Colby Carnival

More history made at the Colby Carnival last weekend, both by Colby and by us.  For the first time ever, Colby hosted a carnival at their new ski venue, Quarry Road Recreational Area.  It's a great little trail system just a few minutes from their campus (I'm insanely jealous).  Like everywhere else in New England, Waterville got hit with a nasty thaw a couple weeks ago, so they were hurting for snow, but with a little snowmaking and a lot of hard work Colby was able to pull off the carnival.  They even got their president to forerun the race - outstanding!  It was fun to race at a new venue despite the limited snow, and I'm looking forward to bringing the team back to Quarry Road in future years.

The races were OK, too.  Saturday's 6/10k classic was held on a 2k loop with some short, hard climbs and a couple technical downhills.  The combination of coarse, transformed snow and aggressive manmade snow was super abrasive, a problem exacerbated by one particular sharp downhill turn - too much skidding around this turn, even just once, would trash your kick wax.  We put on a klister binder and various layers of hardwax in the hopes of keeping wax on the skis.  Things got off to a good start in the women's race, as Kaitlynn set a new team record with a 4th place finish - best ever result by a Bowdoin Nordic skier!  Hannah posted a career-best classic finish (28th for EISA skiers), with Shelby completing the scoring in 49th.  Emma had a fantastic race as well - she handled the downhills well and absolutely crushed the flats with her powerful double poling.  Unfortunately, she tripped and broke a pole mid-race, which cost her a good amount of time - even so, she posted a strong result in 64th.  The men had a couple extra laps and were more vulnerable to wax wear, and some of them ended up struggling with kick on the variable snow.  Still, they hung in there with decent results - James led the team in 39th, with Jackson in 46th and Henry in 47th, continuing his comeback from illness over Winter Break.  Jordan had perhaps the race of the day for the men - he slipped a bit early on, and was caught by the SLU skier one bib behind him.  However, he showed great determination, making the wax work and hanging on for a few laps before passing the other skier back in the last kilometer.  This race also doubled as the Maine State Championship (aka, the Chummy Broomhall Cup).  We finished 2nd behind Bates, tying our best ever finish from 2 years ago.  Kaitlynn claimed the title of State Champion, with Hannah (5th) earning First Team All-State honors.  Shelby (10th), James (7th), and Jackson (10th) all earned Second Team All-State status.

With no need for track-setting, the course was expanded to a 4.2k loop for Sunday's 15/20k skate.  This was good (fewer laps, less crowding) and bad (the added sections were a bit thin, with some rocky and icy patches).  Mass start races always have potential for chaos, and this one didn't disappoint - with the big field (around 100 skiers in each race) and the fast, technical downhills, there was some carnage - lots of crashes and pole mishaps.  Our team survived and posted some great results.  Kaitlynn jumped into the lead pack right away and skied with a group of 15 or so for several kilometers.  As the race went on, the pack dwindled, until eventually she was skiing at the back of a group of 5.  With 5k to go, a UVM skier made a move and strung things out just slightly.  Kaitlynn was able to move up into 4th on the last lap and finished just a few seconds behind the lead trio - an absolutely thrilling race that somehow didn't seem at all surprising (it's funny and very unfair how quickly we start to see amazing performances as routine).  Once again, the rest of the team came through with solid results.  Hannah lost a pole early and dropped back several places, but got a replacement and rallied to finish 29th for EISA, with Eva right behind in 32nd (scoring her first NCAA point, since a couple non-carnival team skiers were in front of her).  Shelby and Steph also both had what might have been their best collegiate races ever, finishing 41st and 58th, respectively.  The men's race had a nice clean start, but things got rough after that, with all sorts of mix-ups.  Our guys had their share of troubles - Kevin and Henry both got taken out in crashes, and James lost a ski when another skier stepped on it.  Nonetheless, they hung in there and did a great job of making up lost ground throughout the race.  Jackson skied a great race, moving up steadily to finish in 36th, with Kevin (40th) and James (46th) close behind.  Overall, a very successful weekend for our team.  We finished 8th for the nordic portion of the carnival, our best team finish in a while.  Also, after just 2 carnivals we now have 6 skiers with NCAA points - another team best.  A very exciting start to the season!

RESULTS

Thanks to all of the team parents who showed up to support the team and provide delicious lunches on another very cold weekend!  We also owe a special thanks to our three volunteer assistants.  Sierra showed up to cheer both days and took video of Saturday's classic race, and old friends Drew Gustafson and Scott Longwell were tireless wax techs.  Drew and Scott applied countless layers of klister binder on Saturday, and followed up with kick wax application as well.  Scott came back the next day to help us apply fluoros for the skate race.  We had 18 skiers racing this weekend, and we never could have gotten everyone's skis ready in time without their help - we had as much success as we did largely due to their help.  Thanks Scott, Drew, and Sierra!

