UVM Carnival

After the latest round of warm weather, the UVM Carnival had to be moved to Craftsbury.  I can't remember when the last time was that we didn't race at Trapps at least once in a season, so this was kind of sad.  But Craftsbury is a great venue and we were certainly grateful to have them step up and host - conditions were excellent all weekend.  Friday's skate mass start took place on a new course (for us, at least) that was super challenging - some long climbs, some steep climbs, and some long steep climbs.  It would have been a grind in any race, but 3-4 times around for a 15/20k was extra nasty.  The women got the day off to a great start with a fantastic team performance from top to bottom.  The field spread out right away as 5 skiers broke away early.  Renae stuck with a large chase pack for the whole race - even when they shattered in the final kilometer, she was able to stay right in the mix for a 13th place finish, just a few seconds from the top 10.  Ellie was really gunning for this race, and her aggressive approach paid off with her first ever top 20 finish!  Lily skied more conservatively and picked up a ton of places in the final lap to finish 26th, with Gabby right behind in 27th - first ever skate top 30 for both of them.  Fiona struggled a bit with the 15k skate races last year, so it was really gratifying to see her crush this race for a best-ever skate finish of 43rd.  Rachel showed great toughness, grinding up the big climbs to score a big PR in 52nd.  Her mom got to see her race for the first time of her college career, so that made it extra special.  The women were 4th on the day, with every racer scoring a skate or overall PR - a really impressive performance.

The men's race got off to a clean start, with all of our people in good position.  The race stayed pretty close for a long time, with Elliot settled in at the back of a lead pack of 15 or so.  Although he's been brilliant all season long, I was a bit worried that he wouldn't be able to hold on for such a long race on such a hard course.  My fears turned out to be groundless - Elliot actually gained a few spots on the last few climbs climbs and one more in the final sprint to finish 8th - a stellar showing for his first college 20k!  Jake also put on a strong charge at the end to finish 19th - first ever top 20 finish!  Christian was just behind in 23rd, with four others in the 30s - Sean (31), Sam (32), Russell (37), and Ian (39).  The overall nordic team score put us in 4th for the day - really a great showing for the whole team.

After a nice dinner with a big group of team parents, we woke up the next morning to cold temps and nice crisp tracks for the classic race.  The race was combined with an Eastern Cup - with 15 second intervals, there were lots of skiers to chase or catch rides from, and it was a great atmosphere for racing.  Gabby caught fire and absolutely crushed this race for 15th, with Renae close behind in 19th and Lily in 23rd.  For the men, Elliot was 15th and Christian was 17th - it was super fun watching him get onto a mini train and hang on for a nice classic PR.  Ian C found an extra gear out there and skied the best race I've ever seen from him.  One of the quirks of the combined college/Eastern Cup events is that the non-carnival skiers don't get included in the college results, and Ian was unfortunately not on our carnival team this weekend (with such great depth, picking the carnival team has been quite a challenge for me each weekend - a good problem to have).  Anyway, by my count Ian was 31st in the college field - a nice PR!  Although we skied well, UNH and Colby skied even better, and we had to settle for 6th place in the nordic team standings.  It's a mark of how far we've come that we're a bit disappointed by 6th place - going into the season this was the best finish in program history, accomplished just once before.  This team is raising the bar for Bowdoin Nordic!

Many thanks to the team parents - a huge crowd of them came out for this carnival and braved cold and windy weather to set up a wonderful post-race food table for the team.  I'm particularly grateful for Mike Ketchel's excellent photos from the skate race - here are a few: