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.