Middlebury Carnival 2014

Sad but true - our last carnival of 2014 is in the books.  For Friday's classic, we were back to where we started the season - wind, rain, and klister.  Fortunately, we had some extra waxing assistance - Eva helped with testing and assorted other tasks, which really helped us get things sorted out on a chaotic day.  We found a decent solution for the men, and the whole team skied well - James got back on track with a 13th place finish, and Riley got stronger as the race went on, posting a career-best classic finish in 28th.  Things got more tricky for the women, and skis were mixed - good for our early starters, but draggy for our late starters.  Kaitlynn led the team in 18th - Shelby had a strong race, and Hannah Marshall did a great job of battling through illness.  I'm a little disappointed that we couldn't get the skis perfect for this one - we felt like we had totally nailed it as the race got underway, but things changed enough to slow down the late starters - kind of a bummer.  Still a good day overall for the team.

Things settled down nicely for Saturday's skate - beautiful sunny day.  The men settled nicely into various packs and then steadily moved up.  James hung around in the middle of his pack (around 20th) for a while before deciding to go for it entering the final lap - he went to the front and skied strongly to stretch out the group, ending up in 14th - a great display of fitness.  It was nice to see him ski aggressively in a mass start - not his usual tactic, but it was the right move for this race, and a good learning experience.  Riley and Jackson weren't far behind - they did an excellent job of working together to help each other stick with their pack, finishing 28th and 30th, respectively.  Putting all 3 of our scorers in the top 30 is something that we've almost never been able to accomplish, so this was a nice finish - the men earned an impressive 5th place team score for the race.  The women followed up with a solid performance of their own.  Kaitlynn and Hannah Miller ended up in the same pack.  It became clear pretty quickly that Hannah had something extra - she was skiing with the fire in her eyes, inching closer to the front of the pack - at one point late in the race, she was in 10th, just a few seconds from 8th.  As the pack broke apart, she dropped back a few spots, but still finished strongly, winning a sprint finish for 13th.  It was a fantastic effort and a super fun race to watch - it made me wish that the season wasn't ending just yet so we could see what Hannah could do with a few more races.  Kaitlynn was clearly tired and didn't have great skis, but she showed real determination and held on to finish 18th.  Shelby also showed great mental focus - despite breaking a pole and drifting to the back of the pack early in the race, she was able to get herself back on track for perhaps her best race of the season.  Overall, it was one of our best carnivals of the year - we finished 7th as a team, which is our best-ever finish at Regionals.  Nice way to end the regular season!

We had great support from the parents, as always, including a pair of fantastic dinners from Meg and Laurie Groves.  Thanks to all of the Bowdoin Nordic parents for their hard work taking care of our team this year!

The sad part of the weekend was the reality that our seniors have skied their last carnivals as members of the Bowdoin Ski Team.  James, Kaitlynn, Riley, and Alec have been the backbone of our team for a long time now, and they were a crucial part of our success this year - they've done a fantastic job setting the tone and creating an atmosphere of hard work and fun on our team.  It's hard to imagine next year's team without them - they will be missed.

Fortunately, it's not over just yet - although the carnivals are finished, there's still some racing to be done.  James, Kaitlynn, and I are headed out to Utah soon for NCAAs, and Ruth is taking the rest of the crew up to Rangeley for what has become a team tradition, the Rangeley Lakes Loppet.  No doubt people will be doing a few other races here and there over Spring Break as well.  Keep an eye on the blog for updates!

Here are some photos from Deb Miller, and a couple from Peggy Brown:

Williams Carnival 2014

What a strange weekend!  The 2014 Williams Carnival almost wasn't, at least for the Bowdoin Nordic team.  With a big storm all across New England on Thursday, we made the difficult decision to stay on campus that night and drive all the way to VT the next morning before the race.  This meant an early wake-up and a long drive - with the leftovers from the storm still hanging around, it took us 5 1/2 hours to get to Prospect, with the last few miles being slightly hairy.  We arrived at the venue with 20 minutes to spare before the start of the women's relay - no time for a proper warmup, skiing the course, or much of anything else.  Amazingly, it all worked out.  Hannah Miller scrambled for the first team - she must have had some residual adrenaline going from the sketchy driving conditions, because she tagged off to Eva in fourth place.  Eva skied with great determination to keep the team in contention, persevering through a fall and tagging off to Kaitlynn in sixth, right behind fourth and fifth.  At this point, I thought we had a decent chance to snag fourth, but I was absolutely floored when Kaitlynn came flying out of the woods in third after a blistering anchor leg.  She held her position (and even gained a good amount on the Dartmouth team in second) to wrap up the first ever relay podium in Bowdoin Nordic history.  Absolutely stunning - I watched the whole thing in a daze, almost unable to process what I was seeing.  Such a great moment for our team.  The rest of the crew gave an equally great effort in the same challenging circumstances - the women's 2nd team kept battling and finished 17th, and the men were 12th.  A 12th place relay finish is pretty solid, and I'm really pleased with how this group skied, even if their performance was inevitably overshadowed by the women's heroics.

Saturday's classic race was another good one.  The snow kept falling - somehow the tracks were decently firm, but many of the uphills got chopped up pretty quickly nonetheless.  This, combined with the rolling topography of the course, made for a race with a lot of double pole and herringbone.  For some of our skiers, we made a strategic decision to wax thin and cold, in the hopes that fast skis would overcome any losses from marginal kick on the striding sections.  It worked out pretty well - Hannah Miller had a huge breakthrough for a career-best 8th, while Kaitlynn was just 15 seconds from the win in 2nd - best ever Bowdoin Nordic finish!  Hannah Marshall also had a great day, with a PR of 51st despite fighting a cold, and Jackson scored a classic PR of 37th.  The women were once again 3rd for the day (Olivia rounding out the scoring in 48th) to complete an incredible weekend.

Things got weird again on the drive home - after smooth sailing for a couple hours, the roads got really slick around Concord, and we made the decision to pull over and get a hotel for the night.  Unfortunately, everyone else had the same idea - we snagged the last 2 rooms in a 20 mile radius, stuffed as many people into them as we could, and sent the rest up the road to Tess's house in Hopkinton, where the Helmboldt/Hamilton family welcomed their unexpected guests with incredible hospitality.  A surprise ending to a very unusual weekend.  Thanks so much to Krista and John for taking in the team!

I should also mention that Mac and Tess raced the NH Eastern Cups instead of the carnival last weekend, with Ruth driving over to serve as wax tech.  They were both solid in both races - although it looks like they're going to narrowly miss qualifying for JNs, they've made a good run at it, and hopefully they'll continue making progress for the rest of this year and next.

Here are some photos from Deb Miller:

And one more, courtesy of Chris Cannon:

Dartmouth Carnival 2014

Conditions couldn't have been better for the Dartmouth Carnival last weekend.  The races were held at Craftsbury as part of a SuperTour event - a storm earlier in the week had left the course in great shape, with plenty of fresh, cold snow.  Friday's skate was highlighted by a pair of 10th place finishes by Kaitlynn and James.  Hannah Miller was her usual consistent self, finishing 23rd, and Riley made it into the points as well (31st college finisher, but 29th for NCAA skiers).  Tess and Eva both continued to skate well with a pair of solid finishes.

Saturday was another great day, with Kaitlynn 5th and James 7th (6th NCAA).  These two just keep getting better.  None of us are surprised by top-10 finishes any more - this is kind of unfair, since it's such a remarkable accomplishment each time it happens, but also kind of cool that they've raised the bar so much that it seems commonplace.  Hannah Miller also scored NCAA points in 31st (28th NCAA), despite not having quite enough kick.  Olivia had a bit of a breakthrough - she was able to catch a ride from a Bates skier for several kilometers and ended up with a nice PR (37th NCAA finisher).  It's always exciting to see our skiers make a technical or tactical jump (in this case being able to take advantage of a drafting opportunity).  Overall, it was a solid weekend, despite lots of people feeling a bit flat or just tired, which is normal for this time of the season.  We usually seem to work thought it for the final couple carnivals - hopefully we're on track for a big finish to the regular season!

