Thanksgiving Camp 2022 and Semester Wrap

 Thanksgiving Camp 2022 is in the books and the semester is just about done.  We've done all kinds of good stuff in the past few weeks - here's a rundown:

Mid-semester was loaded with classic Bowdoin Nordic workouts:  mystery intervals, roll/run OD to Pineland, Bradbury to Pineland run, water tower hill repeats, knockout, and of course a ski on the beach at Morse Mountain.  We also tried out some new stuff - a point-to-point OD rollerski to Luke's house in Manchester, where the Bartol/Moss family hosted us for an amazing post-workout lunch, and a classic time trial with Bates and Colby on some recently paved roads in Durham.  Fun stuff and a great foundation for the fall grind.

As much as we enjoyed our dryland, we were all pretty thrilled to head up to Lake Placid for Thanksgiving Camp.  LP got some nice natural snowfall a few days before camp, which complemented their artificial snow beautifully.  When we first arrived, we were able to cruise all over the Mt. Van Hoevenburg trail network on rock skis - so nice to get out and stretch our legs a bit.  As the week went on, warm temps ate away at the natural stuff, so we stuck mostly to the snowmaking loop, which had great coverage throughout the camp.  Between sessions, the crew hung out at our home base (a pair of cabins not far from the venue), watching not only the start of the World Cup season, but also the men's World Cup soccer games.  The team pulled together an impressive Thanksgiving dinner despite having lost long-time turkey expert Elliot Ketchel '21 to graduation.

Toward the end of camp, we did our traditional time trial with the other schools at LP:  Bates, SLU, St. Mike's, UVM, Midd, and Paul Smith's, along with a few NYSEF and Ford Sayre juniors.  This is always a fun wake-up session - nice to put on a bib and go against a bunch of other college skiers.  We had a respectable showing, with Aggie and Emma leading the way for our women and Zach first on our men's side.  Of course, the more important competition was gradually unfolding night by night, as our three cooking squads put their best culinary efforts forward in a bid for glory and gold stars.  This year featured a variety of outstanding dinners:  Sweeney-style chili with Richter-style guacamole; massaman curry and snickerdoodles; and mac and cheese from scratch, along with brownies and real whipped cream (as always, the judging was agonizingly difficult, but Team Curry triumphed in the end).  On our final afternoon at camp, most of the crew went out to explore the Whiteface toll road, where they found just enough snow to ski on and some gorgeous views.  After one last long ski the next morning, we headed back to Brunswick tired and happy - a remarkably successful camp!

It's always tough to come back to dryland after a great on-snow camp, but we've risen to the occasion with some quality training these last few days, including another beach ski workout and a barnburner soccer match.  We were able to keep in touch with snow feel with a couple trips up to Quarry Road, where they've done an amazing job putting together a small loop despite uncooperative weather.  Last weekend's Quarry Road Opener was a super fun 7k drag race around a mostly flat loop on fast snow - our crew popped some decent races, with Emma taking a spot on the podium in 2nd.  And today we did a 2000m erg test just for fun, because why not?  Lots of PRs, plus Zach set a new men's record (6:49.5), and Morgan (7:58.4) and Mia (8:03.5) both broke the women's team record - wow!  Lots of good stuff happening.  Now just a few more days of team training and then it's time for exams and Winter Break!

Fun Times, Fall 2022

 We've been underway for three weeks now and it's time for an update!  All kinds of good stuff happening so far in October.  We started off the month with the 16th Annual Phil Soule Phlail 5k - it was a great event, with record student turnout and top-shelf performances by Bowdoin Nordic alumni Jackson Bloch '15 and Alec McGovern '14.  Immediately afterward was six intense days of tryouts, culminating in a trio of fitness tests.  Aggie and Silas set the pace for the bike path time trial, Morgan and James topped the erg test, and Morgan and Adam won the Morse Mountain run.  Luke posted the top combined run/erg time, and Morgan rewrote the record book for the erg, MM, and of course the combined.

