Williams Carnival 2024

 Back with another update, because we post all the time here at Bowdoin Nordic.  The Williams Carnival was super fun!  Skiing on fresh natural snow at Prospect was such a treat.  Getting there was a bit of an adventure for some of us - the late van ran into some weather in New Hampshire, and the roads got really bad really fast.  We were part of a line of cars that got stuck going up a hill outside of Keene - it was pretty sketchy, so I decided to play it safe and get rooms at a hotel for the night.  We drove the rest of the way to the venue the next morning - a bit of an inconvenience, but at least we weren't starting from campus like the Williams Carnival 10 years ago!  Fortunately, Leslie was at Prospect early and had made good progress with testing by the time we showed up - she went straight to the old school kickers and found a great combination that gave us good skis for both races.  The women were on fire, which seems to be the norm these days - Emma 4th, Morgan tied for 8th, and Jori just a second behind in 11th.  Mirra (24) and Natalie (27) also grabbed top 30 finishes.  Zach returned from a mid-season hiatus to post an outstanding 7th place finish, with Carson 16th and Adam 17th to tie his personal best.  This race was particularly satisfying not only because half our team had been stuck in a snowstorm the night before, but also because we really showed off our double poling power in this one.  All season long I've been convinced that our skiers have great upper body power, and this course had a lot of nice rolling terrain that allowed us to take full advantage of this.

Day 2 was everyone's favorite - relay day!  Snow was falling, faces were glittered, and everything was just perfect.  Jori got us off to a hot start by breaking away with a lead group of 4 - Mirra skied with them for the first few kilometers and finished her leg in 6th.  What a treat to see her skiing so fearlessly these last few weeks, knowing that she belongs in a group of top college skiers!  Morgan took over for our first team and kept us within striking distance of the podium, and Ingrid kept our second team ahead of all but one second teams and several of the first teams.  Emma closed it out with a tremendous effort - she skied the second-fastest anchor leg to bring us in just 8 seconds from 3rd and 12 from 2nd.  So close!  Still a race to be proud of - one of the very best performances we've ever had.  Natalie brought our second team in with an 8th place finish and 2nd among second teams.  The men's race was equally exciting.  Zach skied a brilliant opener, tagging off in 3rd just 5 seconds from the lead.  Carson hung on for a good while before dropping back to 4th.  Adam skied alone for most of the race before being edged out on the final climb and settling for 5th - again, a great performance and one of our best relay showings ever.  For our second team, Will went out hot in an attempt to hang with the leaders.  Although he wasn't able to maintain the pace, it was so great to see him skiing so aggressively - this is how breakthroughs happen.  James and Silas both did great work to pick off places and bring the team into a respectable 15th place finish.  Overall, a really fun day and a great team effort - such a joy for our skiers to be able to work toward a single goal together on race day.  For the carnival, we ended up as the 5th nordic team - hard to believe that there were 4 teams better than us on a weekend where we skied so well, but that's a testament to how competitive EISA is this year.  Fun times to be part of a league where everyone's pushing each other to get faster!

Speaking of fun times and getting faster, the past couple weeks have been incredible for North American skiing, with back to back World Cup weekends in Canmore and Minneapolis.  Our own Renae Anderson '21 qualified for starts in both events!  She skied 2 sprints and a distance race in Canmore and then came home to race another sprint at the legendary Theodore Wirth Park in Minneapolis.  What a thrill to see one of our alums skiing in World Cup races - our first World Cup skier since Kaitlynn Miller '14!  Check out Renae's blog for her thoughts on the whole experience.  Lastly, congratulations to Bowdoin Nordic alum Claire Wilson '97!  As the Executive Director of the Loppet Foundation, Claire was the lead organizer of the Minneapolis World Cup races - by all accounts this was an amazing event thanks to the incredible work of the Loppet Foundation and the entire Minnesota ski community.  We're proud of you, Claire!

Happy New Year!

