon, a sport that combines marksmanship and cross-country ski skills, to experience the amazing rush and excitement of the sport.  We encourage all age levels and abilities to come and join us on the 25th of March for skiing, shooting, fun, and home made food.  We will have an experienced biathlete sprint mass start in the morning, a shooting clinic with MWSC and 10th Mountain Ski Club biathlon coaches at 12:30 PM, and then wave starts divided by age categories beginning at 1:45 PM. If you want, you can make it an entire weekend by participating in the Arooski Ski Tour on Saturday and the Maine State Biathlon Championships on Sunday.  For more information on directions, lodging, event details, and registration, please see the following attachments.

The C-Me Ski in Limestone and Karen Sprague Memorial in Stockholm marked the mid-point of the 2012 Aroostook Cup season. 

Yesterday was a sweet Valentine's Day treat for Maine Winter Sports Center athletes Raleigh Goessling and Melissa Manning from Fort Kent, Maine.  They boarded an airplane and will be competing next week in the IBU Youth and Junior World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland. Shortly after Christmas day, these two athletes qualified for the team at trial races in Anchorage, Alaska.  Their biathlon coaches Seth Hubbard and Sarah Kamilewicz coached them throughout the winter at various North American Cup races to prepare them for this event.  Raleigh and Melissa will represent both Maine Winter Sports Center and the United States in four biathlon races at this championship.

#Beautiful blue skies for another great Aroostook Women's Ski Day!

This past weekend the Olympic Development Team, post graduate team and a J2 skier traveled to the Green Mountain State to compete in the third Eastern Cup of the season. The team headed to Ben and Jerry’s Ice Cream Factory in Waterville for a tour before attending official training Friday afternoon. 

 Oslo, Norway Tim Burke has been struggling with his standing shooting this season, but not today. He had his first 4-stage clean race of his career to move from 15th place into 6th in today's Pursuit race. Teammate, Lowell Bailey, who finished 8th in the Sprint on Thursday, was in third place in todays's Pursuit after two shooting stages, but had three misses in his standing shooting to drop to 12th. Jay Hakinnen finished 25th today. 

The Men's performance on Thursday moved them into 8th Place in Nations Cup points, ahead of Italy. It was also strong enough to put Lowell Bailey and Tim Burke into the Mass Start tomorrow. To watch the race live visit: www5.biathlonworld.com/en/ and look for the BIATHLONWORLD TV box on the right of the page.

 Pineland Farms, Maine The Super Bowl raffle to support the US Biathlon team closed at 1PM this afternoon. Thank you to all of the people who bought tickets. We raised $64,000, sold 54,000 tickets and have given a big boost to the US Team. The winner was from Canton, Massachussetts, and bought 50 tickets this morning...

The fourth North American Cup that was scheduled for LaPatrie was quickly moved to Valcartier after Tuesday’s rain deteriorated the course. Athletes and coaches quickly changed reservations and arranged for the change in race venue.  The Maine Winter Sports Center Athletes arrived to Valcartier on Friday afternoon to preview the course at the Myrian Bedard Biathlon Center in the powdery snow.

 Brezno-Oserblie, Slovakia Follow Russell Currier and his teammates, Leif Nordgren, Mark Johnson, Hannah Deissigaker and Laura Spector at European Biathlon Championships. Click here for results: services.biathlonresults.com/Schedule.aspx

There was a big turnout on Sunday at 10th Mountain for the second Aroostook Cup of the 2012 season.