Cross-country skiers practice in Central Park despite the lack of snow. Photo by Hristina Tisheva.
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BY HRISTINA TISHEVA
HOST: Cross-country skiing is an international sport, with many devotees in the U.S. There hasn’t been much snow this year, which might discourage recreational skiers. But not competitive skiers in New York, who are used to training without it. Hristina Tisheva reports that one of the best places to train, snow or not, is right in the center of Manhattan.
NARRATION: On a recent afternoon, Timothy Donahue and Sproule Love are in Central Park getting ready for a workout.
SOUND: Putting gloves on.
SKIERS: “Let’s head out and hit the trails.”
NARRATION: They are wearing black bindings and grey ski-suits. The initials M-N-S-C… for Manhattan Nordic Ski Club… look like the letters on subway trains. These two have been skiing for more than 20 years—and they train here in the park three or four days a week.
SOUND: Skating on asphalt pavement, them talking to each other
But they say they only ski on snow about 8 times a year -when they compete. The rest of the time, they are on roller skis. They are twice as short as normal Nordic skis, with two wheels each.
SOUND: Skating on wheels
Donahue says in a colder climate he would put the roller skis away in November:
DONAHUE: “But if you live in Manhattan, your rollers skis are probably 90 to 95 percent of your skiing. Like I, for instance, I just wore my skis out and I had to get new ones ‘cause I use them too much.”
NARRATION: But Donahue doesn’t mind He says they will still work out in the city even if it snows.
DONAHUE: “Would we drive an hour and a half to go to the nearest ski place and ski for an hour or would we ski here for three hours? For sure we’d ski here because it’s just as good. Pretty much.”
NARRATION: Donahue has convinced others too. Based on an essay he wrote, the website Fasterskier.com voted Central park the best roller skiing training cite in the U.S. and Europe. Another fan of the park is Caitlin Gregg. She is a 2010 Winter Olympian, originally from New York City, but now lives in Minneapolis. She trained in Central Park 12 years ago.
GREGG: You don’t have the very long sustained climbs but you definitely have a number of climbs on the North side that give you a good workout.”
NARRATION: Gregg finished in the top 5 at the U-S Cross Country Nationals the year she trained in Central Park. Sproule Love argues roller skiing actually benefits the skier because the pavement is a less forgiving surface.
LOVE: “When you’re on a snow, you can slide a little bit on a ski. But when you have rubber wheels on a ski, if you don’t have good technique, you’re not going to move forward.”
NARRATION: But training on snow — even manmade — allows for a lot of subtle muscle movements for better balance. It also lets skiers know how their skis perform. Six years ago, ski club member Bryan Mazlish approached the city about a snow trail in Van Cortlandt Park in the Bronx. Mazlish and park employees analyzed snowfall and temperatures data. He sent a proposal to the Parks Department but, he says, it didn’t go far.
MAZLISH: “Imagine if you tried to talk to Mayor Bloomberg about a pothole on your street, how far you’d get. And that’s what it was like.”
NARRATION: Some skiers argue snow — manmade or natural — is a necessity. Darwin Roosa runs the New York State Ski Race Association, which manages cross-country skiing events. Roosa says the lack of snow this winter has been a problem, and only manmade snow has made some of the races possible. He doesn’t approve of training only on asphalt.
ROOSA: “If someone, a skier, who trains in the New York Metropolitan area only on roller skis and they just don’t have the opportunity to get to manmade snow for training, they could be at a disadvantage.”
NARRATION: But Timothy Donahue and Sproule Love disagree. They think they’ve done very well without snow. Donahue finished second at a race in January in Vermont against skiers from across the country. Love came in 18th in a field of more than 400 skiers in Canada last month. Next weekend, they’ll both competing in the Lake Placid ski marathon. Hristina Tisheva, Columbia Radio News.