As usual, this was also the traditional Carnival Crush weekend.  I didn't watch the shenanigans too closely, but from what I can gather our team's efforts were clever and not particularly scandalous, which is all a coach can ask for.  Hopefully nothing will surface in the near future that proves me wrong...

This weekend also marked Tyler's last races with the team - he's headed to New Zealand to start his semester abroad.  It's been great seeing Tyler improve as a skier these past several months - he's worked hard and has made a ton of progress, especially in his classic skiing, and I'm excited to see what he can do next year.  Good luck abroad, Tyler!

One last note - we've been lucky to have Bowdoin Nordic alum Spencer Eusden '12 traveling with us these past couple weekends.  Spencer is racing for the Far West Farm team out in Truckee, and he came back east for the SuperTour and Eastern Cup races.  It's fun for all of us to see a former team member making his way in the world of elite ski racing - hopefully others will follow in his footsteps in the future!

Here are some photos from Deb Miller:

Carnival Crush

Ah yes, Carnival Crush weekend - when we all do something silly, unexpected, and mildly embarrassing for the person we've been admiring all winter.........

For Nathan

 

yes, it's true, I've hacked your blog

but for my prince (who is no frog)

I want tell it all around

that you're the greatest guy in town

you are the best person I know

and that is why I love you so

I miss you lots in the racing season

but I guess you're away for good reason

I'm so proud of you and your team

watching the races makes me beam

you always turn my heart to mush

and so you are my carnival crush

 

UVM Carnival 2014

Very busy but successful weekend at the UVM Carnival.  As usual, the carnival was combined with an Eastern Cup - lots of racers and long days.  In Saturday's classic sprint, Kaitlynn (10th) and Hannah Miller (26th) qualified for the open heats.  Kaitlynn drew a really nasty quarterfinal heat, with Rosie Brennan (2nd place in the classic sprint at US Nationals) and UVM's Anja Gruber, the top classic skier in the league.  These 3 broke away quickly, with Kaitlynn looking super strong in the double pole.  Unfortunately, her skis were a bit light on kick - she lost some ground on the big climb, finishing the heat in 3rd and ending her day.  Hannah skied really well and was right in the mix, finishing 5th in her heat to move up a couple spots in the final standings.  For men, Mac had the race of the day - he was on fire.  After qualifying for the junior heats, he broke open his semifinal heat with a big surge on the climb to advance with a comfortable margin.  In the finals, he went big right from the start and put a small gap on the field, but a few of them caught back up - they battled to the finish, with Mac finishing a close 3rd.  Great showing for a young skier who's been overachieving all year.  The carnival results were based only on the qualifier - Kaitlynn was 5th, Hannah 19th, James 24th, and Mac 29th.  As a team, women were 5th and men were 10th.

Sunday's skate featured fresh, wet snow that quickly packed down to a hard and fast surface.  Times were super tight, especially in the women's 5k.  Kaitlynn finished 11th, with Hannah Miller close behind in 20th.  Eva and Tess both had strong races as well, finishing 37th and 39th, respectively, giving us a team finish of 7th.  On the men's side, James had a huge race - he caught a ride from a UVM skier halfway through the first lap and was able to hang on all the way to the end for a 6th place finish (5th place for NCAA skiers).  It was a determined effort and a super fun race to watch.  Jackson had our other big breakthrough for the day, finishing 23rd (20th NCAA) for his first-ever top 30 finish - a great race in any circumstance, but absolutely amazing for a skier coming back from a semester in Costa Rica.  Riley and Alec were close behind in 37th and 39th, respectively.  The men finished 5th - our best men's finish since 2008.  All in all, a very successful weekend for our team.

A lot of people showed us great hospitality last weekend.  Ruth's family invited the team over for a fantastic dinner on Friday night, and the parents teamed up for an equally delicious meal at the Miller house on Saturday.  We had a huge crowd of parents at the races, and they worked really hard to give the skiers a great post-race meal both days.  Thanks to everyone who took good care of the team these past few days.

The weekend was clouded by the tragedy at the Craftsbury Marathon, where Dartmouth skier Torin Tucker collapsed and passed away during the race.  It was a heartbreaking loss that left us all feeling shaken and grateful for the ones we love.  Our thoughts are with Torin's family and friends.