ECT Weekend Recap

Another update from Nat on the adventures of the ECT (it should be noted that last weekend's races technically weren't Eastern Cup races; however, the team is still known as the Eastern Cup Team, at least to Nat):

This weekend's Eastern Cup Index:

Approximate temperature (F) half an hour before the start of the Wonalancet Wander: 8

Approximate temperature when Bowdoin racers crossed the finish line: 22

Length of head start given to the oldest racer by Wonalancet's handicap start system: 9:01 (that's nine minutes and one second)

Number of parents of Olympians participating in the Wander: 2 (Sally Swenson and Donovan Freeman)

Number of times our assistant coach, Ezra, suggested that he would beat the author of this report in the Flying Moose Classic: at least 5

Time elapsed between the author's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 8:06

Time elapsed between the first woman's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 5:15

Percent of wax applied before the race to the ECT's skis that remained on those skis at the finish: 5

On Saturday morning at 5:30 A.M., around the time when most of the campus turns in after a night of party-going, the ECT stuffed 5 people, 7 pairs of skis, a wax table, two forms, and 5 duffel bags into the author's Passat station wagon. With seatbelts for all, we left Bowdoin and headed west, towards the hamlet of Wonalancet. If you've never heard of Wonalancet, it's probably because its residents are buried under ridiculous quantities of snow for 3/4 of the year. After driving down one of the bumpiest, iciest roads in the world, we arrived at a dead-end-parking lot in Wonalancet. There, we found the race organizer digging out the lone Porta-Potty from about four feet of snow, much to the chagrin of five of us who had been sitting in a car for two and a half hours. Given this incentive, I kindly offered to finish the job, albeit at a much faster rate.

As the ECT unpacked the contents of the Passat, we attracted the attention of the volunteers, to whom we must have seemed a lot like one of those clown cars with 30 clowns in it that you see at the circus. We set up our wax table and forms, and went out to test. It was really cold, and straight up Swix green seemed to be doing quite well. Given the warming trend, though, we all put a bit of special blue underfoot for some extra kick.

The Wander had an interesting age and gender handicap system. Given that the ECT is made up of men at or near prime skiing age, the bulk of the field had around a five minute head start. Jeff, Shem, and Bowers got a 39- second lead on Tom and I. The grooming and trails at Wonalancet were excellent--fast and twisty--but also quite narrow, and this made for an interesting race given that most ECT members had to pass 10 skiers each. Given that the trail was barely wide enough to herringbone, things got interesting when our wax stopped working (which seems to have been at the exact moment we arrived at the bottom of the first hill). Fortunately, a relatively flat course made for mostly double poling, which also made it easier to get around the citizen racers.

While no other college racers were present, the challenge for the ECT was catching all the people who got massive head starts. By the third 3.3k lap, only one obstacle remained between victory and the lead pack of Tom, Bowers, and me: Donovan Freeman, father of extremely fast skier Kris Freeman and an obvious owner of excellent genes. Freeman had plenty of wax on his skis, and threatened to stay away as we climbed the last hill, but our lack of drag allowed us to pass him with about 1k to go. Tom, Bowers and I swept the podium, while Jeff and Shem cruised in shortly afterward to take 6th and 7th (with the 4th and 5th fastest ski times). After some delicious peach upside-down cake and some great prizes, the ECT headed home. A brief but delicious stop at Wendy's in Falmouth completed our day.

On Sunday, we had both a van and a coach for the Flying Moose Classic, a 20k organized by the Bethel Outing Club. One might think that these resources might have made for a little less pre-race hectacity, but the ECT has a way of ensuring excitement no matter what. After getting our bibs in town, we drove a short distance to the Gould trails. Since the Gould trails are shaded, and the start area was sunnier and warmer, this seemed to be the only way to be sure that the wax we tested would work during the race. The only problem was that without access to power, we couldn't plug in an iron or heat gun. Sparing the reader another sleep-inducing account of technological mishaps, I'll just say that the torch we used to heat up our binder layers may not have been equal to the task. With 15 minutes until race start, Elissa and Bowers finished preparing the last pair of race skis, and we all piled into the cargo van. We arrived at Gould with 10 to go.

The race was a mass start, self-seeded. This meant that there were about 20 people crammed into the first two rows--Ezra had a particularly good spot in three feet of powder on the left side of the trail. Surprisingly little chaos ensued, although I do admit to a rather dumb maneuver that may have involved sticking a pole half an inch into my boot and falling over in front of around 20 speedy racers at the top of the first downhill.
For most of us, the race went pretty well for the first 10k. Around this point was where most of us realized the woeful inadequacy of our binder layers. Fortunately, there was minimal climbing in the second half of the race, although Shem did have the audacity switch his skis in hopes of getting some kick. While Ezra somehow managed to have wax on his skis at the finish (perhaps he wasn't going fast enough to wear it off?), the rest of us had less wax than....well, let's just say that we had a good cooldown--skate skiing.

With some competitive skiers from Colby and Burke Mountain Academy in attendance, the field was tough. The ECT managed to pull off 10th, 11th, 18th, 36th, and 39th. Nick had an especially epic duel with a fast Burke girl who had way more wax, but persevered and dropped her with some strong double-poling.

My parents treated us to an excellent lunch at a bakery in Bethel. Quesadillas, calzones, and pastries were a few things that we consumed. With that, another weekend for the ECT was in the books. Next week should be just as exciting, with a 10k skate at the Dartmouth Skiway, and a 15k classic mass start at Holderness.

Ed. Note - Here's a nice article about the Wander from the North Conway Mountain Ear. Results for both races can be found at www.nensa.net.