Oh wait, it's actually mid-February and I haven't updated the blog since 2023.  That's OK - nothing noteworthy has happened these last few weeks.  Oh wait, wrong again - we're actually in the middle of one of our best seasons ever.  Right.  Guess I'd better catch everyone up.  Here's what's been happening in 2024:

Jackson Camp:  Our traditional Jackson mini-camp was pretty mini this year thanks to the low snow all across New England.  Shortly after New Year's, we got the band back together and headed to Jackson for an overnight - one good training day and one fun time trial with UNH on a 1.2k loop.  Zach and Emma took the wins in our last tune-up before carnival season.  Amazing work by the folks at Jackson XC to scrape up a nice little training loop with such limited snow!

UVM Carnival:  Craftsbury Part 1.  In the classic sprint, Emma lit up qualifying in 3rd.  She cruised through her quarterfinal and was on her way to making the finals before a last-minute stumble in the semis knocked her out.  Still a great start to the season!  Jori (20), Natalie (25), Morgan (28) also qualified for women, while Adam (24) and Eli (29) made the heats for men.  Top 30s for Eli and Natalie in their first college races ever - woo hoo!  We crushed the next day's 10k skate, with Morgan (9), Emma (12), and Jori (19) all in the top 20 for women.  Carson was 8th, Zach 13th, Adam 17th, and Will 29th for men.  Sawyer was 38th to close out his first carnival on a strong note, and Lars was 40th - impressive showing for a guy who took a full year off from ski racing!  Michael also had an exceptional day, finishing 56th for a big PR - so nice to see all of his hard work paying off.  Many thanks to Lauren Barros and Tom Moyer for making dinner for the team!

Colby Carnival:  Beautiful conditions at Quarry Road for this one - almost felt like a home carnival after so many trips up there to start the year.  The 7.5k skate was a bit too short for our guys - we couldn't keep up with the speed.  Zach led the way in 19th, with Carson in 23rd.  The women had no trouble finding their top gears - I was taking splits at the 3k mark, and almost all of our carnival skiers were either in the lead or very close to it.  Their strong starts held up with Emma 6th, Jori 11th, Morgan 16th, and Ingrid 26th.  Mia skied a smooth, powerful race to finish 73rd, and Grace showed great resilience to finish 57th after another racer accidentally took off with her skis just a minute before her start (she ended up racing on the skis that the other athlete had left behind, which were way too short and obviously not waxed as perfectly as her own).  Next was our first 20k of the season.  Zach got into a chase group after the leaders broke away and hung on for 9th, with Carson close behind in 13th.  Will finished 34th, and James skied a smart, well-paced effort for 39th.  In the women's race, Jori and Emma jumped in with the lead pack - everyone took turns leading, and it was super exciting to see them mixing it up at the front.  They ended up in 6th and 7th, respectively, with Morgan in 11th to round out the scoring for one of our best days ever.  Ingrid scored a classic PR in 28th, with Mirra in 30th for her first ever top 30 finish.  Francie also had a great day, passing tons of people in the second half of the race to finish with a career-best 52nd.  Once again, Lauren Barros and Tom Moyer made dinner for the team - many thanks to you both!

Chummy Cup:  Nice change of pace this year - we raced on the beautiful Gould Academy trails, which was new for everyone but Eli.  Longtime Gould coach/groomer Jeremy Nellis did an amazing job grooming and setting up the course - a ton of work and a really special gift to the Bowdoin, Bates, and Colby teams.  This was a tricky waxing day - fresh wet snow on top of transformed snow, steadily warming.  The guys made the most of it and gave a scrappy effort - Carson finished 4th, with Zach in 7th after two pole mishaps set him back late in the race, and Adam wrapping up the scoring in 8th.  Jori and Emma dueled with Colby's top skier for several kilometers before pulling away to clinch 1st and 2nd.  Morgan was just off the podium in 4th, with Mirra (6th) and Ingrid (7th) also earning All-State honors.  Sadly, Colby came out just ahead of us in the combined scoring to take the cup home for another year.  Sigh.  Wait till next year.  Huge thanks to Jeremy and to Gould for hosting!

