UNH Photos

Photos from last weekend's UNH Carnival - Greg Askins did heroic work to get shots of every Bowdoin skier.

UNH Skate

Day 2 of the UNH Carnival couldn't have been more different than Day 1 - nothing but sunshine. We had a respectable day - no fireworks, but some solid results. Spencer led the way in 23rd (for EISA), with Kaitlynn in 37th. Riley had one of his best college races ever, and Jackson was an absolute hero - despite having the second to last start position, he skied aggressively, passing dozens of skiers. By the end of the race, he'd worked his way up to mid-pack, finishing sandwiched between two of the league's better skiers - a big step forward for him. Steph and Sierra also had good races - both battled to strong finishes in spite of crashes. Speaking of crashes, there were a LOT of those. On a fast snow day (like Saturday), lots of racers are challenged by the rollers and sharp turns on this course, and in a mass start, when one person goes down, others are sure to follow. There were some fantastic blowouts - almost NASCAR-esque. Every team had their share of falls, and ours was no exception. Among other incidents, Nate broke a pole in a bottleneck out of the start, Scott lost some skin in a crash, and Chris spent some quality time in the woods. Between the carnage and the inherent toughness of a 15/20k mass start race, there were lots of entertaining war stories when all was said and done. A nice OD ski yesterday and a rest day today should have the team feeling recovered and ready for a some good training before we head to Stowe on Friday.

Thanks to all the parents who came out to cheer and tailgate on Saturday! Once again, Greg Askins took some great race photos - I'll post these soon.

UNH Classic Sprint

Great day for our team here at the races in Jackson. The forecast was scary, calling for snow, ice pellets, and rain - turns out that this was exactly what we got. Somehow, though, the waxing didn't end up being as messy as the weather - it was a bit tricky, with the conditions steadily changing throughout the morning, but we were able to nail down a klister combination that worked pretty well for most people (a few ended up going on zeroes, which also worked reasonably well). Kaitlynn and Spencer led the way, qualifying in 19th and 29th, respectively. Several others had solid races as well - Nate was just a couple seconds from qualifying, and Shelby, Hannah, and Maren were not far off on the women's side. Maren had her best collegiate finish ever (47th for EISA), beating some really strong skiers.

The day got better in the heats. Spencer skied a strong quarterfinal, finishing a close 4th and improving his placing to 23rd (22nd EISA). Kaitlynn got off to a quick start in her quarterfinal, and pulled away from the pack with one other skier to advance comfortably. She drew a really strong heat in the semis and ended up 5th, leaving her in the B final. Once again, she got off to a quick start - a couple of other skiers broke away on the one big climb, but Kaitlynn led the rest of the group back into the stadium and held off a pair of hard-charging UNH skiers to lock up 3rd in the heat and 9th place overall. A fantastic day of racing - first top 10 by a Bowdoin woman since 2001! Remarkably, she was the top skier not from Dartmouth or UVM, which left us in good position in the team scoring. The women ended up tying Colby for 7th and finishing just ahead of Williams, which hasn't happened in years - at least not during my tenure at Bowdoin. So, a very good day for our team. Hopefully we'll carry some momentum into tomorrow, which should be a FUN day - a 15/20k mass start skate on a winding rollercoaster course. I almost wish I were racing tomorrow. Almost.

We capped off a good day with a great dinner courtesy of Ben and Anne Niles, who are hosting several of our boys for the weekend. Ben and Anne, along with Greg and Joanna Askins, also took great care of the team at the races, providing warm food and drinks on a wet and chilly day. Thanks to all of you for helping make today great!

Bates Photos

As usual, Greg Askins was all over the course taking photos at Rumford last weekend - here are a few:

Bates Carnival

Carnival season is underway at last. Several inches of snow fell on Thursday night, giving us a clean, soft course for the weekend. Friday's 5/10k skate was a so-so day. The skiers pushed hard, but the results weren't there - we still don't quite have the edge that we need to race fast, and most of our competitors do. Still, most of our skiers felt strong, if not fast - the fitness is there, and the results will come. This race also happened to be the 6th Annual Broomhall Cup, Maine's collegiate state championship. We ended up in 3rd behind Bates and Colby, with Spencer finishing 4th for Maine skiers and earning First Team All-State honors.

