Dartmouth Carnival 2014

Conditions couldn't have been better for the Dartmouth Carnival last weekend.  The races were held at Craftsbury as part of a SuperTour event - a storm earlier in the week had left the course in great shape, with plenty of fresh, cold snow.  Friday's skate was highlighted by a pair of 10th place finishes by Kaitlynn and James.  Hannah Miller was her usual consistent self, finishing 23rd, and Riley made it into the points as well (31st college finisher, but 29th for NCAA skiers).  Tess and Eva both continued to skate well with a pair of solid finishes.

Saturday was another great day, with Kaitlynn 5th and James 7th (6th NCAA).  These two just keep getting better.  None of us are surprised by top-10 finishes any more - this is kind of unfair, since it's such a remarkable accomplishment each time it happens, but also kind of cool that they've raised the bar so much that it seems commonplace.  Hannah Miller also scored NCAA points in 31st (28th NCAA), despite not having quite enough kick.  Olivia had a bit of a breakthrough - she was able to catch a ride from a Bates skier for several kilometers and ended up with a nice PR (37th NCAA finisher).  It's always exciting to see our skiers make a technical or tactical jump (in this case being able to take advantage of a drafting opportunity).  Overall, it was a solid weekend, despite lots of people feeling a bit flat or just tired, which is normal for this time of the season.  We usually seem to work thought it for the final couple carnivals - hopefully we're on track for a big finish to the regular season!

As usual, this was also the traditional Carnival Crush weekend.  I didn't watch the shenanigans too closely, but from what I can gather our team's efforts were clever and not particularly scandalous, which is all a coach can ask for.  Hopefully nothing will surface in the near future that proves me wrong...

This weekend also marked Tyler's last races with the team - he's headed to New Zealand to start his semester abroad.  It's been great seeing Tyler improve as a skier these past several months - he's worked hard and has made a ton of progress, especially in his classic skiing, and I'm excited to see what he can do next year.  Good luck abroad, Tyler!

One last note - we've been lucky to have Bowdoin Nordic alum Spencer Eusden '12 traveling with us these past couple weekends.  Spencer is racing for the Far West Farm team out in Truckee, and he came back east for the SuperTour and Eastern Cup races.  It's fun for all of us to see a former team member making his way in the world of elite ski racing - hopefully others will follow in his footsteps in the future!

Here are some photos from Deb Miller:

Carnival Crush

Ah yes, Carnival Crush weekend - when we all do something silly, unexpected, and mildly embarrassing for the person we've been admiring all winter.........

For Nathan

 

yes, it's true, I've hacked your blog

but for my prince (who is no frog)

I want tell it all around

that you're the greatest guy in town

you are the best person I know

and that is why I love you so

I miss you lots in the racing season

but I guess you're away for good reason

I'm so proud of you and your team

watching the races makes me beam

you always turn my heart to mush

and so you are my carnival crush

 

UVM Carnival 2014

Very busy but successful weekend at the UVM Carnival.  As usual, the carnival was combined with an Eastern Cup - lots of racers and long days.  In Saturday's classic sprint, Kaitlynn (10th) and Hannah Miller (26th) qualified for the open heats.  Kaitlynn drew a really nasty quarterfinal heat, with Rosie Brennan (2nd place in the classic sprint at US Nationals) and UVM's Anja Gruber, the top classic skier in the league.  These 3 broke away quickly, with Kaitlynn looking super strong in the double pole.  Unfortunately, her skis were a bit light on kick - she lost some ground on the big climb, finishing the heat in 3rd and ending her day.  Hannah skied really well and was right in the mix, finishing 5th in her heat to move up a couple spots in the final standings.  For men, Mac had the race of the day - he was on fire.  After qualifying for the junior heats, he broke open his semifinal heat with a big surge on the climb to advance with a comfortable margin.  In the finals, he went big right from the start and put a small gap on the field, but a few of them caught back up - they battled to the finish, with Mac finishing a close 3rd.  Great showing for a young skier who's been overachieving all year.  The carnival results were based only on the qualifier - Kaitlynn was 5th, Hannah 19th, James 24th, and Mac 29th.  As a team, women were 5th and men were 10th.

Sunday's skate featured fresh, wet snow that quickly packed down to a hard and fast surface.  Times were super tight, especially in the women's 5k.  Kaitlynn finished 11th, with Hannah Miller close behind in 20th.  Eva and Tess both had strong races as well, finishing 37th and 39th, respectively, giving us a team finish of 7th.  On the men's side, James had a huge race - he caught a ride from a UVM skier halfway through the first lap and was able to hang on all the way to the end for a 6th place finish (5th place for NCAA skiers).  It was a determined effort and a super fun race to watch.  Jackson had our other big breakthrough for the day, finishing 23rd (20th NCAA) for his first-ever top 30 finish - a great race in any circumstance, but absolutely amazing for a skier coming back from a semester in Costa Rica.  Riley and Alec were close behind in 37th and 39th, respectively.  The men finished 5th - our best men's finish since 2008.  All in all, a very successful weekend for our team.

A lot of people showed us great hospitality last weekend.  Ruth's family invited the team over for a fantastic dinner on Friday night, and the parents teamed up for an equally delicious meal at the Miller house on Saturday.  We had a huge crowd of parents at the races, and they worked really hard to give the skiers a great post-race meal both days.  Thanks to everyone who took good care of the team these past few days.

The weekend was clouded by the tragedy at the Craftsbury Marathon, where Dartmouth skier Torin Tucker collapsed and passed away during the race.  It was a heartbreaking loss that left us all feeling shaken and grateful for the ones we love.  Our thoughts are with Torin's family and friends.

UNH Carnival 2014

Another good weekend at the UNH Carnival.  Jackson got a little snow prior to the races, and the course was in decent shape by the time we showed up.  This was nice - since their 5k loop is one of the most fun courses around, it was great to be able to ski the whole thing and enjoy decent conditions.  Friday was very cold, and the snow was super abrasive - always tough for a classic race.  Although the tracks were pure ice under a thin skim of powder in many spots, we were able to avoid klister with a binder/hardwax combination that was nice and fast with good kick.  The Millers were on fire, finishing 6th (Kaitlynn) and 16th (Hannah) in a very fast and tightly contested race.  As a team, the women finished 6th, just a few points from 4th.  James was recovering from a cold and didn't race, but Riley and Tyler stepped up to lead the men in 41st and 42nd (EISA), respectively.

Things warmed up slightly for Saturday's mass start skate.  Riley provided the big highlight of the day with a tremendous effort, finishing as the 17th EISA skier.  It was super fun to watch his race - he got off to a good start in the middle of the pack and then steadily moved up, skiing into the top 30 by the mid-point and then picking off a few more to break into the top 20 by the finish.  It was an impressive performance - great to see months of hard work pay off.  James got tripped up at the start and had to pass dozens of skiers to bring himself back into a competitive position - although this required a costly effort, he was able to hang on to finish 27th.  Jackson rounded out the men's scoring in 34th and also earned an NCAA point for his efforts (a few non-carnival EISA skiers were ahead of him and didn't count in the NCAA scoring).  On the women's side, Kaitlynn hung around the top 10 or 12 for most of the race and picked up a couple spots in the final kilometers to finish 7th.  Hannah got off to a fast start and then looked like she might fade before surging back to hold onto 27th.  She's now 4 races into her college career and has scored NCAA points in each of them - perhaps the most consistent start of any Bowdoin first-year nordic skier I've seen.  Tess and Eva went back and forth in a battle for the final scoring spot, finishing 48th and 49th, respectively.  Overall, another great weekend for our team.  In addition to somewhat frequent breakthroughs, we're seeing solid, consistent skiing from the team as a whole - these guys look really good out there.  Right now our highs are as high as they've ever been and our lows are actually not too bad, so I like the direction were headed.  Can't wait to get back at it this weekend!

Thanks to all the parents who braved the cold to support the team and provide hot soup and snacks!  Deb Miller was once again on the job with photos - here are a few:

Colby Carnival 2014

Last weekend's Colby Carnival was a minor miracle.  Several days of warm temps and rain had turned New England into a sheet of ice, yet somehow the Quarry Road crew was able to put together a decent race loop, and the races went on as scheduled.  We're glad they did, because it was a great weekend for our team - one of our best carnivals ever.  Friday's classic saw more rain, which meant klister and chaos.  Remarkably, we kept things reasonably well under control and got good skis on most everyone's feet (what a difference it makes to have a team full of athletes with klister skis).  All three first-years skied extremely well - an impressive start to their college careers.  Big PRs for Riley (despite imperfect skis) and also Tyler, who made a bold decision to catch a ride from UNH's top skier - he blew up in the last couple kilometers, but it was a great learning experience and a decent result as well.  James was the showstopper, though - he crushed it for a 9th place finish - best classic result ever for a Bowdoin man.

Somehow, the course held up for Saturday's skate, although the turns quickly got scraped down to ice, which was fairly sketchy.  The women's team put four skiers in the top 40 - that's definitely never happened before.  Great race also by Hannah Marshall - easily the best performance of her college career.  The men were solid as well - Riley dropped his brand new PR by a few more spots and just missed scoring an NCAA point, and Alec had a huge race and a PR as well.  This race doubled as the Broomhall Cup - Kaitlynn and James ended up First Team All-State, and Riley, Hannah Miller, Eva, Alec, and Tess all earned Second Team honors.  All in all, this was a fantastic way to start the season.  Everyone looked great - all of the little elements of technique that we've been working on are starting to fall into place, and there's just a certain liveliness to the movements.  I'm really happy with this start, and hopeful that we have more good stuff to come.

We got great support from the team parents all weekend long - so nice to have a solid crew of fans out there.  Here are some photos from Deb Miller:

And a couple more from Steve Fuller of Flying Point Road:

 

Jackson Criterium

The team is finally back together again.  The Utah people trickled in last week, and we all ended up in Jackson for a training/racing weekend.  Saturday was the Jackson Criterium, a skate race with a bike format - mass start race around a single short lap.  Unfortunately, the nasty weather continued with a full-fledged ice storm in the early morning hours that gradually changed over to rain.  The bad roads kept a lot of teams at home, so we ended up with a small field of Harvard, UNH, and Bowdoin skiers.  Still a fun event and a great chance to prep for the season against some other college racers.  Hannah Miller finished 3rd and won a mug for her efforts - she started fast, got dropped by the top 2, but stayed tough to hold onto a podium spot.  Jackson led the men - he battled his way to 5th at the front of the chase pack, but faded just a bit on the final lap and dropped to 9th.  Still a pretty shocking result for someone who spent the fall in Costa Rica training 3 hours a week.  Who needs rollerskiing?  Great efforts by the rest of the crew as well - everyone showed great tenacity in some very tough conditions.

The Utah crew didn't race, since they were coming off of a tough week - lots of racing, altitude, really hard courses, and travel.  Still, it was great to have them back - our full team is together for the first time all season.  Carnival season starts tomorrow at the Colby Carnival, and I'm excited and hopeful.  Now we just need to get this freaky weather to turn around - hoping for cold temps and snow again soon.

For now, here are some photos from Utah to get us thought this rainy/foggy patch - courtesy of Deb Miller:

Split Weekend

Busy weekend for Bowdoin Nordic.  Most of the crew is back on campus - we started training together again on Wednesday.  Yesterday we did a 5/10k classic time trial with Colby up at Quarry Rd. in Waterville.  It was sunny and very cold - maybe zero degrees by the time we started.  Good showing by our skiers - our men took the top 4 spots, and Hannah Miller was 2nd for women, with Olivia and Hannah Marshall right in the mix as well.  Riley was the hero of the day - he pretty much dominated for the win.  I was really happy with how everyone skied - the whole crew looked great.  Both teams were missing several of their top skiers, so this isn't exactly a predictor of how the season's going to be, but it was a quality race effort and a nice chance to mix it up with fellow college skiers.  Today we did a fantastic OD skate at Pineland.  It was a perfect day - sunny and cold, but steadily warming, and tons of snow - some of the best skiing we've ever had.  The team covered the whole trail system and then some - great, great workout on an absolutely beautiful day.  I couldn't be happier with how these first few days of training have gone.

Meanwhile, the rest of the team has been out at Nationals in Utah.  First race was yesterday - 10/15k classic - with the skate sprint today.  Mixed results so far - some good races and some struggles with illness and altitude.  Alec had a strong classic race yesterday, Kaitlynn was about 5 seconds from qualifying today, and Tess was solid both days.  I'll post more as I get more details from these guys - for now, here are some photos from Peggy Brown:

 View from the living room of the rental house

 

Sunset over the mtns

The Bowdoin crew, including alums Wilson Dippo and Chris Sanville who are providing wax support, along with asst coach Ruthie McGovern.  Skiers: Tess Hamilton, Kaitlynn Miller, Alec McGovern and James Crimp.