Another busy weekend at Trapps - the annual UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup combination. As has been the norm for this season, snow was once again thin after last week's massive thaw and rainstorm - I've never seen Trapps with so little snow. Somehow, they pulled it off - the loop had a little ice and a few rocks, but was surprisingly good (and a full 5k!). Saturday was sunny and cold for the 5/10k skate. Kaitlynn led the way in 9th (for EISA) - right in the mix with a bunch of skiers just back from racing in Europe at U23s/World Juniors. It was impressive to see her right on the heels of some of the best juniors and U23s in the country. James had a big race as well, with a PR of 23rd place, and Alec showed that he had his ski legs back with his best performance since coming home from South Africa. We were hoping for some snow overnight, but we didn't get it, and we were left with a mix of icy transformed snow and manmade snow for the classic race. The tracks had set up amazingly well considering how thin the snow cover was, and the skiing was quite good. The conditions were right on the line between klister and hardwax - we decided to lay down some binder and go with hardwax for the women. It worked out OK but could have been better - most people had adequate kick, except for Tess, who unfortunately had to do a lot of double poling. So-so skis didn't stop Emma from a stunning performance - she finished as the 36th EISA skier, a huge PR. She was passed by a Middlebury skier early in the race and managed to hang with her for several kilometers, which was great to see - many of our skiers haven't had much experience with catching a ride after being passed, and it's a big confidence builder when it happens. A really exciting race to watch, and a major milestone. Eva also had her best classic race of the year in 38th. For the men's race, we decided to switch to klister covered, but testing our klister options took some time and put us behind schedule. Fortunately, Steve DeAngelis was in attendance, and we recruited him to help out. He pretty much saved the day - we couldn't have gotten everyone's skis ready on time without him. Better yet, it turns out that Steve is a klister artist - amazingly smooth and even klister applications. Not that surprising considering that he's probably klistered up thousands of skis in his tenure as coach of the Maranacook HS team. The men ended up having great skis, and results were strong overall. Riley and Tyler skied particularly well and tied down to the tenth of a second - best race of the season for both of them. Jordan had an excellent classic race for the second straight weekend, despite being seeded far back and having almost no one to ski with. Overall, a very good weekend.
FULL RESULTS
EISA RESULTS
We had a lot of help this weekend. In addition to Steve's heroics on the wax table, Drew and Sierra were a big help both days, brushing out fluoros and applying binder like pros. A big crew of parents laid out an excellent spread for the team, and Deb and Hannah Miller continued their annual tradition of hosting several of the women and cooking a delicious dinner for the whole team. We also were lucky to see old friend Erin Hatton, who came over from NY to jump into the races and hang out with the team. Thanks to all of you for such fantastic support!
Dartmouth Carnival coming up. It's been moved to Craftsbury - we're off tomorrow.
Here are some photos from Deb Miller:
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