Chummy Cup Women's Results

Chummy Cup Men's Results

Harvard Carnival:  Back to Craftsbury.  The 15k mass start classic was super exciting - definitely up there with our best races ever.  Once again, Emma and Jori jumped in with the lead pack - this time, the group broke apart much earlier, but Emma stayed close and passed a skier on the final lap to clinch her first ever carnival podium in 3rd!  Jori (10) and Morgan (14) skied nice scrappy races to give us a great team score, and Mirra continued her upward trend to finish 22nd.  Grace also skied her best race of the season, finishing 36th.  The men's race was equally exciting.  After a colossal pile-up (that he may or may not have triggered by falling first), Zach skied back up to the front and was able to go with the leaders when they broke away, ultimately finishing 3rd to give us a rare double podium day!  (Longtime Bowdoin Nordic fans might remember that Elliot Ketchel '21 and Renae Anderson '21 accomplished this feat at the Midd Carnival classic race in 2020).  Will had a breakthrough race - he skied with the lead pack until late in the race and had a shot at a top 10 finish before tripping up in the final kilometer and settling for a still outstanding 13th - amazing work for anyone, especially a first-year!  Adam (27) and Carson (29) also cracked the top 30.  Next day's skate was combined with an Eastern Cup - lots of racers, lots of energy!  The women kept the momentum going with an impressive display of depth:  Emma 5th, Jori 8th, Morgan 10th, Ingrid 22nd, Mirra 24th, Kira 27th, and Aggie 32nd - wow!  Tough act to follow for the men, but they were solid with Carson 7th, Adam 20th, and Silas scoring for the team for the first time ever in 36th.  For the overall carnival, we were 3rd for nordic teams, just 3 points behind UNH in 2nd!  Really a special weekend in the middle of a special season.

Dartmouth Carnival:  Spring skiing!  The skate sprint was a lot of fun - a beautiful new course, tons of (artificial) snow, and sunny skies.  Emma qualified 3rd again and this time made it through to the final, where she finished 5th.  Jori just missed making the final, ending her day in 8th, with Morgan in 18th.  Our men had some tough luck - Adam and Carson both were in good position to move on to the semis, but both fell late in their quarterfinals.  Silas continued his resurgence, just missing the heats in 35th.  It's been so great to see him skiing well these last couple carnivals after having a series of tough races due to back troubles.  The classic race was one of the more tricky wax days I've seen - super abrasive snow and icy tracks, but everything warming fast as the sun rose.  We didn't quite get it for the men, and the skis stopped working after a couple laps - nonetheless, they salvaged a very respectable performance, with all of our scorers in the top 25 (Carson 20th, Will 22nd, Adam 25th).  With a few tweaks, we got much better skis on the women's feet.  Morgan skied a bold race, shattering the pack with a strong push off the front about 5k in - although the top skiers came back and passed her, she was well clear of the rest of the field and locked up a personal best in 8th.  Jori continued her steady excellence in 10th.  Natalie took a huge step up, scrapping her way to 18th - such an exciting performance for a first-year!  Ingrid scored a PR of her own in 20th - what a pleasure to see her classic skiing so consistently after years of being faster in skate.  Mirra gave gritty effort to finish 25th - her classic skiing has reached a new level as well.  And Francie broke her newly set PR, finishing 50th.  Another strong showing, capped off by some stirring displays of musical talent at Carni Crush.  Huge thanks to Alison and Eric Miller for hosting the women's team and for making dinner for the team both nights - really above and beyond to open their home to our team!

That brings us up to today.  In just a few short hours, we'll be in southern Vermont, ready to crush the Williams Carnival tomorrow.  Maybe we'll even manage a timely blog report.  Can't wait to get the races going!

