Men and Beards

Here are some thoughts from Wilson about the men's team performance this season:

With so much talent departing from our senior class last year it looked like this season would be a wash. We lost our top two guys, and I'll admit I was pretty pessimistic about the Bowdoin men's chances for doing anything at all this season. But then December came in, and with it a glimmer of hope for the Bowdoin men - Rainer put down his razor and said enough was enough. Pretty soon Spencer and myself decided that we too were done accepting mediocrity. Unfortunately, most of our freshmen seemed to worry that this was some sort of prank or hazing ritual - and to make matters worse one of our top men thought that by going for broke he would ruin his chances with the ladies (he didn't have a chance as it was). Bowdoin, however, would not be undone. We got back to campus and started working like we've never worked before. I am pleased to say that a team which came in with almost no talent whatsoever rose to the occasion and put in some fairly respectable showings for the Bowdoin Nordic team's most important competition. Yes, I am talking about one of Bowdoin College's oldest traditions/competitions - the 214th annual Men's Nordic Team Beard Growing competition (The competition took several years off during WWI and WWII out of respect for the soldiers).

In the tradition of other great Bowdoin Beards like Matthew Bowers' interpretation of Ambrose Burnside's, Niko Kubota's 7 stray chin hairs, Nat Herz's single side burn, and countless other exhibits of pure Skill, Determination, Talent, and Hardwork I am pleased to announce the 2011 Nordic Beards:

UVM Carnival/Stowe Eastern Cup

Another good weekend at Trapps at the combined UVM Carnival/Eastern Cup. This was our best weekend so far as a team - good solid skiing by everyone. Friday's mass start 15/20k classic was highlighted by Kaitlynn's 19th place finish. The women beat Colby for the first time in years - I can't even guess when that last happened. The men were solid as well, with Spencer and Wilson in the top 30 and James just missing it by a lunge. Sub-par skis for a couple people kept a good day from becoming a great day, but even so this was our best ever classic showing at a carnival.

Saturday's skate was beautiful and sunny, with tons of Eastern Cup skiers joining the college crowd. Spencer led the way in 20th, following his usual pattern of picking up steam after a sluggish January. Wilson scored NCAA points for the 4th time in 5 qualifiers - he finished 29th, just 15 seconds from another top 20. Kaitlynn was our top woman in 34th with her best skate performance of the year. Hannah had a great half-race - at 2k she was just 15 seconds down to Erika Flowers of Dartmouth (who ended up finishing 4th) and she stayed on Erika's tail for another kilometer before an unfortunate stumble and face plant. This cost her a lot of time and momentum, and her result wasn't anything remarkable - still, her performance in those first 3k tells me that she's capable of skiing in the upper half of the field. With a little better luck in these next few races, she'll have some nice finishes.

Sunday's Eastern Cup also went well, although it was lightly attended by Bowdoin skiers due to illness. Grace, Alec, and Rainer all scored some of their best NENSA points ever.

EISA Results
Eastern Cup Results

Much thanks to the parents who came out to support the team this weekend. Deborah Miller hosted our team for a delicious dinner on Friday, with some help from the Lynn family, and several families were in attendance at the races with food and cheering. Here are some photos courtesy of Greg Askins and the Kenney family.





Astute alums will recognize John B. Hall '08 on the right - he and his family came out to cheer on the team on Saturday.

Saturday was also Hannah's 20th birthday.



We just found out that Dan has mono - what a bummer. After a nagging shoulder injury that cost him a lot of training and racing last year, he wasn't due for any more bad luck for a while, but he got it anyway. Here's hoping that he'll be able to make the most of these last few weeks and then have a huge season next year.

Great Day at the Broomhall!

The Broomhall Cup is always a fun event - it's great to get all of the Maine teams together to compete for a championship. This Sunday was no exception - a great day for a classic race, and one of our best days ever as a team. After finishing 3rd for the first four years of this race's existence, we managed a 2nd place finish this year, beating Bates and giving Colby a run for the win. Great skiing all around - I couldn't be more proud of the team. Huge thanks to Cookie Monster Tom Cook, who generously donated his Sunday to serve as our 3rd wax tech, and old friend Shem Dixon, who jumped in to bail us out with some last minute waxing before the start of the men's race - the day wouldn't have gone nearly so well without their help. Much thanks also to the parents, who were out in force to cheer, take photos, and set up a wonderful post-race spread.

Results here (scroll down on the sidebar).

Here are some photos courtesy of Greg Askins and Dyk Eusden:

Where is Dan's bib? It was right in the pile, #72...

Oh, there it is. On Spencer. Bib #12 still sitting sad and lonely next to the wax table. Fortunately for us, the Broomhall is a friendly event, and opposing coaches declined the opportunity to disqualify him (thanks guys!)

Wilson quick off the start line.

A 40-person race makes for a nice clean mass start.

Spencer and Wilson were locked together for the whole race - they took turns leading and worked together for a fantastic 2-3 finish (Wilson won the sprint).


Emma and Maren working the downhill.


Photos like this make you realize that Riley is really quite tall. Another great race for him - he finished in good company, right in the midst of some very good skiers.

On Saturday, we worked on creating a positive mental atmosphere in order to stay relaxed while racing. Rainer did a great job of this on Sunday and skied super smoothly.

I tend to think of Scott as a slow-twitcher because he's a skinny runner type, but this is false - he sprints quite well (did you know that he used to play football?) He didn't win this battle against John Dixon of Colby, one of the best classic sprinters in the East, but it was way closer than one might have expected.

Maren took my advice about smiling while racing to heart. This was easily her best race ever as a Bowdoin skier.

Kaitlynn skied with the lead pack for several kilometers, ending up 4th behind 3 of EISA's top classic skiers.

Very gritty effort by James on his way to a 7th place finish.

Hannah ended up leading this train and gradually dropping them to finish 5th - great to see her finding her form after a slow start to the season.

Grace skiing smoothly as always - looking quite casual in shades and Hattonwear.

Erin's double pole is starting to come back after a fall spent on the bike.

Very good race for Emma, who's coming back from a nagging bronchitis-type thing.

Chris's striding looked about as good as I've seen it on Sunday.

Alec is also coming back from illness - he missed several weeks but is getting stronger every week.


Steph at the finish - so good to be done.

Happy girls.

Which one of these is not like the other? (Hint: Rainer has his tights on backward).

A fine day for the Bowdoin Nordic team.