SCHEDULE: 

• 11am – 12pm Obstacle Course and games – Costumes encouraged!

• 12pm START of the Freestyle (Skate or Classic) Mass Start Race. 2.5km or 5km loop options. Acknowledgement of top 10 finishers, snacks for all! Come between 11-11:45am to register in person. 

• 1pm START. W.N Team Relay Fundraiser. 1pm – 3:30pm. Donations go to the GNC Winslow Nichols Scholarship. Come between 12-12:50pm to register your team in person. Teams of up to 5 join together to ski laps and track how many laps they can do  between 1-3:30pm (2.5hr total). Can do all laps together or take turns. Skiers will mark down they did a loop when they complete one on their team tracking sheet. Prizes for top 3 teams with most loops in 2.5 hours. All abilities of teams encouraged to participate. Donation of choice per each team registration. All registration for event will be day of in person.

• 3:40pm  Post Relay Awards and Celebration

Gritty Winslow

by Sabrina Sigler Nichols, January 2024

In middle school, Winslow Nichols set the lofty goal to earn an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy at West Point, New York. By his junior year, he was on track for this goal and its many requirements. During Winslow’s senior year, his mom asked him what was the one event/activity that helped him to persevere
through the U.S. Army Basic Combat Training at Fort Jackson, SC (Winslow joined Montana Army National Guard in May, 2020). Without hesitation his reply was “Nordic skiing and
racing.”

Nordic skiing pushed Winslow to be a physically, mentally, and technically tougher, stronger, faster, and smarter racer. The physical and endurance training, the development of technical skate and classic skiing, the solo mindset (with team support), and the gritty mental toughness were all qualities that Winslow developed and embraced with the Glacier Nordic Ski Team from 8th grade until high school graduation. The friendships created with GNST team members were to last a lifetime. Winslow started Nordic ski lessons with the Chet Hope Youth Program at age 5. He progressed through these fun-filled Saturday mornings onto the Glacier Nordic Junior Jets, his first skate skis, Nordic racing, and the Prep Team. He experienced racing against other youngsters at the Western
Youth Championships in 2013 at Bohart Ranch (now
Cross Cut) in Bozeman. The group of young racers from
the Flathead Valley watched in awe as many collegiate
racers from Montana State, Idaho, Utah, and Alaska universities raced that same weekend. Winslow set a new goal: Become a competitive Nordic racer.

Over the years, Winslow worked and played hard on Nordic
skis. He embraced practices in all weather and snow conditions. He looked forward to traveling race weekends in the Northern Rocky Mountains with GNST teammates and good friends Jacob, Ruedi, Nate, and Deneb. His sheer determined grittiness and perseverance helped him go far. A great example of his determined grittiness was the West Yellowstone Rendezvous 25 kilometer skate race he competed in during his high school
years:
Freshman year: 1 hour 37 minutes, 45th
place overall (age 15)
Sophomore year: 1 hour 22 minutes, 13th
place overall
Junior year: 1 hour 13 minutes, 12th place
overall
Senior year: skipped this race to compete at
the U.S Western Region Junior
Championships at Soldier Hollow, Park City,
Utah .

Winslow accepted an appointment to the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School for the 2021-2022 year. He tried out and made the USMAPS Sandhurst Military Competition team due to his strengths in target shooting and endurance
rucking (run/walk). In April, he signed up to compete in the
Norwegian Foot March military endurance test. The participants
march/run carrying a rucksack of 27 lbs while in full Battle Ready
Uniform, including boots, to navigate the 30 km (18.6 mile)
course at night. Winslow set his goal to complete the course in
under 4 hours. He was a top 5 finisher from the USMAPS with a
time of 3:57:23. Later that year when an Army Captain asked his mom how he was able to compete so well, the response was “Nordic skiing and racing.”
Thank you Glacier Nordic Club and Ski Team for being so instrumental in the development of this young man.