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.