Thanksgiving Camp and Fall Semester Wrap

Thanksgiving Camp 2023 was a bit different.  And when I say "different," I mean filled with rocks, grass, dirt.  But - we had a great camp anyway!  And we somehow managed to ski every day with no rollerskiing.  Here's how it happened:

- Instead of leaving campus on Tuesday afternoon, we left early on Wednesday morning.  On our way across Vermont we stopped at Craftsbury for a long ski on their lovely little ribbon of snow.  The folks at Craftsbury do an amazing job with snowmaking/farming, and they'd put together a great loop with a remarkable variety of terrain.  It was a perfect way to break up the drive and get a nice workout to start the camp.

- We spent the next three days in Lake Placid searching for every scrap of snow we could find and skiing on it.  That's not an exaggeration - we literally skied on anything that looked white and frozen.  On Thanksgiving, Leslie discovered a frosted golf course and we skied along the edges where the snow had collected - surprisingly good skiing!  Next, Aggie and Will discovered an unplowed road and hiking trail with just enough coverage, and we pieced together an intensity workout of sorts (we came out of this one with some new rock skis).  People also explored the trails around Mt. Van Hovenberg, skiing back and forth on little patches of snow and piecing them together to make a decent workout.  By Saturday we were ready for some groomed trails, and most of the crew went down to Rikert, where they'd made enough snow to groom their stadium area - about 400 meters if you skied it in a loop.  It was a beautiful day, and our people had a fun time racking up laps and working on technique - some of them managed to ski 50k by the end.  While we were spinning laps, a small group back in Placid drove up to the Whiteface toll road, where a tiny dusting of snow had fallen on the icy asphalt - again, surprisingly good skiing!

- Throughout all this excitement, there was some quality team cooking as usual.  Thanksgiving dinner was a gigantic chaotic mess that somehow coalesced into an amazing meal - turkey, mashed potatoes, stuffing, mushroom gravy, pumpkin rolls, roasted veggies, sweet potatoes, cranberry sauce, green beans wrapped in bacon, many pies, and probably lots of other good stuff I'm forgetting.  As always, our team has so much to be thankful for, and this meal together was the latest example.  We also had a couple of great team dinners as part of our cooking competition: chili and grilled cheese with brownies, and tortilla soup with guacamole and molassas cookies.  So lucky to have a team of capable chefs!

- We ended camp the way we started, with a stop at Craftsbury on our way home.  This time, we were able to jump into a time trial with several other college and club teams - a really nice opportunity to challenge ourselves against great competition and get the rust off.  The rust was definitely there, but this was a really fun and productive day for us - the team looked strong and technically solid, and we've definitely got a good foundation to build on.  Huge thanks to Ollie Burruss and the Craftsbury staff for putting together great early season skiing and hosting this event!

After recovering with some lower key dryland days, we started chasing snow again, with three good days at Quarry Road culminating in the Quarry Road Opener - another mini-carnival with great competition.  With a couple more days of skiing under our belts, we were a bit sharper for this one.  Emma made the 3rd step of the podium, and the women packed the top 10 - Jori 4th, Morgan 6th, Aggie 7th, Ingrid 8th, and Kira 9th.  Sawyer led the men in 4th - an amazing performance by one of the youngest skiers on our team!  We followed this up the next weekend with a pair of team time trials - a carnival rehearsal consisting of a 20k classic and a skate sprint.  This was quite an exhausting weekend, especially coming just before exams, but also a great chance to get in a couple race-like efforts and go through the motions of race day.  Zach and Morgan took the wins in the 20k, and Carson and Jori won the sprint.  It was such a gift to do several workouts and races on snow in December - like Craftsbury, Quarry Road does so much for New England skiing, and we're so grateful for all of their hard work.