Here are some photos from Saturday's classic race.  This one is from Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road:

These are courtesey of former Bowdoin Nordic skier Rainer Kenney:

Race Photos

Here are some photos from the last 2 weekends, courtesy of Cathy Hoose (Lake Placid) and Patti Lynn (Rutland).  Thanks Cathy and Patti!

SLU Carnival - Lake Placid

Mtn. Top Eastern Cup - Rutland

SLU Carnival 2013

We're back from a weekend in Lake Placid for the first carnival of 2013 - what a great start to the season!  Friday's race was a 15/20k individual start skate - a long grind made more challenging by the big climbs and very cold temps.  The men got us off to a great start, with Kevin, James, and Jackson all scoring NCAA points!  Despite a large number of racers skiing 4 laps each, Jackson somehow ended up skiing alone for most of the race, which was tough - still, he managed a big PR with a 33rd place finish (he scored an NCAA point because 3 of the skiers ahead of him were non-carnival team skiers).  James and Kevin both were able to catch rides from fast skiers who'd started behind them, and both took advantage by hanging on for a long time.  Kevin rode the draft for several kilometers before passing the other skier and cruising to the finish for an impressive PR of 21st.  James was equally tenacious but a bit unlucky - with 3 or 4k to go, he tripped and broke a pole.  He had to ski for a kilometer or two with one pole before getting a replacement from a fellow racer (a Middlebury skier was bonking, and when James passed him he thoughtfully offered James his pole - a very classy gesture).  James still pulled off a strong 28th place finish - judging by the splits prior to his fall, we're pretty sure he would have finished right with Kevin had he not broken a pole.  Still, a fantastic day for the men.  The big highlight came in the women's race, though - 5th place for Kaitlynn!  Absolutely shocking.  She got off to a strong start, skiing powerfully and smoothly.  Several kilometers in, she was passed by the skier who'd started one bib behind her - like Kevin and James, she caught a ride and hung on until close to the finish - an outstanding effort.  Her finish ties the best result in Bowdoin Nordic history (a pair of 5ths by Walt Shepard in 2008).  It was especially gratifying to see her come back so strongly after last season's challenges and frustrations - a really special moment.  It was a great day for our team - everyone skied hard and left their best race on the course.  We ended up 6th for combined men's and women's nordic - our best team result in a long time.

Saturday was originally supposed to be a classic sprint, but thin snow coverage made it impossible to set track or set up a suitable start finish area.  Instead, we did a 3.2k skate "epilogue" - a short, fast, and fun race that was unlike anything we usually do on the EISA circuit.  Results weren't quite as amazing as on Friday, but still solid.  Hannah had the race of the day, finishing 32nd for EISA skiers - another big step forward in her impressive comeback from ACL surgery last year.  Kaitlynn (15th EISA) led the team again, with James (39th) and Kevin (41st) as the top men.  This performance seemed a bit anticlimactic after Friday's fireworks, but in fact it was pretty good - we would have been pretty thrilled with these results any other time.  Overall, a fun carnival and an encouraging start to the season that has everyone feeling excited for the next few weeks.

I should also note that we had several parents who braved the cold to set up a tailgate for the skiers.  Bowdoin Nordic has always been lucky to have an incredibly supportive group of team parents, and this year is no exception.  Thanks to all of you!

Rutland Adventures

Quite an eventful weekend in Rutland!  The trip started out well enough - an uneventful drive and a nice pre-race ski on Thursday afternoon.  Things took a turn for the worse when we rolled up to the Rodeway Inn after dropping the boys off at their motel - as I was checking us in, an unmarked van rolled up and several heavily armed men jumped out to apprehend a man staying in one of the rooms.  I'm not exactly sure what was going on, but there was a VT state police car present, so I'm fairly certain that this was some sort of legitimate law enforcement action and not just some shady underworld doings.  In any case, the women and Mike were sitting in the vans just a few feet away from all of this, which was fairly scary.  Needless to say, we chose not to stay at the Rodeway Inn, and instead squeezed everyone into the shabby motel where the boys were staying.  Hannah W and a few of the women ended up staying at the Wright house, which eased the crowding a bit (thanks Deb and Jim!).

The actual racing part of the trip went pretty well.  Almost everyone had a good race in Saturday's skate sprint.  Shelby and Tyler rocked the qualifier, finishing 16th and 23rd, respectively, to move on to the open heats, while Eva and Kevin qualified for the junior heats.  James and Hannah W. just missed the open heats as well, with Jackson narrowly outside the junior heats.  In the quarterfinals, Shelby made a fantastic move coming off of a downhill to slingshot from forth to first by a wide margin - she cruised up the last hill and into the semifinals easily.  The look of astonished delight on her face after the heat was priceless - this is why I'm a ski coach.  Tyler stayed right with the pack in his quarterfinal and put on an impressive surge up the last hill, but he had to weave through a couple of other skiers, which cost him some time and left him just a ski length from advancing.  His final place for the day was 15th - an outstanding effort and by far his best Eastern Cup result ever.  Shelby's semifinal didn't go so well - she got tangled up early and lost contact with the pack.  She came back strong in the B final, though, battling to 3rd in the heat and 9th overall - her best ever EC performance as well.  In the junior heats, Kevin cruised to the win in his semifinal and then battled to a 3rd place finish in the A final.  Eva skied strongly for most of her semifinal before fading on the final climb, but she came back to make a strong push and finish 3rd in the B final.  Overall, a great day that left our team feeling proud and excited.  The only blemish on the day was when one of our vans got stuck in the muddy slope disguised as a parking lot.  We had to get towed out by a tractor, with half the racers and spectators looking on - a humiliating walk of shame.

