Thanksgiving Camp 2024

Thanksgiving Camp 2024 was a trip down memory lane.  The first-ever Bowdoin Nordic Thanksgiving Camp took place in 2008, a momentous time in our nation's history.  Barack Obama had just been elected president, finance bros had just crashed the world economy, and the Detroit Lions were stumbling toward an 0-16 season.  Against this backdrop, our team ventured up to Stoneham, Quebec, in search of early season snow at Foret Montmorency.  We found plenty, and Thanksgiving Camp instantly became a fall semester fixture.  Over the years, this camp has evolved - we moved from Stoneham to the Foret campus in 2013, missed camp altogether due to the pandemic in 2020, and switched to a mix of Lake Placid and Craftsbury in 2021.  This year, we went finally went back to our roots and based our camp out of Stoneham (the Foret campus no longer offers lodging to skiers).  This was a bit of a gamble - Foret no longer saves or makes snow, so we were relying entirely on the weather to come through with some well-timed storms.  At first, it looked like we were out of luck - there was almost nothing on the ground when we arrived on Saturday afternoon, and we settled for a hike/run up the Stoneham alpine trails.  Fortunately, we got a tip from Laval University coach Godefroy Bilodeau about a road up in Jacques Cartier National Park that might have just enough coverage to ski, and the next day we were off to explore Lac L'Epaule.  The classic skiing was surprisingly good, and a light snow came down throughout the day to freshen things up as we went.  Lac L'Epaule was our go-to place for the next couple days, with a little easy running to supplement our rock skiing.  On Monday afternoon, Leslie took a group of skiers into Quebec City for a sightseeing run around Old Quebec - a really nice change of pace and a great chance to explore a truly special city.  After three days of Lac L'Epaule (capped off by a lovely cruise out to Lac Nordet on sweet singletrack trails), we finally got a proper storm - once the snow started, it just didn't stop.  This plus the casual approach to plowing the access road to our lodging made the driving somewhat challenging, but we kept it cautious and enjoyed the snowfall.  By Wednesday morning, we were skiing on groomed trails at Foret - from there, the skiing just kept getting better and better, with occasional dustings keeping things fresh.  Thursday through Saturday were some of the best conditions any of us had skied in a while - certainly better than anything the East had to offer last year.  On Saturday we teamed up with several other college teams for a classic time trial - Laval, St. Mike's, Colby, and SLU were all represented.  Our crew gave a good account - as always, we were focused on process, but it was still fun to test our wings and go up against some other teams.  We headed home that same afternoon, tired but happy.  Many thanks for Godefroy for helpful training advice to get us through the first half of the week, and for excellent grooming to get us through the second!

No Bowdoin Nordic camp wrap up would be complete without a rundown of our meals.  By popular demand, we brought back the cooking competition, and the skiers rose to the occasion with several great dinners:  burritos, curry, peanut noodles, chili, and the fabled smash burgers.  Voting is ongoing as we speak - stay tuned for the announcement of the winning meal.  We also had an exceptional Thanksgiving dinner.  Every year I'm surprised and impressed by how well the skiers do with preparing this meal - it seems like every year they get a little better.  It's always pure chaos, and it always takes a long time to get everything on the table, but it was worth the wait - so, so good this year.  I couldn't begin to decide whether I liked the stuffing, mashed potatoes, mushroom gravy, or homemade rolls best.  Outstanding.

Overall, this was a really successful camp.  We were prepared for the worst, and fortunately we got something much better than we'd expected.  Great skiing, great food, and quality team time - not much more we could have asked for.  Every year is a different story, but after this camp I have a feeling that the team won't let us go anywhere else next year.  For now, we're looking ahead to great skiing at Quarry Road and the Opener this weekend!

