Middlebury Skate

What a great day of racing - fresh snow, narrow winding trails, tons of fans, good food, and lots at stake. Last chance for skate qualifying. This was particularly meaningful for us, since Walt was sitting on a 5th place finish and needed to finish 3rd today to qualify. A 3rd seemed like a long shot since he'd been in the teens for the last few weeks, but we knew he could make it happen. And...

8 seconds! 5th place, 8 seconds out of 3rd. In any normal year, two 5th place finishes would make you a shoo-in for NCAAs, but not this year. Too much depth - too many guys capable of pulling off big finishes, especially in skating. That's not a bad thing - tougher competition in the conference makes everyone better - but it's tough to see Walt missing out by such a narrow margin.

Lots of other strong races today - one of our best team races of the season. Sarah and Colman had PRs today - Sarah was 40th, our best women's finish of the year, and Colman was 32nd. Forrest and John were 21st and 38th, respectively, in the final skate race of their college careers. Times were super tight, and just a handful of seconds would have put both guys 8 or 10 places higher. Like I said, the depth in this field is amazing. Still not sure what the team scores look like, but this was definitely one of our better days score-wise.

Some non-racing highlights: Classy handmade red headbands for the women - elegant yet functional. Look good, feel good, as Bill Yeo would say. The ECT showed up today - they're racing in Hanover tomorrow, and they drove out a bit early so they could cheer the team on. It was great to have their support - we even pressed them into service with some last-minute ski prep, brushing out the men's skis and skiing them in after we'd put on the topcoat. Best of all, their presence gave us a chance to take a team photo with everyone present. We also had several team parents here, and the spread was more impressive than ever - we barely made a dent, even with the ECT helping out. Lastly, Marty was able to make it to the races. He's been recovering from a broken hip for the last few months, and we haven't seen him all winter, so it was pretty special to have him here today. A fun day, and an even better one coming up tomorrow.