Sprint Results

Sunday's classic race had some highs and lows.  It got incredibly hot in a hurry, and the snow quickly turned to slush streaked with mud.  Mike and I got to break out our super warm klisters, which was kind of fun.  Kaitlynn provided our biggest highlight by finishing third in a field full of college skiers and top juniors.  Third!  This was a pretty great way to start the day.  Several of our other women also had strong races, most notably Lucy, who almost didn't race because of a nagging cough.  The men's race was somewhat less successful - the guys looked decent, but all of them felt a bit flat.  Still, a solid day with a huge milestone for us to get excited about.

Classic Results

Now that we're back on campus, we're just trying to get through this heat wave.  It's been warm for a week now, and today was the worst - just a massive thaw.  Like everyone else in New England, we're losing snow in a hurry - just hoping that we can hang on until it gets cold again....

Maine vs. World 2013

Maine vs World 2013 has begun (for the purpose of this year's competition, New Hampshire is considered a colony of Maine).  Three events are in the books so far - World 2, Maine 1.  Here's a recap:

Skate agility course - Team World uses their innate fearlessness and superior cornering skills to dominate the agility event, despite an early crash by the only converted alpine racer on the team.

Classic sprint relay - Once again, Team World steadily pulls away, despite the head-first lunging heroics of Maine's leadoff skier.  Team Maine is left shaking its collective head and wondering if they belong in the same competition as Team World.

Water polo - This event, on the schedule against the better judgement of the organizer, yields a spirited contest.  Maine's normally inferior colony to the west proves its worth, as the three NH residents delight and amaze their teammates with the grace and power of their fish-like swimming.  At last, a win for Team Maine.  Is this a turning point, or merely a speed bump in the path of the World juggernaut?  Only time will tell.  Stay tuned.

PS - We're also doing some ski racing.  Off to Rutland for the Eastern Cups this weekend.

Nationals 2013

We've had a small crew out in Utah for Nationals these past couple weeks:  James, Tyler, and Riley.  They've been living the dream - enjoying great skiing every day and also hanging out with various alumni (Spencer, Maren, Wilson, Scott, Chris, and Nick Crawford '09).  Unfortunately, they passed around a nasty cold last week, which curtailed the racing quite a bit.  Henry also was able to make it down from Wyoming to do the skate sprint yesterday, finally healthy after weeks of illness and fatigue - he posted a remarkably solid result in his first hard effort in over a month.  Despite the various health troubles, everyone's pretty fired up about the Nationals experience - eager to get the season started, and already looking ahead to next year at Soldier Hollow.

Here's a video by Riley and some photos from Tyler:

Jackson Jaunt & Harry Eldridge Race

We took a quick trip to Jackson over the weekend.  We did a classic OD ski on Saturday - it was great to explore some new trails.  Hannah and Emma even ran into Marty Hall, who accused them of doing an OT (over-talking) instead of an OD - classic Marty.

The next day we headed up to the Eagle Mountain House for the Jackson Jaunt, a 5/10k mass start skate race.  There was a good crowd of college skiers, juniors, and masters on hand - a very competitive field for both races, basically a mini-carnival.  Our skiers survived the chaos at the start and acquitted themselves well.  From where I was standing, it looked like a pretty fun race - lots of twists and turns and transitions, and plenty of people to battle with.  I was pretty happy with how everyone skied - it seems like we're a bit ahead of where we usually are at this time of year.  A good start.

Men's Results
Women's Results

Shelby and Tess did a road trip of their own - they headed over to Lake Placid for the Harry Eldridge Memorial skate race.  They both skied solid races, especially considering the challenging circumstances - a 7 hour drive the day before, and no coach to help with fluoro testing or other logisitics.

Results

Back to Work, and Thanksgiving Video

Bowdoin Nordic is back in session.  We started up practices a couple days ago - about half the team is back on campus, with the rest trickling in gradually.  Pineland got a couple good storms over break - everything's open and the skiing is excellent.  We're going to be busy over the next few weeks - all sorts of comings and goings, with race trips every weekend.  Should be fun.

For now, here's Shelby's video from Thanksgiving Camp.  I finally figured out how to post it - I discovered this great new website called "YouTube" where you can post videos and stuff.  Enjoy!