The morning after tryouts concluded, we set off for Fall Camp, hosted by the Eysenbach and Hamill families in seldom-visited but stunningly gorgeous Brooksville, Maine.  On the drive up we stopped off for a trail run across Camden Hills State Park and finished the day with a nice roll on some of the many beautiful roads in the Brooksville area.  The following day we tackled a Bowdoin Nordic classic, a traverse of Acadia National Park.  The team went big this year and hit so many peaks I lost count (yes, they're small peaks, but still - a pretty stout workout).  We wrapped up the final day of camp with another great ski through peaceful woods and quiet coves.  In between workouts, we had some quality conversations about important topics, along with a lot of great team time.  The whole time, the Eysenbachs and Hamills took wonderful care of our group with delicious food and amazing hospitality.  We can't thank them enough for making this camp possible - it was such a good experience for our skiers, and we're so incredibly lucky to have their support.

Since camp, we've settled into our usual fall training routine - lots of good, challenging sessions on our local roads and trails.  Haven't made it out to the beach yet for a ski, but we'll get there soon!  Our biggest highlight of the last couple weeks was the Maine Event orgainized by NENSA at Pineland.  Aggie dominated the qualifier and held off her challengers for four rounds of head-to-head skiing to take the win, and first-year Emma Crum announced her presence by taking the third spot on the podium.  Carson led the men with an 8th place finish.  Overall a fun day and a great skills challenge.  Now we're gearing up for our last big dryland push - hoping for snow for Thanksgiving Camp in Lake Placid!

Graduation 2022

The Class of 2021 is out the door!  It took an extra year, but Noah, Renae, and Elliot have officially graduated.  It's been such a pleasure to have these three with us for the last five years, and it's hard to imagine what the team will be like without them.  They've had an incredible impact on our program - they've totally expanded our understanding of what is possible for Bowdoin skiers and the team as a whole.  They're leaving big shoes to fill, and I can't wait to see how the rest of the crew steps up to fill them.  So what's next for these three?  Elliot's going to be assistant coaching for his high school alma mater, GMVS, so we'll undoubtedly be seeing him at some races next winter!  Renae is also going back to her roots, launching her post-college racing career with Team Birkie in Minneapolis.  And Noah is following the time-honored Bowdoin Nordic path of figuring it out as he goes along (anyone want to bet that he'll be working in Bozeman or Sun Valley by July?).  Looking forward to following these three on the next stage of their journey - for now, we'll have to bid them a fond farewell.  Congratulations and good luck Noah, Elliot, and Renae, and thanks for everything you've done for our team!

Post-Season Honors

Now that the season's over and everyone's enjoying a peaceful spring, it's time to announce some post-season awards!

Marty Hall Award:  This award honors our most outstanding male and female skiers and is named for former Bowdoin Nordic coach Marty Hall.  It will come as no surprise to anyone that this year's winners are Renae Anderson and Elliot Ketchel.  Renae's All-American achievement at NCAAs was the pinnacle of an already outstanding season in which she posted nine top-10 carnival finishes and was our top skier in all but one EISA race.  Elliot earned All-East honors and was our top skier in every carnival race.  He ends his career with five EISA podiums (four individual and one relay).  These two are the only Bowdoin skiers in history to qualify for NCAAs all four years.  Congratulations Renae and Elliot!

EISA All-Academic Awards:  The All-Academic designation is given to any skier who earns the right to compete at Regionals and has a cumulative GPA of 3.5 or higher.  This year we had an incredible TEN skiers earn the award - congratulations to Silas Brown, Ayden Nichol, James Eysenbach, Morgan Richter, Carson Williams, Aggie Macy, Ingrid Miller, Ellie Smith, Adam Carlisle, and Elliot Ketchel!  It's no small feat to achieve such high grades at a school as academically challenging as Bowdoin, and to do so while training at a super high level is even more impressive.

Last but not least, congratulations to Noah Eckstein for being our newest inductee into the Bowdoin Nordic Van Driver Hall of Fame!  Noah has been a team-first athlete and all-around great person for his entire time with our program.  This year in particular he stepped up as a safe and reliable van driver, most notably before NCAAs when he got up at 3 AM to drive the Utah crew to the airport!  Many thanks for your contributions, Noah - you are now immortalized alongside your fellow Bowdoin Nordic van driving legends.

