Racers and their coaches, parents and friends made this year’s gathering the largest ever.
By Eileen M. Adams
Staff Writer

RUMFORD – More than 550 skiers from around the country and Canada skied in more than a dozen cross-country races at Black Mountain last week.

“The conditions were excellent and this was the biggest U.S. Chevrolet Nationals Cross-Country competition ever,” said Roger Arsenault, chairman of the committee that spent weeks preparing for the event.

Along with the skiers, who were racing as part of the preliminaries for the World Cup, came another couple of hundred coaches, parents and friends. Several hundred spectators also turned out to watch the races.

And 130 Chisholm Ski Club volunteers helped make the six-day event a smooth-running success.

“We had great comments from kids and coaches,” said Joe Sassi, ski club president.

The visiting athletes were treated to a taste of Maine by ski club member Muriel Arsenault, who ran Muriel’s Kitchen at the base of the mountain.

Visitors got to taste such Maine foods as whoopie pies and red hot dogs, washed down by Moxie, said Sassi.

“Red hot dogs were one of the highlights,” he said. “Skiers said they can’t get them anywhere else.”

Much of the food was prepared by volunteers from the local Eagles Club, and Muriel’s Kitchen became a great place for skiers to socialize during the events, he said. Other volunteers baked sweets and cookies.

“It was an absolute success,” said Sassi.

Among race spectators were several western Maine high school coaches, who brought their teams to the mountain to watch. “They thought a race of this caliber was a great opportunity to see top-notch skiing,” Sassi said.

Despite frigid temperatures, Sassi said only a couple of races were delayed for an hour or so. The New England Nordic Ski Association halts racing if the temperature drops below 4 degrees.

“We’ve had such great comments from the skiers and coaches. Many said they’d never been treated like this before, the hospitality and the way the races were run,” said Sassi.

That hospitality carried over for Saturday’s entirely separate event, when more than 250 high school students in the New England Nordic Association competed. Besides medals, Sassi said the local parochial school, with the help of a couple of businesses, put together prize baskets filled with cookies and candies.

The total dollar impact on the area from the nearly 1,000 skiers and others who visited for most of last week has not been tallied, but River Valley Chamber of Commerce Executive Secretary Tammi Lyons said she believed all area motels were filled.

“Just having them here had a positive effect,” she said. “We had quite a few calls here looking for lodging.”

This was the second straight year the Nationals Cross-Country competition was held at Black Mountain and the third time in the past five years. Sassi said the annual event will likely be held out West next year. Black Mountain may get it back in the future, he added.

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