Canadian Nationals Relay

Today's race was a 3x6k mixed relay - Walt was teamed up with two other US biathletes, Sara Studebaker and Jesse Downs. Walt scrambled and tagged off in third, just behind Tim Burke and the top Canadian team, which is where the team ended up. He shot clean again with no extra bullets and had one of the fastest range times of the day. Today was a better skiing day - he was a bit tired but put up a solid ski time - a great way to end the season. These last couple weeks have really motivated Walt, and he's fired up for the future - just the way you want to feel going into a long off-season.

And with that, the season is officially over (unless Nat has another 75k race planned that I haven't heard about). It's been a good one - we made a lot of progress, but there's more to be done, as always. I'll post a some thoughts about the season in the next few days - in the meantime, I'll be busy enjoying the great spring skiing at Pineland!

Canadian Nationals Sprint

Walt was 10th in today's 10k sprint race at Canadian Nationals. He was the only skier in the field to shoot clean - 10 for 10. He was feeling good today, but unfortunately he picked the wrong grind for the conditions, and the slow skis held him back. Even so, he was just 30 seconds out of 4th in a field with several World Cup guys. One more race tomorrow - a mixed relay. Hopefully everything will come together.

Results here.

Canadian Nationals 20k

Great shooting for Walt today at the first race of Canadian Nationals - he hit 18 of 20 and finished 6th in a strong field. His skiing felt sluggish - not surprising considering that he flew from Boston to Vancouver yesterday - but he was still able to beat some great skiers. He tells me that "five guys here have scored World Cup points on several occasions this year, and not all of them were in front of me!" Things look good for the weekend races.

No results posted yet, but they'll be here eventually.

NA Championships Mass Start

Walt's now 3-for-3 - he was the top American and 2nd overall in the 15k mass start today. Lots more penalties for most of the racers today - Walt shot 14 for 20, but skied well enough to secure the US title. March has been a great month for Walt, and his season may not be over just yet...
Still no results posted - these should be at www.usbiathlon.com eventually.

NA Championship Pursuit

Another championship today for Walt in the 12.5k pursuit - he hit 17 of 20 targets to win the senior men's race, in spite of skiing an extra penalty loop by mistake (for some strange reason, one of his hits didn't fall until after he'd left the range). One junior racer skied the course 7 seconds faster, but Walt surely would have had the fastest time had he not skied the extra loop. Results at www.usbiathlon.com. One more race tomorrow - 20k mass start.

With two championships in two races, Walt's been invited to travel with the national team to Canadian Nationals next week. This is a great opportunity - the races will be held on the Olympic trails at Callaghan Valley, and a few World Cup skiers will be there. He's still not sure if he'll make the trip, since it would mean missing a few classes next week, but it's an honor to be invited in any case.

National Champion!

The North American Biathlon Championships got underway today in Coleraine, MN with a 10k sprint (apparently biathletes are so tough that anything 10k or less is a mere sprint). Walt took 2nd overall and was the 1st American, so he'll be taking home the national sprint title! He hit 9 of 10 targets, which is rather shocking considering that he hasn't shot since last year's National Championships. Pursuit tomorrow - updates to follow, and hopefully pictures as well.
Results.

Weekend Update

A couple race updates from this weekend:

On Saturday, Walt and I headed up to Great Glen to race in the Carl Johnson Memorial 5k, a fundraiser for ALS research. Ski team alum Angus Badger '89 was there as well - after some arm-twisting, he convinced Walt's dad Andy (a former Bowdoin ski team coach) to jump into the race as well, so Bowdoin was well-represented. Walt pulled off a stunning upset, narrowly edging me out for the win. It was close, though - I was a mere 1:33 behind him.


The Carl Johnson podium (photo courtesy of Great Glen Trails). The young guy on Walt's right can really ski - let's just say that he was closer to me than I was to Walt... I should also explain my attire: there was a prize for the loudest tights - I didn't have any of those, so I went with this classy shirt instead.

Sunday was the Sugarloaf Marathon, a 30/50k skate. In the 30k, Shem finished 3rd for men, with Grace in 6th for women. Colman finished 12th in the 50k, in a field that was even stronger than the Rangeley race. A good show by our team.

Inferno

The Sugarloaf Inferno is kind of a mini-Stowe Derby, a downhill/cross-country hybrid. The downhill portion is pretty tough under the best of conditions - with the rain, ice, and wind that we had last weekend, the race was even more hairy than usual. Grace and Colman went for it anyway and came away with some great crashes and a little glory. Colman dommed the field for the win, and Grace finished 2nd for women. No results to be found anywhere, so you'll have to take my word for it.