October 2024

 Hello Bowdoin Nordic friends!  We're rolling again - official practices started up just a few weeks ago - and things are off to a good start.  The Maine fall has been amazing - gorgeous colors and mild, dry weather that's been perfect for training.  Our leaders have done great work keeping the group organized and training productively, and our newcomers have proven to be a great bunch of hard-working and team-oriented folks.  The one blemish on an otherwise perfect start is that we've had an unusual amount of injuries and illnesses - that stuff is part of the deal for any team, but we've been hit extra hard these last couple months.  Even so, we've had a great fall so far and we're so excited to keep it rolling.  Here are a few of our highlights from October:

Fall Camp:  This year's camp was based in Conway, NH, thanks to the amazing hospitality of William's grandparents, Tom and Dorcas Deans.  The skiers enjoyed four days of trail running, hiking, rollerskiing, and biking through the White Mountains, with the showstoppers being the Carter-Moriah traverse and a long ski up the Kancamagus Highway.  Many thanks to Tom and Dorcas for making this camp possible!

Testing:  Fitness testing and tryouts were a bit limited this year with our various health challenges, but we still had plenty of great performances - every returning athlete who was able to complete testing improved their combined run/erg time!  Lars and Emma were our top finishers in the 3k run, and Jori and Michael led the way in the 2k erg.  Michael and Sawyer just missed the men's team record in the erg test, and Lars re-set his own team record in the run.

Family Weekend:  We had an incredible turnout for Family Weekend, with ski team family members coming from as far away as Washington, California, Oregon, and Alaska!  We showed off for our families with one of our signature workouts, beach skiing at Morse Mountain Preserve - a perfect day for a trip to a beautiful venue, and a lot of fun to show our people the kind of stuff we're doing all fall.  Afterward, the Belmont Street crew hosted a lovely backyard social - such a pleasure to have this opportunity to get to know the team families a bit better.

Time Trial:  We did a 9k skate TT at Runaround Pond last weekend.  This was the same course we used for a classic TT with Bates and Colby a couple years ago - gently rolling terrain punctuated with a couple big climbs.  No other teams this time - just us.  Emma scorched the course to take the women's win, and Sawyer took the men's race.  It was super fun to finally put on bibs and practice the process of racing for the first time this fall - one more step toward being ready for the real thing.

Pumpkin Contest:  After our time trial, Leslie hosted a nice get-together for a pumpkin carving contest.  We had some impressive entries demonstrating remarkable creativity and skill, but there could be only one winner - the polar bear pumpkin carved by Grace, Sawyer, Caleb, and Ollie took the victory.  Their prize was a gift card to Nomad, sponsored by John and Arabella Eldredge.

Good times and good vibes to start the fall.  Lots of reasons to be excited about the season right now - on to November!

Graduation 2024

What an amazing weekend we had for Graduation 2024!  Absolutely perfect spring weather, and even better company as a crowd of alumni, current skiers, and family members showed up to celebrate our graduates.  This year's group was extra big - 6 members of the Class of 2024 (Mia, Morgan, Aggie, Ingrid, Carson, and Silas), joined by super seniors Zach, James, and Ayden.  It's been a great run with this crew.  It seems like so long ago that the 2024 kids arrived at Bowdoin under the cloud of Covid-19.  That first semester, they lived alone in dorms, ate their meals to-go, and attended classes outside.  Led by the great Gabby Vandendries '21, our humble crew of first-years put in a great fall of training despite ever-changing restrictions - distancing, masking, no indoor training, no vehicles, etc.  We used every trick in our book to mix up the training and keep it interesting and productive, and the skiers did an amazing job of staying positive and making the most of the experience.  They made this very difficult period a lot of fun, and I'll always be grateful for that.  Meanwhile, the 2023 kids were huddled up in Bozeman, looking for new adventures as they figured out this confusing new world.  Together, our seniors have made these last few years very special - they helped our team get back to a good place in the post-pandemic era, and they oversaw a remarkably successful period on the race course.  The team is going to look a lot different without them next year, and they'll be dearly missed.  All of them are headed off to exciting new challenges, and we can't wait to see what they do next.  Congratulations and thank you, seniors!