After exams wound down, the crew took off for break, and several people were able to jump into races all over the country - Vermont, Wisconsin, Alaska, and right back at Quarry Road for the Roy Varney Memorial Eastern Cup.  The big highlight of this weekend was Jori's second place finish in the Eastern Cup classic sprint against an outstanding field of college skiers and top juniors.  All of this was a great way to build momentum going into the break.  We'll be back in just a couple weeks for Jan Camp, but for now everyone's enjoying some quality time with friends and family.  Happy holidays everyone!

 

October 2023

 Happy Halloween!  We've been rolling along for the past few weeks, and despite some obstacles we've had a really good October.  Here are a few highlights:

- Due to a last-minute NCAA rule change, we had to push back our first practice date.  Fortunately, our skiers had already been training hard all summer and fall, and a few more days on their own didn't derail them.

- Despite the delay, we were still able to pull off Fall Camp (minus one head coach who was down with covid).  Once again, the team headed up to Brooksville for a few days of dryland in an amazing training environment.  Day 1 was a rainy run in the Camden Hills, followed by a short afternoon roll.  Day 2 was a fun and challenging rollerski interval session and an easy trail run.  Day 3 was an OD hike/run - the traditional crown jewel of Fall Camp.  The skiers started at the base of Gorham Mountain on the east side of Acadia National Park and hiked/ran across most or all of the peaks on Mt. Desert Island - a fantastic adventure at one of the most beautiful spots in the country.  By Day 4, everyone was pretty tired out - after a nice easy rollerski, the crew headed home happy.  For the third year in a row, we were hosted by the Eysenbach and Hamill families, who provided incredibly hospitality and delicious meals.  We can't thank these two families enough - this camp would not be possible without their support.  Shoutout also to Leslie, who led this camp solo for the second time in three years - not an easy task!  The team had four days of great training as well as some important conversations and a lot of quality bonding time - just a really successful camp and a great experience for everyone.

- After a quick post-camp reset, it was time for fitness testing, which had been delayed by our late start.  This year, we tried something new, trading in the classic Morse Mountain time trial for a standard 3k on the track.  It was a bit sad to give up our quirky little run and the traditional post-test beach celebration, but the 3k is logistically much easier, and it's nice to have something a little more standardized.  Morgan scorched the track to lead the women in 10:09, just a few seconds off the Bowdoin track & field record - not bad for a ski racer!  Sophomore newcomer Lars Sorom led the men with a time of 9:31.  Later that afternoon, we were back at it with our 2000m erg test.  Once again, we saw a brilliant performance, with Mia setting a team record with a time of 7:53.8.  I would never say that a record is unbreakable, because all records get broken eventually, but unless Mia or Morgan breaks this in the next few weeks, I think it's going to stand for a long time.  James led the men in 6:52.1, with Zach and Silas also under 7 minutes and first-year Sawyer Chapin just missing by a couple tenths.  Overall, the erg times were the most impressive I've ever seen from our team - this group is showing really great upper body power right now, and it'll only get better with a couple months of specific strength work.

- A small but enthusiastic group headed up to Rumford for the Maine Event, a rollerski skills competition hosted by NENSA and Black Mountain.  It was a fun change to do this at a new venue with some ups and downs instead of a fully flat loop.  The weather was rough - cold rain and high winds - but our skiers did an amazing job of keeping their spirits high and staying positive.  Emma and Jori qualified in 2nd and 5th, respectively, and went on to dominate the heats - they both advanced to the final, where Emma narrowly edge Jori for the win.  First-year Eli Shifrin won the qualifier by a good margin and was looking unbeatable in the heats until a crash on a wet ramp in the semifinal knocked him out - still an impressive showing.  Carson and first-year Mirra Payson each qualified in 6th and were both edged out in the first heat by tough competition.  Overall, a great showing by our team, and a surprisingly fun day.  I'm incredibly proud of how well our group handled the mental game on this messy weather day - happy people ski faster!

