NCAA Classic Race

Today wasn't so good for the East. The men got roughed up a bit - Juergen Uhl of UVM (3rd) was our only top-10 finisher. The women held their own, with all 3 Dartmouth women and Turzian of Middlebury in the top 10, but we also had a few more in the 30s. We may end up losing a spot on either side, or holding steady at best. That's disappointing, but what can you do? The West is just nasty - we'll just have to keep chipping away. Hopefully we'll have one or two Bowdoin skiers in attendance next year so we can help out the cause.

NCAA Skate Race

NCAAs got underway yesterday at Bohart Ranch in Bozeman, MT with the 5/10k skate races. Good day for the East - Dartmouth's Glenn Randall won the men's skate, with Sylvan Ellefson of Bates in 4th. For the women, Alexa Turzian of Midd was 4th, with Rosie Brennan of Dartmouth in 6th. There were several other EISA skiers in the top 20, and very few at the back of the pack - in a 39-skier field, we had all but one man and one women in the top 30. I say "we" for two reasons: first, qualifying slots for NCAAs are allocated based on the results each region achieves at the championships. These guys are fighting to increase our quota for next year, so we all have a stake in the outcome. Second, they're representing our whole region now, and when they ski well, it gives us reason to feel proud of what we achieved racing against them this season. This isn't like rooting against the Yankees in the playoffs during those dark years where they'd finish ahead of the Sox every season. We really want to beat these teams, but we also respect them and want to see them skiing well at the national level. So, I don't know how the various EISA coaches and skiers are feeling about this race, but I'm pretty happy. With another day like this in the classic, we should pick up a spot or two for both men and women next year. Easier said than done, though - we'll see what happens on Friday.

Results here.

Rangeley Loppet

Epic.

We had 8 skiers race in the 25/50k Rangeley Lakes Loppet yesterday: Grace and Elissa in the 25k and Forrest, Colman, Nick, Nat, Walt, and John in the 50k. 25/50k races are tough enough on their own, but yesterday's was made considerably more difficult by the weather. The snow started on Saturday night and kept up throughout the race, resulting in soft, sloppy conditions - extra tough in a skate race. The competition was nasty as well - probably one of the toughest fields of any marathon in the East this year. Several strong college skiers showed up, as well as some veterans: Rossi skiers Eli Enman and Marc Gilbertson and Pat Weaver of the Subaru Team. Gilbertson and Weaver are both former Olympians, and Enman is one of the best all-around skiers in the East.

So - lots of challenges. Fortunately, we were prepared. Our whole mission for this race was for our skiers to avoid bonking. Everyone carried a drink belt with diluted Gatorade and a few gel-type feeds, and we also had a couple of feed stations set up on the course (our feeds consisted of lovingly prepared bananas, cut in half and partially peeled). Our strategy was for everyone to eat and drink early and often and take a fresh bottle at the halfway point. Shem, Tom, and Matt were heroic teammates - they worked the feed stations with the coaches and proved that banana handoffs can be done gracefully.

Walt and Forrest immediately formed a lead pack with Weaver and the two Rossi skiers, and they quickly pulled away from the rest of the field. It was thrilling to see our guys battling with such elite racers, skiing smoothly and looking like they belonged there. For 35k, they stayed together. Then, Enman made a break and Weaver followed - it took Walt and Forrest a moment to get past Gilbertson, and they lost contact. Both of them gave chase and kept it close, but in the end the veterans prevailed - Weaver pulled away for the win, with Enman in second, less than 30 seconds ahead of Forrest. Walt held off Gilbertson for 4th - a huge accomplishment for both of our guys. It was especially sweet for Forrest to end his college career with such a great result.

Our other skiers made us proud as well. They held their own with the other college skiers out there, beating a lot of skiers whom they hadn't been beating in the regular season. Everyone finished, which was not to be taken for granted on a tough day like this, and no one bonked. Grace in particular had a great race - she had the benefit of a little extra sleep yesterday morning, and was the 3rd woman across the line. Full results here. A great team effort, and a great way to end our season.

We wrapped things up today with our last practice of the year - a brief recovery ski followed by some games: freeze tag, ultimate, and of course sharks and minnows. Good stuff. There's still lots of good skiing to be done, though, and perhaps some races as well, but no more team practices until next fall. It's been good. We can all use a deep breath and some time off, but there's a lot to look forward to for next year.

