Fall So Far

 It's been quite an eventful fall for Bowdoin Nordic, and we're long overdue for a catch up.  Here's a recap of what we've been up to these last couple months:

The full crew came back to campus at the end of August after a LONG time away - I hadn't seen some of these folks in person since March 2020!  During that time people have had all kinds of amazing and occasionally challenging life experiences - it's been remarkable to see the personal (and physical) growth that's taken place in the past year and a half.  From a skiing standpoint, this group used their time away to train really well - I can honestly say that I've never had a group of skiers train more or better than this team has in the past year plus.  So it was really exciting to finally get everyone back together.

After a solid September somewhat disrupted by illness and injuries, we started official practices in early October with fitness testing and tryouts.  James and Renae scorched the bike path time trial to lead the team (Aggie actually posted the fastest women's time, albeit on a different date - more on her later).  Mia and Elliot had our top erg times - Elliot's was a new team record.  Renae broke her own team record in the Morse Mountain run, and Morgan broke the old record as well.  James was the top runner for the men, finishing just one second off the team record set by the other James (Crimp '13).  James and Renae also set new team marks for combined erg/run times.  More important than the individual heroics was the solid performance of the team as a whole - judging by these tests, the overall level of fitness and skiing on our team is quite good, as expected.

From tryouts we went almost immediately into Fall Camp.  This year was extra special - we went to a new venue (Brooksville, ME), hosted by the Eysenbachs as well as family friends Bob and Donna Hamill.  For the first time ever, I missed a Bowdoin Nordic camp due to a cold and an abundance of caution that we felt was appropriate in the COVID era.  This was pretty sad for me, but the team hardly noticed - Leslie and the seniors kept everything running smoothly, with great support from Peggy Eysenbach and the Hamills.  The trip started with a long trail run at Frye Mountain, made extra exciting when one of our skiers got a little lost - after some searching, everything ended well, and the crew made it to Brooksville for an easy afternoon roll and a delicious dinner.  The next day was our traditional OD hike/run - in this case, a traverse of the peaks of the east side of Acadia National Park.  Of course most of the skiers insisted on doing every little peak, so something like 11 or 12 total - they were wrecked but very, very happy that evening.  Camp concluded with a long rollerski along the seaside roads around Brooksville - some of best rollerskiing our skiers have ever seen.  It was a really fun and productive camp, and it wouldn't have been possible without the incredible hospitality of the Eysenbachs and Hamills - we can't thank them enough!

The rest of October was a blur - trail runs, rollerskiing, beach skiing, gorgeous fall colors, and a wonderful team gathering hosted by the seniors on Family Weekend.  Perhaps our best day was the Maine Event hosted by NENSA at Pineland - an agility competition with all kinds of ramps and turns.  It was a perfect day and we had a ton of fun competing against Colby and several of Maine's top junior skiers.  Our women provided the highlights, with Renae and Aggie going 1-2 and Mia and Grace finishing in the top half as well.

With November now underway, we're doing short, quality workouts with limited daylight during the week, and going big on weekends.  Last weekend we went up to Rome for a skate time trial with Colby on some beautiful country roads with good pavement and some great hills.  Even though it was just a regular old rollerski time trial in November, it somehow felt very significant - the closest thing we've had to team competition against another college team in a really long time.  Between the sunny day, the venue, the camaraderie, and the competition, the skiers had so much fun.  Zach took the win for the men, with Elliot close behind; Renae, Aggie, and Greta were 2-4-5 for women.  Mia won the classic race - the field size was limited, true, but a win's a win.  Thanks to Colby for organizing!

Now we're on the verge of Thanksgiving Camp.  The snow situation is pretty uncertain all across the Northeast, but we're figuring it out - whatever happens, we're going to put together a great camp.  Stay tuned for more!

 

Graduation 2020 - For Real This Time

 Two graduations in one year!  After a long wait, the Class of 2020 finally got their well-deserved graduation ceremony.  It was SO nice to have almost all of our 2020s and their families back on campus - a graduation and a reunion in one.  Everyone's been doing such cool and interesting stuff this past year - teaching, coaching, fish shocking, coding, kettlebelling, and of course lots of ski training and racing!  Some of them even lived somewhere besides Bozeman - what an adventurous crowd.  We're really proud of all of these folks, and really looking forward to seeing what they do next.  Congratulations Class of 2020 - hope to see you at ski race someday soon!

Graduation 2021 and What's Next

Graduation 2021 happened!  What a joy to see the Class of 2021 have a real graduation ceremony attended by friends and family - a wonderful step toward something resembling normal.  With many of our 2021 skiers taking the semester off, Gabby was our only current team member graduating.  Gabby has been such an amazing contributor to Bowdoin Nordic and a huge part of the success we've enjoyed over the past few years.  She graduates as one of the very best skiers in Bowdoin history, with two NCAA appearances, one All-East honor, an EISA podium finish, and a whole host of other outstanding performances in just three years of collegiate competition.  Her calm demeanor and quiet determination have set the tone for our team for the last four years, and she will be sorely missed.  We're also proud of former skier Mary Kretchmer.  Even after stepping away from ski racing, Mary continued to be an enthusiastic supporter of our team, and a fun and friendly presence around campus.  It's been a pleasure to be part of her college journey, and we can't wait to see what she does next.  Congratulations Gabby and Mary!

As we head into summer, we're feeling hopeful that we'll be able to have a normal or normal-ish school year and ski season in 2021-22.  The future is bright!  Although we coaches had only limited opportunities to work with our athletes this year, we know they were doing great work on their own.  I can confidently say that we've never had a year where our athletes trained so much or so productively.  By the time we see our skiers again next fall, they'll be totally different skiers than they were when we were last together in the winter of 2020.  I am so excited to see how they've developed - I'm positive that we'll see some major improvements.  I can't wait to see who emerges as the new stars and the new leaders on this team.  More importantly, I'm eager to see how each of our skiers shapes the culture of the team going forward - with two classes having graduated and two new classes having arrived, it's going to be such a different group.  We have a chance to put together an amazing season next year, and I can't wait to get started.  For now, though, we're all going to enjoy a fun summer with everyone scattered across the country doing their own exciting things.  If anything newsworthy comes up in the coming months I'll update the blog - otherwise, we'll be back in the fall!

February Practice

 We're back! Sort of.  As expected, a regular ski season wasn't in the cards for us this winter - like most of the EISA teams, we weren't able to participate in carnivals.  However, Luke and Gabby are back on campus for the spring semester, and for the past week we've been able to ski at Pineland together.  It's not much, but it's not nothing either!  It feels really great to be training together again, even if it's just two athletes and two coaches.  As bonus points, we were cleared to go up to Quarry Road last weekend for a time trial with Colby - after a winter of no racing, even a small thing like this felt really meaningful.  The skiing was fantastic, and it was super fun!  As we start into March, the snow is dwindling fast, so we'll enjoy it while we can and look ahead to better times next year.

Renae to U23s!

 Exciting news for Bowdoin Nordic fans - Renae has been named to the U23 World Championship team!!!!  She's been training and racing with her home club, Loppet Nordic Racing in Minneapolis, and she posted some fantastic early season results to earn a spot on the team.  She'll represent the US in Vuokatti, Finland, in mid-February.  This is such a well-earned honor - Renae has been training hard and improving steadily for years.  It's a huge milestone for our team as well - first time we've ever had an athlete qualify for U23s, and we're incredibly proud of her.  Congratulations Renae!