Eastern Cup Opener

A late report on the Eastern Cup Opener in Presque Isle last weekend. Niko, Dan, Spencer, and Scott drove up with Tim on Friday. Decent results overall - Spencer qualified for the heats in Saturday's skate sprint, finishing 25th in the final standings. Niko pulled off a remarkable feat, skiing 2 laps in the qualifying round - never heard of anyone skiing an extra lap in a sprint race, so this is quite noteworthy. His NENSA points for the race were 1582.49 - this has to be a record. I'll have to ask Pat Cote to research this for me. Anyway, I'd like to think that I won't be teasing Niko about this for the rest of his Bowdoin career, but I don't think I can resist. Somewhere, Chris Sanville is smiling. Sunday's classic was decent as well, especially considering that most of the guys were doing their first real classic skiing on snow this year. All in all, a nice start to the season. Big thanks to Hannah Shepard for hosting the guys!

Niko - photo courtesy of Steve Fuller at Flying Point Road.

I also have some photos from Andy Shepard that are giving me some trouble - I'll post those when I'm back on campus with a faster connection.

Biathlon Trials Update 2 - Walt Wins!

Good weekend for Walt at the Biathlon World Team Trials. In Saturday's 10k race he scored a solid 3rd place finish, and he won today's 12.5k race with solid skiing and 19 of 20 shooting. Walt's shooting has been outstanding these last few days - he has the top shooting percentage of all competitors at nearly 90% over the first 4 races. Today's win makes him the overall series leader with one race remaining. I'm told that he's assured of a spot in the finals in Germany - a huge accomplishment. One more trials race and then it's on to the last and toughest challenge before the Olympics...

Results
MWSC Press Release

End of Semester

We're wrapping up the semester - exams started up earlier this week, and most people have made themselves scarce. Those who were able enjoyed some great skiing at Pineland - there's not a ton of snow, but coverage is good in most places. The snow is frozen granular - nice and fast. Good start to the winter - we should have some good skiing to look forward to when we come back in early January. But right now it's time for a break - a nice chance for people to train at home, do some local races, and catch up on sleep. We have a few folks racing this weekend at the Presque Isle Eastern Cups - I'll send out an update on those races and others in the next few weeks.

Biathlon Trials Races 1&2

Biathlon World Team Trials are underway at Mt. Itasca in Coleraine, MN. Walt is off to a good start, with solid results in the first two races last weekend. He finished 5th in Saturday's 10k and 2nd in yesterday's 15k mass start, just 2 seconds from the win. Sounds like he was feeling a bit flat in both races, but he skied well enough to stay close, and strong shooting gave him some decent finishes. Andy Shepard crunched the numbers - right now Walt has the best shooting percentage of all competitors and is ranked 2nd in the overall scoring. Lots of guys right behind him, though, and it's early - still 3 races left. Each racer's best 3 results will determine the final rankings, so the standings will change a lot by the time it's over. Anyway, a good start for Walt - once he gets back to feeling good, he'll be a real threat.

For those who aren't clear on how the whole qualifying process works, the top 4 athletes at these trials will join the 5 current National Team members on the World Cup circuit in January. Five men from this group of 9 will make the Olympic Team - results from a series of Europa Cup races in late January will determine the final team.

Results and photos available at Minnesota Biathlon.

GG Sprints 2009

Great Glen Sprints - first on-snow race of the year yesterday! Most of the team headed up to Pinkham Notch for the Great Glen Sprints. There was some solid competition, with Bates, Burke, and Gould in attendance, among others. I wasn't able to be there, unfortunately, so I can't give a first-hand account, but by all reports our team showed well. Maren, Hannah, Jeff, and Niko all made it through to the semi-finals. Sounds like the snow was outstanding and the event went pretty smoothly - a good way to break the seal on the season.

Here are a few photos courtesy of Ryan Triffitt '97:

Niko

Emma

Maren & Jess

Jeff. I'm told that he skied fast enough to get away with the Santa hat.

Video and more photos here.

PS - In other news, former Bowdoin assistant Ollie Burruss beat a bunch of fast skiers to win the Craftsbury Opener yesterday - nice work, Ollie! I was already looking forward to the potential Ollie-Spencer showdown at Presque Isle next weekend - yesterday's result only heightens my anticipation.

Farley & Commons

Decent skiing so far this week.

Very good threshold session on Tuesday - here's Erin and Jess.

Yesterday we got a classic coastal Maine storm - several inches fell before turning to rain. Still plenty of snow on the ground.

A few of us ventured out into the Commons for yesterday's specific strength workout - not bad.