More racing this weekend at the Sugarloaf Marathon, among others. Race reports to follow...

NCAA Classic Race

Today wasn't so good for the East. The men got roughed up a bit - Juergen Uhl of UVM (3rd) was our only top-10 finisher. The women held their own, with all 3 Dartmouth women and Turzian of Middlebury in the top 10, but we also had a few more in the 30s. We may end up losing a spot on either side, or holding steady at best. That's disappointing, but what can you do? The West is just nasty - we'll just have to keep chipping away. Hopefully we'll have one or two Bowdoin skiers in attendance next year so we can help out the cause.

NCAA Skate Race

NCAAs got underway yesterday at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, MT with the 5/10k skate races. Good day for the East - Dartmouth's Glenn Randall won the men's skate, with Sylvan Ellefson of Bates in 4th. For the women, Alexa Turzian of Midd was 4th, with Rosie Brennan of Dartmouth in 6th. There were several other EISA skiers in the top 20, and very few at the back of the pack - in a 39-skier field, we had all but one man and one women in the top 30. I say "we" for two reasons: first, qualifying slots for NCAAs are allocated based on the results each region achieves at the championships. These guys are fighting to increase our quota for next year, so we all have a stake in the outcome. Second, they're representing our whole region now, and when they ski well, it gives us reason to feel proud of what we achieved racing against them this season. This isn't like rooting against the Yankees in the playoffs during those dark years where they'd finish ahead of the Sox every season. We really want to beat these teams, but we also respect them and want to see them skiing well at the national level. So, I don't know how the various EISA coaches and skiers are feeling about this race, but I'm pretty happy. With another day like this in the classic, we should pick up a spot or two for both men and women next year. Easier said than done, though - we'll see what happens on Friday.

Results here.

Rangeley Loppet

Epic.

We had 8 skiers race in the 25/50k Rangeley Lakes Loppet yesterday: Grace and Elissa in the 25k and Forrest, Colman, Nick, Nat, Walt, and John in the 50k. 25/50k races are tough enough on their own, but yesterday's was made considerably more difficult by the weather. The snow started on Saturday night and kept up throughout the race, resulting in soft, sloppy conditions - extra tough in a skate race. The competition was nasty as well - probably one of the toughest fields of any marathon in the East this year. Several strong college skiers showed up, as well as some veterans: Rossi skiers Eli Enman and Marc Gilbertson and Pat Weaver of the Subaru Team. Gilbertson and Weaver are both former Olympians, and Enman is one of the best all-around skiers in the East.

So - lots of challenges. Fortunately, we were prepared. Our whole mission for this race was for our skiers to avoid bonking. Everyone carried a drink belt with diluted Gatorade and a few gel-type feeds, and we also had a couple of feed stations set up on the course (our feeds consisted of lovingly prepared bananas, cut in half and partially peeled). Our strategy was for everyone to eat and drink early and often and take a fresh bottle at the halfway point. Shem, Tom, and Matt were heroic teammates - they worked the feed stations with the coaches and proved that banana handoffs can be done gracefully.

Walt and Forrest immediately formed a lead pack with Weaver and the two Rossi skiers, and they quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. It was thrilling to see our guys battling with such elite racers, skiing smoothly and looking like they belonged there. For 35k, they stayed together. Then, Enman made a break and Weaver followed - it took Walt and Forrest a moment to get past Gilbertson, and they lost contact. Both of them gave chase and kept it close, but in the end the veterans prevailed - Weaver pulled away for the win, with Enman in second, less than 30 seconds ahead of Forrest. Walt held off Gilbertson for 4th - a huge accomplishment for both of our guys. It was especially sweet for Forrest to end his college career with such a great result.

Our other skiers made us proud as well. They held their own with the other college skiers out there, beating a lot of skiers whom they hadn't been beating in the regular season. Everyone finished, which was not to be taken for granted on a tough day like this, and no one bonked. Grace in particular had a great race - she had the benefit of a little extra sleep yesterday morning, and was the 3rd woman across the line. Full results here. A great team effort, and a great way to end our season.

We wrapped things up today with our last practice of the year - a brief recovery ski followed by some games: freeze tag, ultimate, and of course sharks and minnows. Good stuff. There's still lots of good skiing to be done, though, and perhaps some races as well, but no more team practices until next fall. It's been good. We can all use a deep breath and some time off, but there's a lot to look forward to for next year.