- Along the way, we've done all the usual grind (lifting, rollerboard, spenst, etc) along with several other fun workouts.  We tried grass skiing hill sprints for the first time ever - it was a rousing success.  We followed these up with a great batch of intervals on perfect pavement by the creamery at Pineland.  And last weekend we did the traditional Bradbury to Pineland trail run with minimal getting lost thanks to great navigation by James and Mia.  Overall, a fun and productive month despite some small setbacks.  We've got some momentum now, and November is shaping up to be a good one - more updates coming soon!

Graduation and Reunion 2023

 Graduation 2023 was a beautiful sunny day - perfect for sending a group of amazing students out into the world.  Luke was our lone graduate this year - it's been such a pleasure having him on the team these past four years.  From his first day with Bowdoin Nordic, Luke has been a team-first guy, always ready to help out others and take on the little tasks that help keep the program running.  He's also been a remarkably hard worker - Luke earned his spot on the team as a walk-on, and kept scrapping to get a little better every year.  In addition to a degree from Bowdoin, Luke ended his college career with an even more prestigious honor - membership in the Bowdoin Nordic Van Driver Hall of Fame, a well-earned reward for all of his hard work on behalf of the team.  Congratulations Luke, and thanks for everything you've given to our team these last four years!

 The following week, we were lucky enough to welcome back several Bowdoin Nordic alumni for Reunion 2023.  It's so fun to reconnect with our former skiers and see what kind of cool stuff they're doing - PhD programs (in the sciences, of course), outdoor leadership, education, software development, pro skiing, and all kinds of other interesting pursuits.  Thanks to all of our alumni for continuing to support our program, and apologies to those I missed at Reunion - hope to cross paths soon!

Spring Happenings

As always, spring has been a nice time around campus.  In addition to studying hard, our skiers are doing all kinds of fun stuff - contra dancing, volunteering, hanging out on the quad, running up and down the Tower stairs for some reason, and more.  Here are a few of our more notable happenings:

- We had a lovely end-of-season dinner at Thorne to officially close the book on the 2022-23 season, highlighted by a hilarious slide show courtesy of Ingrid and Aggie.  Lots of good memories to look back on - such a fun year.  Carson and Jori were named winners of the Marty Hall Award for the most outstanding skiers on the team.  So nice to get everyone together one last time!

- Along with several other Bowdoin athletes, the team participated in Green Athletics Eco-Service Day - they worked in the organic gardens to restore an old bed and plant hundreds of potato plants.

- For our first ever Go U Bears Athletic Fun Challenge, Bowdoin Nordic alumni, family members, and friends rallied to raise over $11,000 for our team!  Absolutely amazing.  These gifts will allow us to keep athlete costs for Thanksgiving Camp low, and to travel more athletes to mid-season carnivals.  It means a lot to know that we have such a dedicated community of supporters, and we're so grateful.  Thanks so much to all of our supporters!  This program wouldn't be possible without you.

- At Bowdoin's annual All-Sports Award Night, Jori won the Outstanding First-Year Female Athlete Award!  So nice to see her recognized for her fantastic season - congratulations Jori!

Almost home - just a few days of exams left!  Next up is Graduation 2023, where we'll send off our lone amazing senior Luke Bartol!

Junior Nationals 2023

As we were wrapping up NCAAs, Grace M and Emma were headed out to Fairbanks, AK, for Junior Nationals.  Not surprisingly, it was super cold, but the temps cooperated just enough for the organizers to pull off the races after some schedule adjustments.  Sounds like it was a fine week of racing - good snow, great course, and stellar competition.  The U20 category was very competitive this year - several good college skiers in attendance along with the usual assortment of fast juniors.  Grace was steady throughout the week - 16th in the 7.5k classic, 24th in the skate sprint, and 21st in the 15k skate.  Emma rebounded from a tough classic to finish 10th in the sprint and 5th in the 15k, earning All-American honors in both events.  Good showing from both of them, and a nice way to wrap up the season.  Congratulations Grace and Emma!