Today's 10/10k classic was a step forward. The cold temps and fresh snow made the waxing straightforward, and we were able to get the skis dialed in pretty well, thanks in no small part to Walt Shepard '10, who took some time away from his high-powered consulting job to provide expert wax tech assistance. In the men's race, Spencer got off to a strong start before crashing twice on the first lap - with over 100 skiers clustered close together in the early kilometers, he lost a lot of places and had to burn a ton of energy passing people. Riley took over as our top skier, and for a while it looked like he'd win the battle of the Eusdens, but Spencer rallied to pass dozens of skiers in the second half of the race and earn our top finish in 52nd, with Riley close behind - still an outstanding day for him. We also got some strong performances from the first-years - Kevin and Jackson were right in the mix. I should also note that Wilson commented that his skis (waxed by Walt) were the best he'd ever had - that's why we like to keep Walt around. The women had a very solid day - every single one of them bettered their skate finishes. Kaitlynn got off to a good start and moved up throughout the race, ending up in 35th - she's been feeling better bit by bit, and today was definitely a sign of good progress. Hannah also looked like she was starting to find her race gears after spending the fall in Argentina. Erin had a particularly impressive effort - before the race she was worn out just walking around, and she was dead last going up the first hill out of the stadium. She kept after it and eased into the race, passing a ton of people and beating some very good skiers. Overall, a very encouraging day for the women, and a respectable day for the team as a whole. Although I wish we'd been able to get our season off to a faster start, I have a lot of confidence in our skiers - I'm positive that we'll keep getting better as the season goes on, just like we do every year.

We had great support this weekend from a lot of team parents, who spent a long time huddled in a cold parking lot to give our skiers hot soup and snacks after the races - thanks to all of you! Thanks also to Andy Shepard for keeping the Broomhall Cup event going strong. This has always been a fun event for our team, and it's become a major goal for us to strive toward - we'll keep chipping away in anticipation of winning the Cup someday soon!

Maine vs. World and Name the Skier Pt. 3

We've had a few good days of training since the Eastern Cup - conditions at Pineland have held up well. With no classes until next week, we've had time for a few fun distractions as well. Yesterday, Zach took a big crew down to Portland, where they spent some quality time in the Old Port and watched a Pirates game. The 4th annual Maine vs. World competition is also underway - Maine jumped out to a commanding lead by winning the sprint relay and the sensory awareness challenge, but World rallied with victories in basketball and trivia. Undaunted, Maine responded by totally dominating this afternoon's Polasky Ball game to take a 3-2 lead. Just a couple more event to go - stay tuned for the dramatic conclusion.

We also have some other competitions happening this weekend - some sort of ski race type thing. Bates Carnival/Broomhall Cup - tomorrow and Saturday at Black Mountain. Here we go! Updates to follow. In the meantime, try to identify these 2 current Bowdoin Nordic skiers:

No gold stars for correct guesses - they're too easy. Instead, you get kicked out of the Bowdoin Nordic Fan Club if you can't get these right.

Titcomb Eastern Cup Day 2

Yesterday was one of those days that you remember. Super cold temps with an occasional stiff breeze made it a tough day to be outside, let alone ski around in race tights. Combine that with a LOT of climbing and you have a day of racing that won't soon be forgotten. The race was a 9/12k skate on a short loop - basically, a long climb up an alpine slope had been added to Saturday's sprint course. The ensuing downhill claimed several victims - steep and fast, with several small rollers and a big sweeping turn at the bottom. It got tougher as the day went on and the flat light made it easy to miss the little bumps. Six laps for women and eight for men meant a lot of trips up and down the hill, and a lot of skiers sharing the trail at once - an exhausting race that was probably more fun to watch than to ski.

Our team handled the challenge well. Spencer led the men with a 32nd place finish in a very competitive field, with Riley having one of his best races ever in 50th. On the women's side, Kaitlynn, Shelby, and Hannah were stacked up in 44th, 45th, and 48th. Jackson had the race of the day, however - he was on fire. Unfortunately, a counting mixup (not by Jackson) ended with him skiing an extra lap - judging by the bibs he was skiing around, he would have been around 4 1/2 minutes faster. Still, a great race and an encouraging sign for the rest of the season. I was equally proud of our skiers who didn't have great days - not everyone was feeling their best today, but everyone stuck it out and kept grinding. Overall, this was a very successful weekend - we still have a ways to go before we're where we want to be, but this was a solid showing for mid-January - we're definitely ahead of where we've been in the past.

SATURDAY RESULTS

SUNDAY RESULTS

We had tremendous support from the team parents this weekend - several folks braved the cold to cheer, and also brought a lot of delicious food for post-race recovery. We were also lucky to have wonderful overnight hosts to save the skiers from a lot of driving back and forth to campus: Steve DeAngelis and Tara Wicks hosted the men in Readfield, while the women stayed with Deb and Ron Aseltine in Wilton (amazingly, Deb and Ron were also key members of the race organizing crew, helping to put on a fantastic event for hundreds of skiers despite tough low-snow conditions). Thanks to all of you for taking such good care of our team!

Here are some photos from Sunday's race, courtesy of Greg Askins:

Titcomb Eastern Cup Day 1

Good day for us at today's Eastern Cup classic sprint at Titcomb in Farmington. Kaitlynn led the way by qualifying 14th and ending the day in 15th after a strong 3rd place showing in her quarterfinal heat. She made a bold call by choosing to double pole the fast, rolling course on skate skis - one of only a few women to do so. Nate, Tyler, and Spencer chose the same route in the men's race. Nate qualified in 15th for men and ended the day in 26th after being eliminated in the quarterfinals, and Tyler qualified for the junior heats and made it to the A final, where he finished 5th, just missing out on 4th by a lunge. Spencer and Shelby missed the open and junior heats, respectively, by just a few hundredths of a second. The whole team skied solidly today - I was pretty thrilled with how everyone looked, especially considering that today was the first true race start of the season for many of our skiers. Tomorrow is a distance skate race - forecast says it'll be cold and windy!

In other news, a few of the guys (Kevin, Wilson, Scott, and Chris) stayed home today and did a time trial at Pineland with some of the Bates skiers. Poles were shattered and brand new skis were gouged, but it was a solid race effort nonetheless - a good tune up for tomorrow.

Live Update from Pineland: What a difference a day makes

Bowdoin Nordic, and most of New England, have been waiting for snow and chasing every man-made meter we can find. Pineland Farms kept hope alive, opening a surprisingly good 0.5K loop to local programs. Maine native Nate Niles takes advantage here (above left).

Lap after lap, hope for a storm grew. Drew Gustafson of Minnesota ended the day yesterday with promising weather over his shoulder (above right).

Here is the difference between yesterday and today...

With snow still falling, Seniors Dan Polasky, Scott Longwell & Chris Sanville lead the charge into winter...

Post from Assistant Coach Zach Stegeman

Name This Skier Pt. 2

After last week's warmup at Nationals, we're ready to start the season in earnest. Almost everyone's back on campus now - we have 2 weeks before classes start, and we're looking forward to some great training and racing. We'll have reports and photos soon from the awesomely outrageous manmade snow loop at Pineland, and, of course, Maine vs. World. For now, though, here's another challenge - can you name this current Bowdoin skier?

Nationals Recap

We had a small crew racing at Senior Nationals in Rumford this past week: Shelby, Nate, Kaitlynn, Alec, and Spencer all competed. Going in, I wasn't sure what to expect - like most Easterners, our crew has had limited snow time, and even more limited racing time. Not exactly the way you're supposed to prepare for a big race series, but it was the best we could manage - not such a big deal, since we were looking at these races as tune-ups for carnival season anyway. All told, the week went very well - some good races, some not so good, and a couple great ones. Our skiers looked good out there, especially considering the lack of snow and racing time. Alec in particular looked super smooth and efficient, posting perhaps the two best races I've seen from him so far - he seems to have reached a new level this year.

A pair of other highlights came from the 20/30k mass start classic races - Kaitlynn and Spencer, for different reasons. Kaitlynn has been working through some fatigue lately, and she clearly didn't have much energy on this day - extra difficult considering that the short race loop meant 6 trips up the notorious High School Hill. It's pretty common for people to drop out of a long race when they're not having a good day, in order to save energy for later races - I wouldn't have blamed Kaitlynn if she'd chosen this route, but she stuck with it, pushing hard until the finish. Sometimes, just grinding it out through a bad race is as much of an achievement as a great race - from my place on the side of the trail, that's what Kaitlynn's 20k looked like. In the men's 30k, Spencer settled into a good rhythm near the back of the pack. After a few laps, he ended up in a small pack with Tim (now coaching at Gould and still occasionally racing) - it was pretty fun watching their little group cruising steadily through the field and picking people off one by one. At one point, it looked like Spencer was going to get dropped, but he found something extra, hung on, and ended up mounting a final charge to pick up several more places in the final kilometers - easily his best classic race ever. I was incredibly impressed by how well he skied - he's been working diligently on his classic technique for a long time, and it's clearly paid off. As importantly, he held his technique together for the entire race (which has often been a weakness for him in the past). A very exciting race and a fantastic effort.

Overall, it's been a very encouraging week - if these 5 skiers are representative of the rest of our team, we have good reason to feel optimistic about the season. The whole team will be back together on Tuesday, and we'll have several days to prepare for our first carnival without the stress of classes - should be a very productive couple of weeks.

The Second Annual Camp Miller

Last week, several Bowdoin skiers got together at Kaitlynn's house in VT for a training camp of sorts. Here's Steph's report:

After a brown Christmas in southern New Hampshire, I decided to drag my aging mini-van up Interstate 89 to the Miller residence in northern Vermont. Rain began to fall in the vicinity of Hanover, which turned to snow somewhere around Montpelier. At home it was fifty degrees but Vermont was in the grips of a blizzard, relatively speaking. On Wednesday afternoon as Kaitlynn dragged me around the woods in the midst of a “winter weather advisory,” I could hardly contain my glee. Real skiing with one of my favorite people - what could be better? The very next day I was about to find out.


Throughout the week skiers, drawn to the snow like moths to a flame, congregated in Stowe. By Thursday evening I was joined on the floor of the Miller house by Alec and Jackson. Over a game of Boggle, the four of us decided to seek the answer to the age-old question: which state is better - Vermont or New Hampshire. Two days of intense debate followed. As far as word games are concerned, Team New Hampshire reigned supreme. Alec and I amassed an untouchable 26 points in 3 rounds of Boggle. The following day, when Sierra, Tess, and the Wright sisters joined us for a very unofficial 5k skate time trial, the competition heated up. Although Jackson took home the crown for Maine, Alec still managed to pass the majority of the field while skiing classic. Due to an unconventional start format, the girl’s results from the time trial are somewhat muddled, but I have reason to suspect that Tess’s strong skiing may have contributed to a victory for the Granite State. That being said, Team Vermont provided something that New Hampshire could not: snow. In the interest of remaining unbiased, I am forced to accept a stalemate between states. On Saturday, after a skate speed workout in the rain and a quick stop for legendary donuts at the Cold Hollow Cider Mill, the boys and I headed our separate ways.

And now, for the denouement: entering New Hampshire via West Leb, I noticed the near imperceptible tang of bad air.