Championship Season

 Well - that was exciting!  We've had quite a busy time of it lately, with all kinds of championship action happening over the last few weeks.  Here's a rundown:

Regionals (UNH Carnival):  Jackson was looking pretty scratchy right up until the last minute - a few inches fell the night before the first race, setting us up for some beautiful skiing.  Elliot went out strong with the leaders - although he fell off the pace after 10+k, he was well clear of the pack and cruised to 6th place.  Adam fought through traffic to post a 32nd place finish, and Silas had a nice PR in 47th.  Tough luck for Ayden - he broke a binding right out of the start, lost a minute or so before he got someone's super short training ski for a replacement, and battled for 10k before packing it in and saving himself for the next day.  The women's race went out hot, with Renae and Aggie in a large lead pack.  They hung in there beautifully until a little misfortune on the final lap - Aggie had a stumble, lost contact, and faded to 17th, while Renae had a pole break when another skier stepped on it, and she had to settle for 9th.  Always tough to see a potentially great race taken down a notch, but still excellent skiing by these two - super exciting to see Aggie skiing with the top group for almost the whole race!  Meanwhile, Morgan did her usual mass start thing, getting caught up in the pack off the start and then passing tons of people throughout the race to end with an outstanding 18th place finish.  That night we had a wonderful dinner to honor our three amazing super seniors:  Noah, Elliot, and Renae.  It's been a great run with these three - they've brought so much to our team, both on and off skis.  We'll say much more about them later - for now, a big thanks to all three of them for everything they've done for Bowdoin Nordic.  Also, an equally big thanks to Angus Badger '89 and Rachel Vose '87 for hosting our dinner, and the Eckstein/Hamilton and Ketchel families for organizing a fun and special evening for our team!

Next day's classic was a solid if unspectacular affair.  Elliot led the men in 7th, with a nice bounce-back race for Zach (16th) and another steady performance by Adam (32nd).  Adam has been rock-solid all season, and it's been fun seeing him find a new level in the last couple carnivals.  Renae went out super hot and fell off the pace a bit to finish a still solid 10th, with Aggie 22nd and Morgan 28th.  Nice race by Ingrid in 35th - she really found her classic form in the final two carnivals, which bodes well for the future!  As a team, we were 6th in the nordic scoring - not the big finish we were hoping for, but still a very respectable close to the carnival season.

Rangeley Loppet:  Ok, not technically a championship, but still a very cool post-season event.  Aggie won the 50k!  This was the latest in a long tradition of Bowdoin Nordic winners at Rangeley.  Hey, free bear.  Props to retired skier Peter Moore for jumping into the race as well - although he didn't match Aggie's win, he's still a winner in our hearts.

Paralympic Games:  The legendary Jake Adicoff '18 made a triumphant comeback this year on the world's biggest stage.  Four years ago, Jake closed out his ski career with a silver medal in the Pyeongchang Games.  To no one's surprise, he decided to make a run at the 2022 Games - after a year of hard training (including multiple medals in the delayed 2021 World Championships in Lillehammer a couple months ago), he was ready for Beijing.  Guided by Harpswell native Sam Wood, Jake blazed through the 2022 Games to claim three medals:  silver in the 20k classic and skate sprint, and gold in the mixed relay!  It's been such a thrill to see Jake working his way back to top form over the past year after a few years away from elite skiing.  Congratulations Jake - also to Sam and the whole US Paralympic Team!

Junior Nationals:  Grace represented Team Mid-Atlantic (and Bowdoin) at Junior Nationals in Minneapolis last week.  She gradually found her footing and got stronger as the week went on - 19th in the 5k skate, 14th in the classic sprint, and finally 7th in the 10k classic mass start to earn All-American honors!  She closed out the week with a strong leg for the Mid-A mixed relay team.  A great way to finish her first college season - congratulations Grace!