Sunday Races

A bit late on this update - sorry about that...

Lots of racing going on last Sunday. The ECT was at Holderness for the final Eastern Cup race, the Cheri Walsh Memorial, a 7.5/15k mass start classic race. Several of the carnival team skiers came over the day before to give support. We were fortunate to have great hospitality from 2 sets of parents for this race: the men stayed with the Cooks in Bradford, and the women and I stayed with the Pedrin-Nielsons in Plymouth. The course was in great shape in the morning, with cold dry snow and firm tracks, but things softened up considerably as the sun climbed higher. We ended up with some tricky waxing - the sun was blasting some parts of the course, and hard waxes didn't seem to be kicking, but the snow stayed cold and dry in the shaded areas. Fortunately, I had a number of enthusiastic volunteer assistant coaches to help out, and we got the skiers to the start line just in time. The wax was hit or miss on various parts of the course, but others seemed to be running into the same issues, and our skiers toughed it out to post some decent finishes. Tom and Matt had a great duel to the finish, with Tom taking it by a ski length. Matt has been coming on strong for the last few weeks after being sick on and off ever since Thanksgiving - it was great to see him continuing to make progress. If we can keep him healthy next year... I'm also pleased to report that Shem edged out a Colby skier at the line - those little individual victories matter, especially when it's Colby. Overall, a beautiful day for racing, with some great efforts by our skiers. Here's a link to results. As always, the parents were amazing, and we walked away with as much food as we could carry for the ride home. That didn't stop Nick and Nat from doing an impromptu donut challenge on the way home. Nat had been talking up his eating skills all week, but Nick gave him a good thrashing - 19:50 to 53:09 for the dozen. Still, they both deserve high praise for finishing - many donut-loving Bowdoin skiers of years past (including myself, 3 times) have tried and failed.

That same day, John, Colman, and Forrest raced the Stowe Derby. Forrest had bib 1, based on his second place finish last year. He was gunning for the win, but he got a bit too aggressive with a full tuck on one of the long straightaway downhills, and he ended up with a really painful crash that had him hobbling for the rest of the race. Colman posted an 8th place finish and was the 2nd college skier. John started with bib 211 and had to pass dozens of people on a thoroughly trashed course, but ended up 11th nonetheless. Results here, and photos here.

Walt was our other racer of the day - he competed at a citizen's race in the Sebago area and dominated, with future Bowdoin skier Spencer Eusden finishing 2nd.

Here are some photos of the Cheri Walsh, courtesy of Tom's brother James:

Middlebury Classic

I was right - today was even better.

A few inches fell yesterday, leaving the course in great shape for classic racing. Waxing seemed straightforward - hard wax with a little binder - yet somehow we found ourselves scrambling right up to the gun. There was enough coarse icy stuff under the tracks to make things a bit tricky - we brought out the heavy artillery for Courtney and Sarah (I believe the term is "panic waxing") and prayed that they wouldn't have to stride down the hills. They didn't. Instead, the whole women's team nailed it - 42, 43, and 44 for Sarah, Elissa, and Courtney, and solid races by Maresa and Grace as well - our best overall team performance of the year, even better than last weekend. Elissa was deep into the 30s for a while before a couple falls set her back several places. Frustrating, but a nice reminder of the speed that's been waiting to come out all season. She had a big hole to climb out of after Christmas, and she's done a great job of getting back into racing shape - the season's just ending a bit too soon. This group has made a lot of progress this season, and I'm really proud of them. We'll have all 5 back next year - I'm looking forward to seeing what they can do with another year.

Our men did a nice job of fighting their way up from their seeds in the back of the pack - passing lots of bodies takes a lot of energy, but they made their way into the thick of it and kept moving up throughout the race. Walt led the team in 31st, just seconds from the mid 20s. Faster skis would have gotten him there - perhaps a bit too much binder. John Hall went out in style with his best classic race ever. Early in the race, he got taken out when another skier crashed in front of him, but this just seemed to light the fire - from that point on, he just kept picking people off and ended up in 34th, just a stone's throw from the 20s. Forrest also ended on a good note - 41st in spite of draggy skis. He's overcome his earlier struggles with tensing up in classic races, and he skied smoothly and held his technique together well. We'll miss both of these guys next year, both in terms of results and character. They won't be easily replaced.

So - that's it. No more college racing this year. It's been a good season - many personal victories, some history made, and a few lessons learned. Next year will be even better. For now, though, we'll catch our breath, jump into a couple fun citizen races, and enjoy the last few weeks of winter.

PS - The ECT raced today at the Silver Fox Trot in Hanover. I don't want to say too much in case someone's going to write a more thorough update for us, but for now, here's a link to results. Great work by all of these guys to pull this trip together by themselves, and to Nick for pulling off fast skis in his role as volunteer wax tech. Eastern Cup finals tomorrow at the Cheri Walsh in Holderness - several of the carnival team folks will be there to cheer them on and help with waxing. Right now we're comfortably settled in at Maresa's house in Plymouth - great hospitality from her parents. Tomorrow should be a fun day.

Middlebury Skate

What a great day of racing - fresh snow, narrow winding trails, tons of fans, good food, and lots at stake. Last chance for skate qualifying. This was particularly meaningful for us, since Walt was sitting on a 5th place finish and needed to finish 3rd today to qualify. A 3rd seemed like a long shot since he'd been in the teens for the last few weeks, but we knew he could make it happen. And...

8 seconds! 5th place, 8 seconds out of 3rd. In any normal year, two 5th place finishes would make you a shoo-in for NCAAs, but not this year. Too much depth - too many guys capable of pulling off big finishes, especially in skating. That's not a bad thing - tougher competition in the conference makes everyone better - but it's tough to see Walt missing out by such a narrow margin.

Lots of other strong races today - one of our best team races of the season. Sarah and Colman had PRs today - Sarah was 40th, our best women's finish of the year, and Colman was 32nd. Forrest and John were 21st and 38th, respectively, in the final skate race of their college careers. Times were super tight, and just a handful of seconds would have put both guys 8 or 10 places higher. Like I said, the depth in this field is amazing. Still not sure what the team scores look like, but this was definitely one of our better days score-wise.

Some non-racing highlights: Classy handmade red headbands for the women - elegant yet functional. Look good, feel good, as Bill Yeo would say. The ECT showed up today - they're racing in Hanover tomorrow, and they drove out a bit early so they could cheer the team on. It was great to have their support - we even pressed them into service with some last-minute ski prep, brushing out the men's skis and skiing them in after we'd put on the topcoat. Best of all, their presence gave us a chance to take a team photo with everyone present. We also had several team parents here, and the spread was more impressive than ever - we barely made a dent, even with the ECT helping out. Lastly, Marty was able to make it to the races. He's been recovering from a broken hip for the last few months, and we haven't seen him all winter, so it was pretty special to have him here today. A fun day, and an even better one coming up tomorrow.

ECT Weekend Recap

Another update from Nat on the adventures of the ECT (it should be noted that last weekend's races technically weren't Eastern Cup races; however, the team is still known as the Eastern Cup Team, at least to Nat):

This weekend's Eastern Cup Index:

Approximate temperature (F) half an hour before the start of the Wonalancet Wander: 8

Approximate temperature when Bowdoin racers crossed the finish line: 22

Length of head start given to the oldest racer by Wonalancet's handicap start system: 9:01 (that's nine minutes and one second)

Number of parents of Olympians participating in the Wander: 2 (Sally Swenson and Donovan Freeman)

Number of times our assistant coach, Ezra, suggested that he would beat the author of this report in the Flying Moose Classic: at least 5

Time elapsed between the author's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 8:06

Time elapsed between the first woman's crossing the finish line and Ezra's crossing the finish line: 5:15

Percent of wax applied before the race to the ECT's skis that remained on those skis at the finish: 5

On Saturday morning at 5:30 A.M., around the time when most of the campus turns in after a night of party-going, the ECT stuffed 5 people, 7 pairs of skis, a wax table, two forms, and 5 duffel bags into the author's Passat station wagon. With seatbelts for all, we left Bowdoin and headed west, towards the hamlet of Wonalancet. If you've never heard of Wonalancet, it's probably because its residents are buried under ridiculous quantities of snow for 3/4 of the year. After driving down one of the bumpiest, iciest roads in the world, we arrived at a dead-end-parking lot in Wonalancet. There, we found the race organizer digging out the lone Porta-Potty from about four feet of snow, much to the chagrin of five of us who had been sitting in a car for two and a half hours. Given this incentive, I kindly offered to finish the job, albeit at a much faster rate.

As the ECT unpacked the contents of the Passat, we attracted the attention of the volunteers, to whom we must have seemed a lot like one of those clown cars with 30 clowns in it that you see at the circus. We set up our wax table and forms, and went out to test. It was really cold, and straight up Swix green seemed to be doing quite well. Given the warming trend, though, we all put a bit of special blue underfoot for some extra kick.

The Wander had an interesting age and gender handicap system. Given that the ECT is made up of men at or near prime skiing age, the bulk of the field had around a five minute head start. Jeff, Shem, and Bowers got a 39- second lead on Tom and I. The grooming and trails at Wonalancet were excellent--fast and twisty--but also quite narrow, and this made for an interesting race given that most ECT members had to pass 10 skiers each. Given that the trail was barely wide enough to herringbone, things got interesting when our wax stopped working (which seems to have been at the exact moment we arrived at the bottom of the first hill). Fortunately, a relatively flat course made for mostly double poling, which also made it easier to get around the citizen racers.

While no other college racers were present, the challenge for the ECT was catching all the people who got massive head starts. By the third 3.3k lap, only one obstacle remained between victory and the lead pack of Tom, Bowers, and me: Donovan Freeman, father of extremely fast skier Kris Freeman and an obvious owner of excellent genes. Freeman had plenty of wax on his skis, and threatened to stay away as we climbed the last hill, but our lack of drag allowed us to pass him with about 1k to go. Tom, Bowers and I swept the podium, while Jeff and Shem cruised in shortly afterward to take 6th and 7th (with the 4th and 5th fastest ski times). After some delicious peach upside-down cake and some great prizes, the ECT headed home. A brief but delicious stop at Wendy's in Falmouth completed our day.

On Sunday, we had both a van and a coach for the Flying Moose Classic, a 20k organized by the Bethel Outing Club. One might think that these resources might have made for a little less pre-race hectacity, but the ECT has a way of ensuring excitement no matter what. After getting our bibs in town, we drove a short distance to the Gould trails. Since the Gould trails are shaded, and the start area was sunnier and warmer, this seemed to be the only way to be sure that the wax we tested would work during the race. The only problem was that without access to power, we couldn't plug in an iron or heat gun. Sparing the reader another sleep-inducing account of technological mishaps, I'll just say that the torch we used to heat up our binder layers may not have been equal to the task. With 15 minutes until race start, Elissa and Bowers finished preparing the last pair of race skis, and we all piled into the cargo van. We arrived at Gould with 10 to go.

The race was a mass start, self-seeded. This meant that there were about 20 people crammed into the first two rows--Ezra had a particularly good spot in three feet of powder on the left side of the trail. Surprisingly little chaos ensued, although I do admit to a rather dumb maneuver that may have involved sticking a pole half an inch into my boot and falling over in front of around 20 speedy racers at the top of the first downhill.
For most of us, the race went pretty well for the first 10k. Around this point was where most of us realized the woeful inadequacy of our binder layers. Fortunately, there was minimal climbing in the second half of the race, although Shem did have the audacity switch his skis in hopes of getting some kick. While Ezra somehow managed to have wax on his skis at the finish (perhaps he wasn't going fast enough to wear it off?), the rest of us had less wax than....well, let's just say that we had a good cooldown--skate skiing.

With some competitive skiers from Colby and Burke Mountain Academy in attendance, the field was tough. The ECT managed to pull off 10th, 11th, 18th, 36th, and 39th. Nick had an especially epic duel with a fast Burke girl who had way more wax, but persevered and dropped her with some strong double-poling.

My parents treated us to an excellent lunch at a bakery in Bethel. Quesadillas, calzones, and pastries were a few things that we consumed. With that, another weekend for the ECT was in the books. Next week should be just as exciting, with a 10k skate at the Dartmouth Skiway, and a 15k classic mass start at Holderness.

Ed. Note - Here's a nice article about the Wander from the North Conway Mountain Ear. Results for both races can be found at www.nensa.net.