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.