NCAA Championships:  The big finish.  Renae and Elliot qualified for the championships - four trips to NCAAs in four years of college skiing - remarkable!  Thanks to favorable class schedules and flexible professors, we were able to fly out to Utah a few days early to get a head start on acclimating to altitude.  The next few days were fairly low-key - schoolwork, rest, cooking, and just enough skiing to stay sharp.  Our big highlight was a trip to Sundance after a mini-snowstorm to check out their gorgeous little trail system.  It was pretty magical - aspens and high meadows with the mountains right up close, and fresh snow coating everything.  Quote of the week:  "This is the most beautiful place I've skied all year.  Besides Wirth."  Finally, it was time to race.  The course was in fantastic shape for the 5/10k classic race - good coverage and nice firm tracks.  After the usual frantic scrambling to get the skis ready, they were off.  The races were an interesting contrast.  Renae started out hot - really hot.  As in, she posted the fastest split of anyone in the race at 1.1k!  This turned out to be unsustainable - she gradually got tired and slowed a bit before really struggling through the final kilometer.  She finished 29th.  Elliot's race was basically a mirror image - he eased into the race, with the slowest split of anyone through the 1.9k mark.  From there, he gradually picked it up and gained several places, but ultimately couldn't find his top gear and joined Renae in 29th place.  Not what we were hoping for, but two respectable finishes - between the travel, the altitude, and the combined load of a season of racing and schoolwork, you never know exactly what you're going to get at a western NCAAs.  And this field was easily the most stacked college field I've ever seen.  By my count there were 7 Olympians between the two races:  5 from the US, 1 from Poland, and 1 from Estonia.  And some of these skiers didn't even end up in the top 10!  Most years we look at the NCAA winners and wonder if they'll go on to be successful at the international level - usually they don't.  This year, the top NCAA skiers have already had significant international success.  And then you've got a whole host of others who have been to U23s or World Juniors, and the usual assortment of high caliber Euro skiers.  So this was a tough, tough field.  Disappointing results are disappointing results, but context really does matter.

Two days later, we were back at it in the 15/20k skate race.  We were lucky to have Wilson Dippo '12 drop by to help us with testing - what a luxury to have a third wax tech!  Last time Wilson and I worked together was the 2014 NCAAs, also at Soldier Hollow, so it was nice to get the band back together.  Elliot was up first - he was in perfect position in the middle of the pack for the first couple laps, but as things started to spread out he somehow got caught in no-man's land and skied most of the race totally alone.  Tough way to get through 20k, especially at altitude!  On the last lap, the group that had been chasing him finally started to close the gap - one of them got past him on the final climb, but he put in a heroic surge to stay ahead of the rest and hold onto 28th place.  Again, not quite the result we were looking for, but he skied this race about as well as we could have asked - it was a great effort, and the best that he had in the tank on this particular day.  A worthy ending to an absolutely fantastic college career!  By the time Renae hit the snow, the sun was really beating down and it was HOT!  We threw on the best warm topcoat and structure that we could find and sent her on her way.  Like Elliot, she got herself into a good mid-pack position off the start.  With a couple Olympians off the front, the field strung out, and she ended up in a large pack spanning the teens and low 20s.  Gradually people fell off the back, and by the 10k mark she was in 13th.  Coming off the big downhill and heading into the final lap, she used the draft perfectly to slingshot past a couple skiers and narrow the gap to 10th place.  By the time I saw her again she'd moved into 10th and opened up a four or five second gap on the rest of her group.  The next few minutes were pretty intense - there's no place more nerve-wracking in NCAA skiing than 10th position in the final lap of a mass start!  Renae was hammering to get away, the pack was chasing hard, and everything was up in the air.  Coming up the final climb, she pushed the V2 way up the hill, and I started to think she might actually pull it off.  The gap stayed the same all the way to the top, her skis ran well on the descent, and by the time everyone started sprinting into the stadium she was too far ahead to catch - All-American!  What a way to finish her career!  Renae is now the second All-American in Bowdoin Nordic history - the other being Hannah Miller from 2017, of course.  Elliot's and Renae's combined efforts jumped us into 16th place for the overall championship - our best-ever finish!  A fitting end for two of the best skiers in Bowdoin Nordic history - we're incredibly proud of them both.

