step by step 3lesson 119

Lesson 119 Cross-CountryDerby

Lesson 119 Cross-Country Derby (4'44")

And Cross-Country Skiing

In many towns across New England, the cross-country derby has become a traditional winter event. In the Stowe Derby, everyone participates, young and old, novice and expert.

“Five, four, three, two, one, go!”

The course for the Stowe Derby is 16 kilometers through meadow, farmland, over hills, through fields, and finally into the center of town.

They race against the clock, not each other and there are no prizes waiting at the finish-line----just a good cheer of their neighbours and the exhilarating satisfaction reserved for the cross-country skier.

New England's Green Mountains. In winter, it is a world of silence, unseen, impenetrable.

This is the exclusive winter domain of the cross-country skier. Cross-country skiing is just that, skiing over hills, across frozen lakes and valleys, through farmland and forest, anywhere there is snow. You take off when you feel like it, and at your own pace. It doesn't matter how you look or whether you fall down. Cross-country skiing is between you and the winter.

The Trappe Family Lodge in Stowe, Vermont, the first cross-country ski center in America opened here in 1972. Practiced in Europe for centuries, it is only in recent years that cross-country skiing has caught on in the United States.

Enthusiasts are attracted by its comfortable lightweight equipment, and down-hill skiers find it's safer and less expensive.

To master the graceful Nordic stride, the experienced skier need only watch the experts. But for the beginner, a few hours of instruction are needed to get a feel for the skis.

Mitzi Kane is racing for an Olympic gold, a member of the United States Ski Team. She trains for the Winter Olympic Games by burning up 50 kilometers of ski trail each day.

Americans have begun to do well in cross-country competition. Mitzi feels the key to winning at the 1980 Olympics in nearby Lake Placid in New York is conditioning and determination.

“So much of it's mental as well as physical. It's in pushing your body and your mind beyond what you would normally do in everyday life. And it makes it, so that when you finish a race, you really feel it's a rewarding… . It's like you feel like you've accomplished something.”