Chummy Cup 2018

Last weekend was the 11th Annual Chummy Broomhall Cup - the Maine collegiate championship.  This race is named in honor of the late Chummy Broomhall, a Maine native and a US nordic skiing legend.  We usually combine this event with a carnival; this year we had a break in the EISA schedule, so we took the opportunity to hold the Chummy as its own event for the first time since 2011.  This year's venue was the Nordic Heritage Center in Presque Isle - first time we've ever had the Chummy up north, and the first time our team has ever raced on those trails.  It's rare that we get to check out an unfamiliar venue, so this was pretty exciting.  Turns out that the NHC trails are fantastic - nice mix of terrain with lots of rolls and transitions, including several fun turns in the middle of fast downhills.  When we showed up to preview the course on Friday evening, the scene was gorgeous - blazing orange light shining through thousands of ice encrusted branches - one of the most beautiful sights I've ever seen on any ski trail anywhere.  This picture doesn't even come close, but it's the best I can do:

The next morning was cold and clean and perfect for racing.  The team was as amped up as I've ever seen them - we've never won the Chummy, and everyone was determined to make this our year.  Not surprisingly, the men's race got off to a hot start - after some chaos, things calmed down a bit.  After Zane Fields of Colby went off the front, Elliot settled into a duel for second with Parker McDonald of Bates, pulling away in the last few hundred meters.  Meanwhile, Sam, Christian, Jake, and Sean were part of an absolute brawl with a few Bates and Colby skiers - the final climb into the stadium was just a boiling mass of skis and poles, with everyone battling for those precious points.  Sam ended up 6th, Christian 8th, Jake 9th, and Sean 10th - a solid showing, but still a few points behind Colby going into the women's race.  We knew it would take a near miracle to close the gap, especially with one of our best skaters (Ellie) out due to illness. but the women were game to try.

As it turned out, they had to wait a while to get their shot.  On their cooldown, a few men discovered a huge hole right on the edge of the trail - looking more closely, they discovered a hibernating mother bear and two cubs!  Not something you see every day at a ski race - certainly a first for me.  A true Aroostook County experience.  After a short delay, the race organizers were able to re-route the course, and the race was on.  A big pack stayed close together for the first several kilometers - Gabby and Renae were right in the mix with the top Colby and Bates skiers, with Lily detached but fighting hard to stay close.  The skiers disappeared into the woods again - standing on the final hill, I had no idea what was happening until I heard our men making all kinds of noise, and I figured we must still have skiers in contention.  When they finally came around the turn, it was Renae leading a pack of four - Kaelyn Woods (Bates), Kirsten Miller (Colby) and Gabby.  At the base of the climb, Kaelyn found an extra gear and broke away, closely followed by Kirsten - Renae and Gabby fought hard but couldn't quite keep up, finishing 3rd and 4th.  Seconds later, Lily came around the turn with a pair of Colby skiers and the same scene repeated itself - a final charge up the hill with our skier just off the back.  In the end, we had to settle for second, just 6 points behind Colby.  We really wanted this one, and it's tough to accept that we'll have to wait at least another year before we finally hoist that cup.  Still, we can't feel too sad - Colby has been killing the skate races this year, and it was going to take a perfect day to beat them.  On this particular day, they were just a bit stronger than us - hats off.  Our team gave it a great fight, especially the women - as Ian would say, they punched above their weight.  The season's off to a great start, and we have plenty of reasons to be optimistic about February.  Back to action at the UVM Carnival this weekend!

RESULTS

Here are photos of the All-State teams (top 10):

Many thanks to Tim Whiton, UMPI, and the good folks at MHC for organizing a great race.  It's a fantastic venue, and we hope to have a chance to come back for more training or racing soon!  Thanks also to Andy Shepard of OSI for starting this event in the first place, and for keeping it going all these years.  It's a special tradition for the Maine schools, and I hope we have many more to come.

Olympian!

Once again, Kaitlynn Miller '14 has made Bowdoin Nordic history - today she was named to the 2018 Olympic Team!  We are all so excited and proud - such a great accomplishment and a well-deserved honor.  She is the 7th Olympian in Bowdoin's history.  It's so incredible to see this happening right before our eyes for someone we know and love.  Right now I'm thinking of all the four years Kaitlynn spent in our program, and all the hard work and perseverance that she put into her ski career and her schoolwork.  Great athletes make it look easy, but I was right there, and I can tell you that there was nothing easy about it - there was plenty of struggle and plenty of lows to go with the highs.  Kaitlynn handled success and failure with grace and humility, and she never lost sight of the joy of this amazing sport.  She couldn't be more deserving, and I couldn't be more proud of her.  Can't wait to see what happens next!

(photo courtesy of Deb Miller)

St. Mike's Carnival 2018

We blew up the St. Mike’s Carnival!  Best ever Bowdoin Nordic finish in an EISA carnival – 4^th place!  Here’s how it happened:

Snow was thin at Sleepy Hollow, so Saturday’s 5/10k classic was held on a shortened loop with gently rolling terrain.  It was definitely easy enough for just about any collegiate skier to double pole, but not so easy that it was a clear-cut decision.  In the end, everyone on our team decided to go with kick wax – although we knew that many or most of the other skiers would choose DP, we decided that having a little kick would give us the best of both worlds.  It turned out to be a pretty good decision.  Waxing was a bit tricky, but we found a good option and went light and tight with the kick zones – just enough to allow the skiers to do a little stride or kick DP, but not so much that it would slow the skis down noticeably.  This was a situation where application really mattered, and I was super proud of our skiers for being confident enough to choose light kick and accept an occasional slip for the sake of fast skis.  The men got the day started with an excellent showing – four skiers in the top 30!  Elliot 10^th, Christian 19^th, Russell 23^rd, and Orion 29^th.  This alone would have been a great day, but it was quickly overshadowed by what came next – three women in the top 15, and another in the top 30!  Lily 11^th, Renae 13^th, Gabby 14^th, and Ellie 29^th.  Fiona also scored a big PR in 41^st.  Absolutely shocking – I knew these guys were capable of fast skiing, but I never saw this coming.  When the women were out on course, some of the guys told me that we had 3 in the top 10, and I didn’t believe them.  Happy to be wrong!  This was a day where the whole team contributed, not only with good skiing but also good energy.  Sara deserves a lot of credit for the team’s success as well – she was a huge help with wax testing and application.  Kick waxing for 18 skiers is a big job, and we couldn’t have done it without her help.

The next day’s skate race was on a full 5k loop with some bigger hills.  Since it was a no fluoro day, we tested for the HF layer and structure to make sure we had the best possible skis.  Applying race paraffin is more time-consuming than fluoro application, and normally we don’t have time for this on the morning of the race – another thing that wouldn’t have been possible without Sara’s help.  Ian, Sara, and I turned out to be a very compatible testing team, with 100% agreement on everything we tested – that never happens!  We got the skis dialed in and let the skiers do the rest.  The men came out flying – Elliot outdid himself with an 8^th place finish, which ties the best ever result from a Bowdoin Nordic first-year (Hannah Miller ‘17, Midd Carnival 2014), and Christian upped his game as well, finishing 14^th!  Sean capped the scoring in 28^th, with Sam and Jake just outside the top 30 and Cirque (43^rd) and Luca (47^th) scoring big PRs.  The women again rose to the occasion – Renae 16^th, Ellie 26^th, and Gabby 34^th, with the men providing a fantastic cheering tunnel on the final climb.  It was an incredibly successful weekend, with everyone making progress and showing encouraging signs for the future.  The team parents also contributed mightily, with a great spread both days to keep the skiers happy and well-fed.

Everyone’s combined efforts put the team in 4^th place overall (for the nordic portion of the carnival) – our best carnival finish ever!  It’s hard for me to express what a big deal this is for our team.  I’m in my 11^th year as head coach of this program, and the progress has been steady but so painfully slow.  Two steps forward, one step back, for years and years.  We’ve had so many hard-working skiers come through the program, pouring themselves into Bowdoin Nordic and pushing the stone up the hill, and yet as a team we’ve always found ourselves in 9^th or 10^th, sometimes 8^th on a good weekend.  Seeing ourselves up in 4^th is somewhat surreal but incredibly gratifying.  I don’t know what the rest of the season holds or if we can replicate this result, but every single person on this team is ready to try.  Can’t wait for next weekend.

Colby Carnival 2018

It's a cliche among New England skiers that January is always good for a thaw somewhere along the way.  I don't know if weather data backs this up, but in my experience it's certainly held true.  This year, after two weeks of beautiful skiing, we got one of the most intense thaws I've ever seen - two days of super warm weather with pouring rain and a nasty snow-eating fog.  Sadly, it happened right on the eve of our first carnival of the year, the Colby Carnival at Quarry Road.  Our first race had to be cancelled, but the race crew did an amazing job to patch up the course after things froze up again. We ended up with a nice 1.7k loop, which held up remarkably well for the 5/10k skate despite hundreds of laps.  Our team had a mixed day - some people really killed it, while others didn't quite have the snap needed to take advantage of fast and squirrelly conditions.  Elliot and Renae were our top skiers in 13th and 21st, respectively, with Gabby just outside the points in 32nd - very impressive start to their college careers!  Fiona scored a PR, finishing 51st in a large and deep field, and Cirque came back strong after missing almost all of last season, posting a 55th place finish.  We were 6th in the team scoring, which tied our best ever finish (2011 Colby Carnival) - pretty exciting considering that this was only an OK day for us.  I'm super fired up to see what this team can do when we sharpen up a bit!