 

February Catch-up

Ok, three carnivals just flew by – lots to catch up on!  Here’s a quick rundown of the highlights:

UVM:  This was a combined SuperTour/Eastern Cup event at Craftsbury – always exciting and slightly chaotic with the big fields.  Leslie had to run the show by herself since I picked a fine time to go down with COVID – fortunately, she was ably assisted by our volunteer wax tech Peter Moore.  A ton of snow fell before and during the sprint race, and it was another soft and sloppy day.  Leslie and Peter did a LOT of testing – nice to have a youngster around to put in those kilometers finding the fastest wax!  The skiers paid them back with some strong performances – Renae and Elliot qualified for the open heats (no small accomplishment in a SuperTour) and Aggie and Carson qualified for junior heats.  No one advanced out of their heats, but all of them were right in the mix.  Renae ended the day in 6^th for EISA skiers, with Aggie 18^th and Morgan 39^th.  For the men, Elliot in 8^th, Zach in 22^nd, and Carson in 26^th accounted for the scoring.  Adam (31^st) and Luke (58^th) scored nice personal bests, and Noah found some positive energy in 56^th.  Things got a bit tricky the next day in classic – lots of cold, fresh snow that was acting warm, probably due to the wet transformed stuff underneath.  Renae led the way in 12^th, and Morgan had one of her best races of the season in 28^th.  Things stabilized a bit for the men, and they really nailed it – Elliot 6^th, Carson 21^st, Zach 22^nd, and a personal best for James in 46^th.  Fifth place overall for the team.  Big thanks to Leslie and Peter for their incredibly hard work this weekend – they put in a ton of time with testing, waxing, and driving, and they did a fantastic job making this carnival happen.  It was a nice reminder that the team does just fine without me there – might have to take a carnival off more often!

Dartmouth:  Warm temps greeted us at Oak Hill.  The classic race was one of those days that starts out cool and just keeps warming, with the sun blasting exposed parts of the course but leaving others untouched.  The snow wasn’t fully transformed to start, and we ended up chasing a lot of different possibilities.  We had a wide range of ski outcomes, from great to non-amazing, but the skiers made them work pretty well.  Elliot (5^th) and Zach (20^th) continued their steady progression to lead the men, with Renae (8^th) and Morgan (30^th) leading the women.  This was a tough waxing day, and we would have crashed and burned without tremendous help from John, who did his usual excellent work with the klister iron.  That night, the team had a great dinner at the Miller house, where the women were staying – huge thanks to Alison, Eric, and Kirsten for taking such good care of the team and making the whole weekend a better experience for all of us!  Next day’s skate race was even warmer than the classic – just a beautiful day.  Slushy snow made for a slow grind – although the men looked strong, the results didn’t match the eye test.  Elliot was 13^th, and Zach sneaked into the points in 30^th.  Fortunately, the women got both – they looked amazing, and the results were excellent as well.  Renae was 7^th, Aggie 17^th, Morgan 28^th, and Ellie 34^th, helping us continue our streak of 5^th place team finishes.  The carnival ended with some Carni Crush nonsense that everyone assured me was tasteful and appropriate.

Middlebury:  Dramatic weather shifts made the Midd Carnival interesting – super warm temps the day before, a ton of rain that night, and then a quick temperature drop in the early morning hours.  The races were pushed back to afternoon to let things stabilize and give the crew a chance to put the course back together.  They did an amazing job, and we ended up with excellent skiing.  The team responded with their best classic performance of the year.  The whole women’s team was brilliant, led by Renae in 6^th.  Grace and Ingrid scored classic PRs in 36^th and 37^th, respectively.  Ellie had 3 crashes that took her out of contention for a good result, but she skied like an absolute superstar nonetheless – a great display of resilience and perseverance.  Not to be outdone, the men absolutely crushed it, with Elliot scoring our first podium of the year in 3^rd.  Rikert seems to activate some kind of superpower for Elliot – he’s finished on the podium in the Midd Carnival classic race in 3 out of his 4 years.  Zach followed the lead with a personal-best 15^th, Carson completed the scoring in 27^th, and James tied his PR in 46^th.  The next morning, snow started falling and continued throughout the skate race, making for a soft surface and slowing things down just a touch.  Renae went out with the lead group and spent a lot of the race at or near the front.  They got well clear of the field, but the pack stayed together until the final downhill, and she ended up at the back of the group in 5^th, just 4 seconds from 2^nd.  It’s always a bummer to come out on the wrong end of the close finish, but this was an excellent race nonetheless – one step closer to being able to close the deal next time.  For her consistent performances, Renae was named EISA Skier of the Week!  Aggie skied most of the race alone and showed great toughness to grind it out in difficult circumstances, finishing 16^th.  Morgan had different circumstances but similar toughness, recovering from an early crash and a broken pole to fight her way back to 24^th.  And Grace skied a nice, steady race, moving up through the pack to end in 36^th.  The men followed up with another good showing – Elliot missed the lead pack, but looked super smooth and strong skiing alone in 6^th and gradually moving up to 5^th by the finish.  Zach posted his best skate finish ever in 20^th, and Adam finally achieved that elusive top 30 finish with a brilliant late race charge to end in 30^th, with Carson close behind in 31^st.  As a team, we finally climbed up into the 4^th spot for the overall nordic scoring.  This was undoubtedly our best carnival of the season – just a really great showing that leaves us with great momentum coming into Regionals.  Big finish coming up at Jackson, right back where we started the year in Jan Camp.  Can’t wait!

