Dartmouth Carnival

All kinds of snow happening around New England these days - sadly, it didn't come in time to keep the Dartmouth Carnival from being relocated once again this year - this time to Craftsbury.  Always sad to miss a chance to race at Oak Hill, but Craftsbury is pretty fun too.  It was gorgeous this weekend, with several inches of new snow on the trails and in the trees.  For yesterday's classic race, the snow was cold and dry, but also soft, which added a little complexity to an otherwise straightforward day.  The team handled the conditions well, and it turned out to be a great day for us.  Kaitlynn broke her own team record again by finishing 3rd - outstanding!  The most amazing thing about this performance was that it almost didn't happen - she woke up with a crick in her back that left her barely able to move.  Fortunately, she got some help at the race venue from renowned Craftsbury coach Pepa Miloucheva - Pepa did some sort of Mr. Miyagi treatment that fixed everything, and the rest is history.  She had pretty good backup from the rest of the team as well - Hannah set a classic PR, finishing 25th for EISA, and Shelby had a PR of her own in 40th.  As a team, the women were a solid 6th - one of our best days ever.  The men were solid as well, led by James in 24th and Jackson in 40th - classic PRs for both of them.  Riley also tied his classic PR in 42nd, his best race of the season.

We had another cold day for today's 3x5k relay.  The snow was still dry and hadn't set up much - the soft, slow snow, along with several challenging climbs, made for an unusually tough 5k.  The men had another strong day - Jackson, James, and Kevin combined to finish 11th, one of our best relay performances in years.  Another highlight from the men's race came from Wilson (now the Bates assistant coach), who jumped into the race to ski the 3rd leg for Bates's second team - he held it together and nicely represented both Bowdoin alumni and coaches everywhere.  Our top women's team (Shelby, Hannah, and Kaitlynn) ended up a respectable 15th.  The second team of Tess, Eva, and Emma skied extremely well and gave our first team a run for it, finishing not far behind in 16th.  The day ended with the traditional Carnival Crush presentations - all sorts of wacky hijinks, including a pair of hand-knit underpants that Riley gave to one of the Laval girls.  Those crazy kids.

RESULTS

Thanks to all the parents who braved the storm and the cold to feed and support the team!  Lots of parental cameras out there as well - no doubt there are some good photos floating around.  For now, here are 2 from Deb Miller:

 First-ever Bowdoin podium (or, as SLU assistant and Fasterskier reporter Adam Terko called it, a "Bowdium").  This was one of the more creative podiums I've seen - the third place step was a short log that required a bit of a balancing act.

Bowdoin women and Dartmouth men - they exchanged some sort of mutual Carni Crush gifts involving ice cream and a massive Rice Krispy treat.