We had a lot of enthusiastic supporters at the race, most notably a great group of parents who set up a fantastic post-race tailgate.  Every year I'm struck by how lucky we are to have such a supportive group of parents, and this year is no exception.  Thanks so much, Bowdoin Nordic parents!

Here are some photos courtesy of ski team friend Dan Strodel '20:

Now we're enjoying some great skiing at Pineland - they survived the thaw nicely, and a storm today has us back in good shape.  Looking forward to the St. Mike's Carnival this weekend!

US Nationals and Jan Camp (so far)

Bowdoin Nordic people everywhere have been busy since New Year's!  Here's a quick rundown:

We started up team practices on Jan. 2nd - Mary and Ian were the only hardy souls on campus for that first day, but others soon arrived, and we had a nice first week of training together despite the rather brisk temps.

There was plenty of snow at Pineland.  Conditions were fantastic right from the beginning, and they got even better with a mid-week refresher.

That weekend we traveled to Jackson for a very quick training trip - a cold afternoon ski, our traditional Thai take-out eaten in the halls of the Eagle Mountain House, and a classic time trial with UNH the following morning.  It was great to mix it up with one of the top teams in the East in preparation for carnival season.

Women

Place	First	Last	Team	Total
1	Maddie	Morgan	UNH	26:29:00
2	Maddy	Pfeiffer	UNH	27:01:00
3	Kaja	Sandsten	UNH	27:05:00
4	Lily	Johnston	BOW	27:33:00
5	Gabby	Vandendries	BOW	27:38:00
6	Annavite	Rand	UNH	27:48:00
7	Silje	Wilson	UNH	27:49:00
8	Ellie	Hands	BOW	27:56:00
9	Hannah	Peterson	UNH	28:13:00
10	Sara	Nichols	BOW	28:20:00
11	Kristine	Keller-Miller	UNH	28:29:00
12	Sarah	Nadeau	UNH	28:50:00
13	Fiona	Ahearne	BOW	29:10:00
14	Lizzie	Martin	UNH	29:38:00
15	Mary	Kretchmer	BOW	30:04:00
16	Rachel	Zafren	BOW	31:19:00

Men

Place	First	Last	Team	Total
1	Peter	Holmes	UNH	32:13:00
2	Tyler	Smith	UNH	32:35:00
3	Christian	Gostout	BOW	33:30:00
4	Will	Bodewes	UNH	33:40:00
5	Jake	Adicoff	BOW	34:00:00
6	Sean	Cork	BOW	34:15:00
7	Bryce	Hartman	UNH	34:48:00
8	Sam	Shaheen	BOW	35:02:00
9	Ian	Culnane	BOW	35:20:00
10	Russell	Boswell	UNH	35:46:00
11	Luca	DeAngelis	BOW	36:19:00
12	Casey	Shannon	UNH	36:32:00
13	Russell	O'Brien	BOW	36:43:00
14	Noah	Eckstein	BOW	37:36:00
15	Ben	Allen	UNH	38:23:00

Meanwhile, a small crew of Bowdoin skiers past and present were tearing up US Nationals in Anchorage.  Renae finished 79th in the 10k skate, 92nd in the skate sprint, and 27th in the absurdly short and crash-marred junior 5k mass start classic.  Elliot was 36th in the 15k skate, 76th in the skate sprint, and 6th in the 10k mass start classic - just one point away from qualifying for World Juniors!  We've never had anyone come so close to making an international trip - really an impressive showing that has all of us feeling fired up for the carnival season.  On the alumni side, Kaitlynn Miller '14 was on the US podium three times in four races - 2nd American in both the classic and skate sprint and 3rd American in the 20k classic mass start.  That showing puts her in great position for the SuperTour - 2nd place overall!  No photos of racing, but I did get this great shot of a Bowdoin Nordic alumni reunion courtesy of Nat Herz '09:

(from left:  Nat, James Crimp '13, Kaitlynn, Jackson Bloch '15, Wilson Dippo '12, Nick Crawford '09)

This week we've had everyone back from Nationals, and the temps have warmed up considerably.  We had a couple days of beautiful skiing at Pineland, including a great interval session with a mini sprint time trial at the finish - the team looked sharp.

Now we find ourselves right on the verge of another carnival season - Colby Carnival starts tomorrow!  Forecast is alarming - rain turning into ice, then sleet, then snow.  This could be one of those days that we tell stories about years later - can't wait!

Fall 2017 Training Video

Happy New Year!  As we jump into 2018, here's a look back at some highlights from the fall of 2017 - enjoy!