Harvard and UVM 2020

What a start to the season!  Two carnivals done and our skiers are on fire.  Things looked a bit rough going into the Harvard Carnival.  One week out, a ridiculous warm spell blasted the East and wiped out all the snow at the original race venue - the carnival was moved to Craftsbury, which set all of us scrambling to change lodging and travel plans.  Then several of our skiers got a nasty stomach virus that knocked them flat for a couple days.  Just as this group started to recover, a new batch got sick.  Meanwhile, a big storm was brewing for our travel day - at the last minute we decided to send most of the group off early, which necessitated another round of logistical adjustments.  So when we finally got to the racing part, everything seemed easy and low stress.  The skiers came out ripping in the 5/10k skate, led by Elliot in 9th and Renae in 12th.  Cirque (30th) and Lily (23rd) set skate PRs, and Greta and Peter scored their first NCAA points.  That was a nice start, but the next day's 15/20k classic was even better.  It was kind of a magical day - seemed like everyone was touched by this crazy confidence.  Elliot and Christian jumped right into the lead pack and stayed there until the final kilometer, ending up in 5th and 10th.  Cirque stayed close behind and ended in 20th for another career-best finish, and Zach grabbed his first NCAA points in 37th.  Not to be outdone, the women basically repeated this playbook.  Gabby and Renae skied in the lead group for most of the race - when things finally splintered, Gabby went with the top chasers and locked up 5th, with Renae close behind in 10th.  Huge breakthrough for Gabby and a tremendous validation of all her hard work over the past year.  Lily finished 26th to nail down a 3rd place team finish to go along with the men's 2nd - undoubtedly the best single day performance in the history of Bowdoin Nordic.  For the carnival, we were the 4th place nordic team.  One big part of our success was some clutch waxing help from Jim Ahearne - with a mass start and nearly the full team racing, we had a big workload to accomplish in a short time frame.  Fortunately, Jim proved to have a nice light touch with the kick wax and did an amazing job helping us get skis out on time.  Thanks to Jim and all the parents who showed up to cheer, take photos, and set up an amazing food table!

We came back to reality with the start of classes - fortunately, we had great skiing at Pineland to ease the shock.  A few days later we were right back in Craftsbury for the combined UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup/SuperTour.  First day was a classic sprint - not an easy task to qualify for the heats against a SuperTour field, but Gabby, Renae, and Elliot all managed it.  None of them made it out of the quarterfinals, but all of them hung in there.  In the carnival placing Gabby was 10th, Renae 12th, and Elliot 15th for a respectable team showing.

Saturday's 5/10k skate got off to a rough start - I got wrapped up in testing and didn't get Renae her skis on time, and she missed her start by almost 2 minutes.  I've had a few bad coaching failures over the years, and this one is right up there near the top.  Renae did a great job staying focused and skiing hard nonetheless - judging by her actual skiing time she would have a very good finish in the 10-15 range for the carnival (not sure if this makes it better or worse).  The rest of the team stepped up nicely to help us stay competitive - Gabby 23, Lily 29, and Greta 35.  The men's race was where we saw our big fireworks - Christian blew it up for a career-best 6th place finish!  He's been putting in the work for years and steadily improving for his whole college career, and it feels very right to see him have such a huge breakthrough at last.  Elliot backed him up in 8th, and Peter had a breakthrough of his own in 14th - a fantastic showing for a first-year in just his second college carnival.  The men ended up 3rd on the day to help secure another 4th place overall nordic finish for the carnival.  It's pretty exciting to see that our previous best ever finish seems to be turning into the norm, but of course we're not settling for that - in the next few weeks we'll be pushing hard to take it even further.

There was still some racing left to do on Sunday - Meredith, Noah, and James stuck around for the 10/15k classic mass start.  Warmer temps and a few showers had left us with slightly variable snow, and we had to scramble to find a klister combination that would glide on the slush and kick on the glaze.  We managed fairly well, and the skiers took it from there.  It was a mixed day - some with good energy and some without - but solid racing overall, and a nice way to cash in on one more day of skiing in the fine Craftsbury conditions.  Once again we had great support from the parents, highlighted by a wonderful team dinner at the legendary Derby Cow Palace hosted by Chris and Bobbie Gostout.  We also had superstar alumna Rachel Zafren doing great work in the wax trailer on Saturday and Sunday - above and beyond what we could possibly hope for from any alum.  Thanks to all of our supporters for helping us get off to a great start, and special thanks to Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road and Todd Anderson for the great photos.  Can't wait till next weekend!

Jan Camp 2020

We're back!  Jan Camp has been rolling along for the past several days - now that we're on the verge of another carnival season, here's a quick look back at what we've been doing:

Jan Camp started with everyone converging on Jackson for a joyful reunion.  We enjoyed a couple big training days, some quality Thai takeout, and the fine hospitality of the Eagle Mountain House.  Aside from some reckless downhilling, it was a fine mini-camp.  We wrapped up the weekend with the Gunstock Freestyle.  It was a great little pre-season tuneup with some good competition - fun times.  Elliot and Gabby ended up on the podium, each in 3rd place.  On the way home, we stopped for a delicious lunch courtesy of Zach's family - many thanks to Chris and Traci for both lunch and photos!

The following week found us with plenty of snow and great skiing at Pineland, and we loaded up the training once again - one last push before backing off for carnivals.  We had originally planned to close out the week with the Ephs Challenge at Prospect, but with rain and a major heat wave anticipated the race was canceled.  Instead, we headed back to Jackson for a time trial with Colby, Bates, and UNH.  The warm moist weather gave it a weird tropical vibe, and the snow was super slow, but it was another good race effort to send us into the season.  At this point we've raced most of the league at one time or another, so carnivals shouldn't feel too intimidating to anyone.  The season starts up this Friday with the first-ever Harvard Carnival!