 

Mirra at JNs

 One more race update before we close the book on the 2023-24 race season.  Thanks to her outstanding biathlon performances earlier this season, Mirra qualified to represent Team New England at Junior Nationals in Lake Placid over Spring Break.  Somehow, Mt. Van Hoevenberg still had decent snow coverage despite warm temps leading up the to event - although the weather was up and down and conditions were variable all week, they managed to pull off four good races featuring the top junior skiers in the US.  Mirra was feeling pretty cooked after carnival season plus a trip to Estonia for biathlon worlds, but she rallied for some of her best performances of the season.  The 7.5k skate was a good "wake up" race for her - she was 7th for U20s.  After qualifying 16th in the classic sprint, she skied a blistering quarterfinal to advance, and then narrowly missed out on a lucky loser spot in the semis, ending her day in 9th.  The 15k classic had tricky conditions and lots of crashes, but Mirra navigated the downhills brilliantly, paced her race well, and skied onto the podium with a 2nd place finish.  She capped off the week with a strong scramble leg for the winning U20 team in the 4x3k skate mixed relay.  Four races, four All-American performances - pretty nice way to wrap up the season!

NCAAs 2024

 NCAAs is always a treat, regardless of where it takes place or how many athletes we qualify.  This year was a bit extra special - partly because it's fun to go to a western venue, and partly because we had FIVE athletes qualifying.  With just one or two athletes at the championship, it's hard to capture the team magic that makes college skiing special, and so it was extra nice to share this adventure with such a big crew.  We hit the road shortly after the athletes were finished with classes for the week in order to give our skiers a chance to acclimate to the altitude.  Jori, Zach and I were able to fly to Denver on Thursday afternoon - we enjoyed a peaceful Friday that included a little hike around Red Rocks with Bowdoin Nordic alum Matt Klick '98.  Morgan, Carson, Emma, and Leslie joined us that night, and we drove to Steamboat the next morning.  The venue was in great shape, with tons of snow, and we spent the next few days skiing just enough to stay sharp and get a feel for the courses.  That left us with lots of time to stay on top of schoolwork while we built our red blood cells.  Happily, we had just enough time left over for some quality team time as well - here are a few highlights:

- Movie nights:  Everyone took turns picking the nightly movie.  We ended up with an eclectic mix:  Kindergarten Cop, Nightmare on Elm Street, Hustle, Holes, Stepbrothers, Isle of Dogs and The Meg.  Siskel and Ebert would have been proud of our choices.

- Opening ceremony:  The championship hosts organized a nice opening ceremony at the alpine area - our people got to march through the square with their flag on a gorgeous sunny afternoon.  They also got sweet gift bags, including the coveted NCAA water bottles.

- Bowling:  Our team's been talking about a bowling outing for years, and we finally got our chance at the Steamboat Springs Snow Bowl.  Although we're not the most amazing bowlers, we were actually pretty OK - everyone managed an occasional spare or strike, and Carson showed off the slick form honed in his Boulder HS phys ed class.  The Williams crew joined us for this outing - always fun to get to spend some time with folks from other teams.

- Snow removal:  Ok, this was mostly me and Leslie, but it certainly was a memorable part of the trip.  Starting on our first night in Steamboat, it snowed on and off for about three days.  Our very steep driveway remained unplowed, and getting out in the morning became more and more exciting until one day we just couldn't make it.  Nothing that an hour of shoveling couldn't fix!  Fortunately this didn't happen on a race morning.

- Cooking:  No ski team trip would be complete without some great team-made dinners:  frittatas, pesto pasta, pizzas, and coconut rice.  Carson's parents made us a lovely lasagna, and the whole parent crew got together to make us a gigantic feast on our last night.  Leslie also made the team nightly beet juice cocktails, because here at Bowdoin Nordic we leave no stone unturned when it comes to altitude acclimation.

- Fake banquet:  Ever since the championship banquet went away in the wake of the pandemic, we've done our own version of a banquet - just a simple night out at a semi-nice restaurant in our semi-nice clothes.  We had some fantastic tacos at a place called Salt and Lime, and enjoyed a great walk around downtown Steamboat in the snow with a dessert stop at a lovely candy shop.

 Eventually it was time to do what we came to do - Thursday brought a bright sunny morning for our 7.5k skate race.  The new snow had set up nicely and conditions were perfect.  The course was fairly stout - a series of steady climbs right off the bat, followed by a brief rolling section and a long fast descent back into the stadium.  With the altitude making everything more challenging, our skiers were determined to nail the pacing - not too hard, not too easy.  We were partly successful at this - some of our people seemed to get it just right, and others came out of the gate a bit too hot.  Our results were correspondingly mixed - some good, some less good.  Zach skied a nice steady race to finish 28th - probably his best skate race of the season.  Emma played it cautiously at the start and then latched on to a pair of skiers who passed her partway through - she was able to hang with them until the finish and then outsprint them to take a few seconds back and finish 17th.  It was super fun seeing her hold her own against a pair of veteran skiers (who both ended up getting All-American).  Morgan started beautifully and then blew up hard, finishing 35th.  Jori skied technically well but just didn't have her best stuff, and ended up 36th.  Carson started out maybe a bit too hard, had a really rough second lap, and then did a great job rallying to grab a place or two on the final lap to finish 38th.  Overall a respectable day on the big stage - not our best and not our worst.

After two warm sunny days, conditions were trending toward klister for the 20k classic, but a Friday night flurry dropped an inch or two of snow and complicated things.  Fortunately, we had a pair of legendary alumni show up to help us with waxing - Hannah Miller '17 and Elliot Ketchel '21.  Hannah and Elliot are two of the very best skiers to ever come through the program, and it was really reassuring to have them out there testing as conditions changed throughout the morning.  After dabbling with a whole bunch of waxes, we got the women's skis set and sent them on their way.  Emma and Jori settled into the middle of the pack and probably could have cruised comfortably for a good long time, but the race leaders had other ideas - they took the pace out hot and quickly strung out the field.  Emma was able to hang with a group in the teens for the entire race and ended up in 18th.  Jori was solid in the 20s for most of the race - she lost a few places in the final lap but still finished a solid 31st.  Morgan played it much more cautiously this time, starting well in the back of the field - she held her technique together well and was able to pick off a few places to finish 35th again.  Things were really heating up by the start of the men's race, and it was a real guessing game trying to predict what wax would still be working by the end of the race.  Zach got himself into a good group after the first series of climbs, but they pulled away on the downhill and he ended up skiing almost the entire race by himself - a tough way to go for a 20k at altitude!  Nonetheless he held it together well and held on to finish 26th - a really solid race to wrap up an outstanding season.  Carson hung in near the back of the pack and kept chasing hard for the whole race, ending up in 39th.  Like Thursday, this was a respectable day - not great, not terrible.  As a team, we finished 16th in the overall standings (13th among nordic teams), which is our best championship finish ever.  Of course we wanted to finish just a bit higher up after a season full of overachieving, but this was a solid performance against a super elite field.  It was a super fun trip to close out an amazing season, and I'm so, so proud of what our team has achieved these past few months.  Many thanks to Hannah and Elliot for wax help, MSU coach Adam St. Pierre for lending us tables and forms and saving us much trouble in the airport, and the whole crew of team parents for food and support at these championships.  Now that it's all over, I'm already getting stoked for next year, but right now we all need a little break - looking forward to enjoying a peaceful spring as we bring the 2023-24 edition of the Bowdoin Nordic team to a close!

Regionals and More

Hello Bowdoin Nordic fans!  We've had more racing than you can shake a stick at these last couple weeks - here's a quick rundown of what our skiers have been up to:

We closed out the carnival season with Regionals, aka the Middlebury Carnival.  Rikert has always been one of our favorite venues, and we've had some really special results there over the years.  This edition of the Midd Carnival started with a warm sunny day for the men's 7.5k skate, where Adam posted one of his best finishes of the season in 19th.  The women followed up with an absolutely magical performance - probably the best single race in Bowdoin Nordic history.  Emma finished 2nd, just 10 seconds from the win!  With this performance, she tied Kaitlynn Miller '14 for the best carnival finish in team history.  Meanwhile, Jori finished 8th and Morgan 10th, giving us all of our scorers in the top 10.  The rest of our women showed off our depth, with Ingrid 20th, Natalie 21st, and Kira 30th - first time we've ever put 6 women in the top 30!  The women were 2nd on the day - just an exceptional showing and a huge boost to our whole team.  Cold overnight temps froze up the course hard and fast and made the downhills in the 20k classic into an exciting adventure.  It was a little more adventure than we needed, honestly - we had a lot of crashes in the men's race.  When the race started, I had two nice test skis on my feet - five minutes later, I had zero, having given them away to Zach and Sawyer, who each broke a binding with a first lap crash.  Carson also had quite a time, with one of his three falls leaving him in a ditch on the side of the course.  All three guys kept fighting, though, and Zach almost got himself into the top 30 - a great effort by all three of them on a day where it would have been easy to quit.  Will was able to keep it together for a really nice 23rd place finish, and Adam scored a respectable 28th.  After hearing the dire warnings from the men, the women played it a bit more cautiously, and we avoided major carnage.  As usual, Emma and Jori went out with the lead pack and stayed there for most of the race, finishing 5th and 11th, respectively - what a joy to see these two skiing with so much confidence this year and claiming their space in the mass starts.  Morgan was 25th and Natalie skied a gritty race to hold onto 29th.  Emma locked up First Team All-East honors, and four others joined her in qualifying for the NCAA Championships in Steamboat Springs, CO:  Jori, Morgan, Zach, and Carson.  As a team we ended up 5th for the weekend - a solid finish to an exceptional season.  Many thanks to Aggie, Mia, and Silas, who worked hard all weekend helping with testing, waxing, and feeds.  Thanks also to the team parents for organizing a wonderful dinner to honor our seniors!  Our eight seniors have been the backbone of our team for the last four years - our team wouldn't be what it is without them, and we're truly grateful.

While we were closing out our carnival season, Mirra was in Estonia representing the US in the Youth World Championships for biathlon.  She earned her place in this event with some excellent finishes in qualifying races over Winter Break, and although we missed her at Regionals, we were so thrilled to see her get a chance to test herself on the world stage.  Her best finish was 58th in the 6k sprint, a very solid showing against a huge and competitive international field.  Congratulations Mirra!

As the NCAA folks were making their way to Steamboat, a big crew of our skiers headed up to Rangeley for the Rangeley Loppet 50k.  Will capped off his outstanding first-year season by outsprinting a few Colby and Bates skiers to earn the win and bring home a bear trophy.  Aggie led the women with a strong second place finish.  Rangeley has always been a fun and special event for our team, and it was so nice to have so many of our skiers out there racing on those beautiful trails.

Lastly, alumna Renae Anderson '21 got her first World Cup starts a few weeks ago!  Renae has been racing the SuperTour circuit with APU this season, and she posted enough strong finishes to earn starts at the North American World Cup races in Canmore and Minneapolis.  This was extra special because Renae is a proud Minnesotan who grew up skiing at Theodore Wirth Park, site of the Minneapolis races.  Renae made the most of her opportunity, scoring solid results and earning starts at the upcoming World Cup sprints in Drammen and Falun.  You can read Renae's account of her races at her blog.  Congratulations Renae - we're so proud of you!

