UVM & St. Mike's Carnivals

Quick catch up of our last 2 carnivals.  For the first time in years, the UVM Carnival didn't overlap with an Eastern Cup.  It's always nice to mingle with the Eastern Cup crowd and kill two birds with one stone, but I have to say that it was pretty pleasant to be racing at Trapps without the usual crowds and chaos.  Jackson was the hero of Friday's 5/10k skate with a 22nd place finish, while Hannah Miller led the women in 23rd.  The race was clouded by an injury to Marshal - he had a spectacular crash, with both skis flying into the woods, but was able to finish the race with an impressive display of resilience.  Unfortunately, he developed a headache after the race that got worse throughout the afternoon - after a trip to the hospital, we discovered that he had a concussion.  This is the first time I've ever had an athlete get a concussion from a ski crash, and it was a sobering reminder that even a "non-impact" sport like ours has its dangers.  I feel fortunate that we're much more aware of concussion symptoms and risks than even just a couple years ago - thanks to this, we knew what signs to look for with Marshal, and we knew how to respond when we found them.

After a stellar dinner at the Miller household, we awoke ready for Saturday's 10/15k mass start classic.  Shelby was the stand-out skier on this day - she was locked in right from the start and had perhaps the best race I've ever seen from her.  Louisa and Sam were solid as well, and August showed good fire by scrapping to get back into the race after missing the start.  The skis weren't amazing for some of our skiers, which kept us from having a great day, but overall a good effort.

Here are some photos courtesy of Ron Aseltine:

By the time we got to the St. Michael's Carnival, we'd survived a massive blizzard, with about 2 feet of snow falling on coastal Maine earlier in the week.  Amazingly, the skies hadn't emptied out yet, and several more inches fell throughout Friday's 5/10k classic.  Fueled by another fantastic family dinner, this time from Everett Marshall and Deb Parella, our crew gave a great effort, led by Hannah Miller's 14th and a career-best 25th for Tyler.  We had super cold temps and perfect skiing for Saturday's 4x3k mixed relay (2 women, 2 men per team).  Relays are always fun, and the mixed format was a neat novelty that added some excitement.  Our men were sufficiently moved to allow themselves to be adorned in glitter by the women's team - not a sight you see every day.  Our teams were solid on this day, although we didn't have any show-stopping results.  Overall, I felt like the team was very solid in this carnival and did a great job of nailing down the little things.  I was a little surprised that we didn't get a bigger reward for our efforts in terms of results, but sometimes that's how it goes - all the other teams are trying just as hard as we are.  Still, I'm happy with the progress I'm seeing from the team, and I'm excited to see how the second half of the season unfolds.

Here are St. Mike's photos from Ron Aseltine and Doug Hands: