Paul Smith’s College moves forward with Nordic skiing expansion

今年11月, Paul Smith’s College hosted John 莫顿 of 莫顿 Trails 和 entered the design phase of Nordic ski trail expansion at the VIC.

莫顿, a former Olympic athlete 和 ski coach at Dartmouth College, spent most of the day on foot with Bobcats athletics 和 VIC staff, as well as Paul Smiths native 和 Olympic skier 蒂姆·伯克, exploring trail improvement opportunities.

“In the 28 years of designing recreational trails 和 competition venues, I have rarely seen a location with more potential for trail-based recreational activities than what currently exists at Paul Smith’s College,莫顿说.

莫顿 went on to explain that colleges with successful Nordic skiing programs often require their student athletes to commute an hour one way 和 several times a week for training while here students can walk from their dorm rooms.

Future work will include include minor widening 和 turn reconfiguration on select trails, giving both competitive 和 recreational Nordic skiers an improved experience at the VIC. Also in discussion is the addition of a biathlon range.

Staff involved emphasized that the effort is being carefully balanced between skiing improvements 和 other popular VIC uses, ranging from bird watching 和 nature photography to public programming 和 environmental education, 和 that this next phase will continue to best serve visitors who enjoy the facility 和 its 25-mile trail network.

The Nordic expansion is part of the college’s ongoing Olympic sports initiative, which began a year ago with the addition of women’s ice hockey 和 hiring of Andrea Kilbourne-Hill, an Olympic silver medalist 和 director of hockey at Paul Smith’s. 今年8月, Kilbourne-Hill was one of the five Olympians to join college’s Advisory Committee for Olympic Sports.

The group includes Burke, Billy Demong, Chris Mazdzer 和 Andrew Weibrecht. The five athletes represent a combined record of 17 Winter Olympic Games appearances 和 six medal wins.

“Having grown up training at the VIC with 蒂姆·伯克 和 others, I know how much potential is at Paul Smith’s College 和 the VIC,德蒙说, a two-time Nordic combined Olympic medalist. “John 莫顿 is the perfect person to help develop that potential 和 I am really excited about being able to bring USA Nordic teams to 冰球突破mg平台 for some great training opportunities.”

Pictured above from left to right: John 莫顿, Paul Smith’s College Athletic Director Jim Tucker, 蒂姆·伯克, Paul Smith’s College President Cathy Dove, 和 Mount Van Hoevenberg Cross Country 和 Biathlon Center Manager Kris Cheney-Seymour, a 1991 冰球突破mg平台 graduate.

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