Williams Carnival 2024

 Back with another update, because we post all the time here at Bowdoin Nordic.  The Williams Carnival was super fun!  Skiing on fresh natural snow at Prospect was such a treat.  Getting there was a bit of an adventure for some of us - the late van ran into some weather in New Hampshire, and the roads got really bad really fast.  We were part of a line of cars that got stuck going up a hill outside of Keene - it was pretty sketchy, so I decided to play it safe and get rooms at a hotel for the night.  We drove the rest of the way to the venue the next morning - a bit of an inconvenience, but at least we weren't starting from campus like the Williams Carnival 10 years ago!  Fortunately, Leslie was at Prospect early and had made good progress with testing by the time we showed up - she went straight to the old school kickers and found a great combination that gave us good skis for both races.  The women were on fire, which seems to be the norm these days - Emma 4th, Morgan tied for 8th, and Jori just a second behind in 11th.  Mirra (24) and Natalie (27) also grabbed top 30 finishes.  Zach returned from a mid-season hiatus to post an outstanding 7th place finish, with Carson 16th and Adam 17th to tie his personal best.  This race was particularly satisfying not only because half our team had been stuck in a snowstorm the night before, but also because we really showed off our double poling power in this one.  All season long I've been convinced that our skiers have great upper body power, and this course had a lot of nice rolling terrain that allowed us to take full advantage of this.

Day 2 was everyone's favorite - relay day!  Snow was falling, faces were glittered, and everything was just perfect.  Jori got us off to a hot start by breaking away with a lead group of 4 - Mirra skied with them for the first few kilometers and finished her leg in 6th.  What a treat to see her skiing so fearlessly these last few weeks, knowing that she belongs in a group of top college skiers!  Morgan took over for our first team and kept us within striking distance of the podium, and Ingrid kept our second team ahead of all but one second teams and several of the first teams.  Emma closed it out with a tremendous effort - she skied the second-fastest anchor leg to bring us in just 8 seconds from 3rd and 12 from 2nd.  So close!  Still a race to be proud of - one of the very best performances we've ever had.  Natalie brought our second team in with an 8th place finish and 2nd among second teams.  The men's race was equally exciting.  Zach skied a brilliant opener, tagging off in 3rd just 5 seconds from the lead.  Carson hung on for a good while before dropping back to 4th.  Adam skied alone for most of the race before being edged out on the final climb and settling for 5th - again, a great performance and one of our best relay showings ever.  For our second team, Will went out hot in an attempt to hang with the leaders.  Although he wasn't able to maintain the pace, it was so great to see him skiing so aggressively - this is how breakthroughs happen.  James and Silas both did great work to pick off places and bring the team into a respectable 15th place finish.  Overall, a really fun day and a great team effort - such a joy for our skiers to be able to work toward a single goal together on race day.  For the carnival, we ended up as the 5th nordic team - hard to believe that there were 4 teams better than us on a weekend where we skied so well, but that's a testament to how competitive EISA is this year.  Fun times to be part of a league where everyone's pushing each other to get faster!

Speaking of fun times and getting faster, the past couple weeks have been incredible for North American skiing, with back to back World Cup weekends in Canmore and Minneapolis.  Our own Renae Anderson '21 qualified for starts in both events!  She skied 2 sprints and a distance race in Canmore and then came home to race another sprint at the legendary Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis.  What a thrill to see one of our alums skiing in World Cup races - our first World Cup skier since Kaitlynn Miller '14!  Check out Renae's blog for her thoughts on the whole experience.  Lastly, congratulations to Bowdoin Nordic alum Claire Wilson '97!  As the Executive Director of the Loppet Foundation, Claire was the lead organizer of the Minneapolis World Cup races - by all accounts this was an amazing event thanks to the incredible work of the Loppet Foundation and the entire Minnesota ski community.  We're proud of you, Claire!