Today the fields are groomed - our snowmobile is up and running. Pineland is looking good to open tomorrow, and the next few days should be cold. Looks like we're all set through exams - hopefully beyond!

Snow in Brunswick

First real snowfall last weekend. Sunday's OD workout turned into a flail session around the athletic fields supplemented by a run. The skiing wasn't too bad after we'd packed down a bit of a trail - somewhat reminiscent of Foret, though. We're getting really good at skiing in small circles. More snow on the way - Pineland should be able to open soon. For now, we're working with what we have - just glad to be skiing.

Ridge Road Time Trial

Did I mention that I love Ridge Road? Well, I do. Today we had a time trial with Bates on said road - 10k classic, point to point. Some nice climbs in the first half and lots of double poling in the second. Our team was solid - Elissa was second for women, and Spencer was near the top as well (although not quite ahead of Tim...). Jeff had perhaps the most impressive performance of the day, though - he was our second-fastest guy and was not far behind some very good skiers. Nice to see his hard work paying off. Polasky also deserves a special mention for skiing the whole race without poles. Quite a fun day - thanks to Bates for coming out to ski with us!

Men hamming it up next to a very happy mailbox.

Elissa and Sarah enjoying Ridge Road's sublime rollerski offerings.

Results
Women

1	Dayna	Stimson	37:16
2	Elissa	Rodman	38:19
3	Kelsey	Dion	38:52
4	Hannah	Wright	38:58
5	Sophie	Leonard	39:00
6	Beth	Taylor	39:08
7	Maren	Askins	41:20
8	Jessica	Caron	42:28
9	Sarah	Glaser	43:34
10	Catherine	Tuttle	44:34

Men

1	Harry	Poole	28:18
2	Lucas	Milliken	30:04
3	Tim	Whiton	30:10
4	Spencer	Eusden	30:30
5	Ben	Knowles	30:35
6	Cory	Hill	30:56
7	Jeff	Bush	31:22
8	Dan	Brodhead	31:35
9	Isaac	Kreisman	31:55
10	Scott	Longwell	32:00
11	Chris	Sanville	32:09
11	Niko	Kubota	32:09
12	Nate	Fuller	32:49
13	Ben	Smeltzer	33:06
14	Matt	Bowers	33:08
15	Jimmy	Burnham	33:32
16	Colman	Hatton	34:14
17	James	Crimp	35:30
18	Rainer	Kenney	36:38
19	Dan	Polasky	38:22
20	Will	McCartney	44:36

Speed & Mt. Ararat

Another ridiculously warm week with some good training. We did a pair of speed workouts on the bike path - the team looked great in their striding sprints on Tuesday. Today's V1 sprints highlighted some things that need work, but overall the team is looking snappy and strong in their movements. We also did a pair of trail runs, one of which was a run/bounding mystery interval session on the Mt. Ararat trails. I tend to overlook these trails when scheduling workouts, since we have some other great options, but they're pretty sweet - nice rolling terrain with some rugged roots and rocks, and a great sandy section that's a pretty tough slog. All in all, a good not-too-hard week to help people bounce back from camp.

We were also lucky to have an alumni visitor this week: Nick was back East visiting from Fairbanks, and he dropped in to help out with a couple workouts. Nick has his hands full these days - in addition to his assistant coaching responsibilities with FXC, he's also coaching the Lathrop High School team, alma mater of some truly outstanding skiers. Go Malemutes!

The ladies working the dunes.

Jeff going off-piste. He can do this because he speaks French.

Camp Wrap-Up

We finished off camp with a nice ski on Sunday - a few folks ventured off onto the closed trails again, but most stuck to the loop. Conditions were decent, and we had a solid workout. We left straight from the venue and made great time on the way home. On the drive, we had the odd experience of seeing winter gradually take over as we drove south - the roadside snow increased steadily as we approached the border, peaking in Jackman (apparently the real storm hit western Maine, and Foret only got a little bit around the edges). The snow also drove lots of moose toward the roadside - we saw 5 of them in a 20 minute span after crossing the border. Good spotting work by Elissa to keep us out of trouble.

Overall, I'm very happy with how this camp went. The warm weather and minimal snow could have put a real dent in the team's mood, but everyone did a great job of staying positive and making it work. We ended up with about 14 hours of quality on-snow training and some very productive technique work. The team also had a chance to have some fun together and get to know each other better, which is pretty crucial since we're looking at a long season with countless hours spent together in close quarters. All in all, a very good camp.

Matt and Jeff did some adventure skiing on the perimeter loop before finishing up on the treadmill.

Yasmine worked diligently on balance all week - baby steps.

Colman and Elissa staying focused on their 847th trip up the loop's only hill.