Bowdoin Nordic

Monday, March 22, 2010

NABC Pursuit & Mass Start

Walt closed out his biathlon career with a 2nd place finish in Saturday's pursuit and a 3rd in the mass start on Sunday. His skiing was strong throughout the weekend, as it has been all season, but a few slips on the range kept him from victory in either race. Nonetheless, a fine end to a great career. Over the last few years, Walt showed himself to be one of the best and most consistent biathletes in the country. This is particularly significant considering that the US has reached new heights in the sport this season. I'm pretty sad that we won't be seeing Walt on the national biathlon scene (or the EISA circuit) next year - it's been a thrill to be part of his journey. Congratulations Walt!

Pursuit Results

Mass Start Results

Friday, March 19, 2010

North American Biathlon Championships Day 1

Walt is racing up in Fort Kent at the North American Biathlon Championships. Yesterday was the 10k sprint - he finished 2nd in a small but competitive field. Nat is at the race reporting for Fasterskier - here's his recap of the race. He went into more detail in an email to me:

After traveling around covering skiing all winter, I'm settled in to Fort Kent for the last stretch of the year--a ten-day stint in Fort Kent for the North American Biathlon Championships and then the SuperTour Finals. The best part about this is being able to thoroughly abandon impartiality and cheer for Walt, since he's racing. And today he did something awesome, which I thought I'd relate. I mentioned it briefly in the report on FasterSkier, but I can expand on it a bit here.

On his second of two shooting stages, Walt came into the range just as Casey Simons was leaving. Walt was having a good race, but he saw that Simons had cleaned (meaning he hit all five targets), and that meant that Walt had to hit all five of his own targets, and quickly, if he wanted to be able to stay with him. What followed was probably the single most impressive display of shooting that I saw all winter. And that's saying something, because I did hang out at the Olympics and watch biathlon gods like Ole-Einar Bjoerndalen and others. After squeezing off his first shot, Walt went through the next four rounds so fast that I kept looking around to see who else around him was firing at the same time. Which was foolish, because as I was doing this, I was watching Walt's targets falling. But he was shooting so quickly that the idea that he could be hitting targets seemed ludicrous. Nonetheless, he hit four, and the lone miss was really close. It wasn't quite enough to win (Walt got second), but it sure as heck was fun for me to watch... Huge baller stuff.

Full Results

Sunday, March 14, 2010

JN Skate & Relay

Spencer wrapped up Junior Nationals with a 10k skate on Friday and a 3x5k skate relay on Saturday. He started hard in the 10k - he was in 5th place after 3.5k, but faded to 14th by the finish. Not quite as impressive as his last few skate races, but a decent finish nonetheless. In the relay, he skied the 4th fastest anchor leg of the day, and the team ended up in 4th. Overall, a very good week of racing for Spencer, and a great experience - it's always good to race against the best, and it's even better to learn that you can hold your own against them.

Skate Results

Relay Results

Check out Flying Point Road for race photos.

Thursday, March 11, 2010

JN Classic

Spencer had one of his best classic races of the season yesterday in the 15k at Junior Nationals - he was the 14th OJ. Sounds like more nice weather and good skis again - New England is putting up a great performance so far.

Full Results

Here's a great photo from Steve Fuller at Flying Point Road - love the hybrid race suit:

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

JN Sprint

Classic sprint at Junior Nationals in Presque Isle yesterday. Spencer qualified 22nd for OJs and finished 4th in his quarterfinal to move up to 19th on the day. New England skiers dominated the event, winning 5 of 6 races and taking a huge lead in the Alaska Cup standings. Sounds like it was a beautiful day for racing - hopefully there's plenty of snow there to withstand the warm temps!

Here's a photo of Nick Crawford working hard at the wax table for the Alaska team and representing Bowdoin:

Full Results here.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

Rangeley Loppet - Erin Wins!

Another great day at the Rangeley Loppet yesterday. Blue skis, sunshine, and tons of snow - couldn't have been better. Our racing couldn't have been much better either - once again, our team had a great showing. In the 25k, Yas finished 7th - she's made some big leaps forward this year, and on this day she was right in the mix in a group of very experienced competitors. Scott led the men in the 50k with a 5th place finish - he was right behind some of the best skiers in New England. It was pretty thrilling to see him right on the heels of such strong athletes - an elite-caliber performance, and a great sign for the future. Niko (9th) and Wilson (10th) weren't far behind, beating all but one of the other college skiers present, and Jeff hung in for 31st. The highlight of the day was Erin's performance, though - she won the women's 50k in dominating fashion. She took the lead partway through the first lap and just skied away from the rest of the field without looking back. She didn't have a consistent group to ski with - for most of the race she was just picking off one skier after another - yet she pushed herself steadily for the entire race. Every time I saw her, she was skiing smoothly but clearly working hard, picking up seconds at every opportunity - not an easy thing to do in a nearly 3-hour race. It was an impressive piece of skiing. Overall, a great way to end our season, and yet another reason to be excited about next year - this group just keeps getting better, and the future is bright. Too bad there aren't any 50k races in college skiing.

Full Results

Thanks to Emma and the James family for hosting and feeding the team the night before the race. Thanks also to Walt for helping out with feeds, and much respect for the Cookie Monster for jumping into the race at the last minute on minimal training and half-scraped skis and still giving a respectable showing. Well done, everyone!