Broomhall Cup 2022

Against all odds, the 2022 Maine State Championship race happened!  For a while it looked like it wouldn't - a blizzard hit Maine last Saturday, and lots of weather related confusion necessitated first a date change (Saturday to Sunday) and then a venue change (Sugarloaf to Quarry Road) at the last minute.  By Sunday morning, the storm was over, the sun was shining, and there was A LOT of fresh snow on the ground.  I mean A LOT.  This was the kind of race where the snow was so soft that you'd just sink in and flounder if you tried to kick hard, and the hills got chopped up into a sloppy mess right away - challenging conditions that required a balance of fitness and finesse.  The women's race quickly narrowed down to a three-person battle between Renae, Aggie, and Erin Bianco of Colby.  They skied together and traded off the lead for the first 8k before Aggie made a decisive move heading into a series of big climbs.  She was skiing super efficiently - sliding her ski up the hill for quick, subtle kicks - and she was able to pull away from the others in the final minutes to take home the individual championship.  Renae hung on for 3rd - her 4th podium in 4 years of Chummy Cup racing!  Meanwhile, the rest of our skiers were battling it out with the other Colby and Bates skiers, with Ellie emerging as our third scorer in 8th place.  We finished the women's race just one point behind Colby, so everything was riding on the men's race.

The men's race was pretty much the opposite - we had the usual frantic start with a big crowd racing together, but after 2k order had been restored, and Elliot had a commanding lead.  Like Aggie, he was skiing beautifully - just effortlessly floating up the hills while most others were sinking and slipping.  He steadily pulled away from the group, cruising up the last few hills with a big smile on his face.  The only drama came with about 1k to go, when he caught a ski in the powder at the bottom on the final downhill and went completely off the trail.  From where I was standing, it looks like a pretty great fall - kind of a barrel roll into a ditch full of deep snow.  It seemed like forever before he got back on course - maybe a minute?  This would have been a disaster under almost any other circumstance, but in this case it was just a minor scare that was more funny than anything else.  He skied it in with no further setbacks to claim his second state title - a great finish to a Chummy career in which he never finished worse than 2nd.  While Elliot was cruising, some good races were going on behind him.  The Bates guys skied like heroes, taking 4 of the next 5 spots to finish as the top scoring men's team.  On our side, Adam paced his race nicely and moved up to 13th, with Zach rounding out our scoring right behind in 14th despite a disintegrating boot.  In the end, our best efforts weren't enough to keep the cup at Bowdoin - Colby was rewarded for their excellent depth in both races with a fine team win, and we finished a close second.  Next year!  Nonetheless, it was a super fun day that felt extra special after the long wait, and also because it almost didn't happen - it was pretty cool to see all three teams rally for a last-minute switch and get fired up for the race despite not having the usual trappings of an important event.  Big thanks to Colby and Quarry Road for stepping up to host at the eleventh hour - we're super lucky to have this great venue as a resource for Maine skiing!  We were also fortunate to have great waxing help at this race - volunteer assistant John Eldredge, Noah, and former Bowdoin skier Peter Moore all stepped up to help Leslie get the kick dialed in.  And as always, many thanks to the parents who braved the post-blizzard roads to cheer on the team.  Now the team is off to Craftsbury for the UVM Carnival/SuperTour - more snow coming up, so all those soft snow skills will come in handy again!