XC skiing in the Republic of Georgia

    Decided to go to the Republic of Georgia for Spring Break and get in some nice cheap skiing. During Soviet times, the area had some cross country skiing, but now the only tracks are in Mazeri, about 10 hours from Tbilisi by bus. Since I was in the area for backcountry skiing already, I decided to try out the tracks and race a 15k classic and a 30k pursuit. 

     A snowmobile somehow made its way from Woodford, VT to Georgia, and with the help of two logs strung together with wire, makes excellent skating tracks. There's also a track setter that was imported from Norway. The snowmobile wasn't working until last week, so right now there's only a 2.5k loop for skating, but it is very well prepared by the children of Becho valley stomping around. 

    The races went relatively well despite iffy conditions and fresh snow above freezing. My first win in a while was nice, but I also felt bad passing kids who have only been skiing for a few months to a few years. Amazing what a Norwegian hotel manager can do with a few pairs of donated skis and some petrol. Richard says that there is 2m of snow in November; maybe a training camp?

   More on the backcountry options and alpine coming soon.

The Epic Queen

    Last weekend was the 2nd Annual Homer Epic, a 100 km race over the remote backcountry of the Caribou hills around Homer, Alaska.  Participants could choose to fat bike, ski, or run this course which has 6470 feet of elevation gain.  This was a challenge Aubrey Smith, last year's assistant coach, could not pass up.  

   Aubs was one of 69 participants who started this race last Saturday at 8 a.m.   She crossed the finish line 7 hours and 9+ minutes later, finishing 4th overall for the skiers.   The winning fat bike time was 5:33:24 and   the fastest runner finished the course in 10:48:10.   

   Aubrey managed all of this even with a frozen water pack that she had to take time to thaw out about 10 km into the race.    It was a beautiful day and she has the sunburn to prove it (her sunscreen was also frozen when she went to put it on).   She sent us a few pictures that I'm posting below.   Aubrey's been skiing well;   on March 2nd, she was the 50K female winner of the Tour of Anchorage.    Congratulations, Aubrey!

 

Photo taken about 30-35 km into the race

 

Aubrey at the last checkpoint

                                                       An epic, spectacular view

Vanya—Junior National Relay Champion

It's FasterSkier-official: Vanya helped the Alaskan junior men defeat a stacked Norwegian team at JO's yesterday!

I spy a Williams hat

NCAA 15/20K Skate

Saturday was an absolutely gorgeous day at Middlebury for the conclusion of the 2013 NCAA Championships. Upon arrival the temp was around 15 degrees, but by the women's start at 10AM it was above 32 and for the men into the 40's. Not a cloud in the sky. By the time the men started the conditions were getting extremely slow, which made for a grueling race! The crowds were HUGE with teammates, alums, parents and coaches everywhere. During the finish the noise level was crazy.
Christina and Olivia skied very well fighting hard  the entire race and finished 29th and 37th respectively. This was a great conclusion to an outstanding season for both of them. NICE JOB LADIES!!! The men's race started at noon and due to the conditions and tactics the lead pack stayed 20-30 strong for most of the race. Will was sitting in a great spot after a couple of laps and was moving up when he broke a pole and fell back to the rear of the lead pack. After getting a proper replacement pole Will skied like a champ and worked his way back up toward the front of the race. With .5K to go Will was safely in 16th place, but a crash on the final corner took him out and 5 skiers were able to get by him and he finished in 21st. A great result considering the mishaps on the course! Isaac skied very consistent throughout the race and was able to hang with the lead pack. Watching the race you might have thought the guys up front were holding back a bit, but the pace was very fast and skiers that had finished at the top of the EISA circuit all year were being shelled off the back. Isaac skied aggressive and smart and with 1.5K to go was only 19 seconds out of the lead! As the sprints unfolded he stayed in a good spot and skied to an outstanding 23rd place finish in a tough field. All four skiers represented Williams with pride and the NCAA races wrapped up a great season for the entire team. Here are some pictures from the race (mostly from Peter Hoenig):

THE NCAA CREW
Kelsey, Geordie, Christina, Jay, Isaac, Will, Bud, Olivia

Christina and Olivia in the 15K

Kristin and Elena enjoying the sun

Ian and Casey supporting their teammates with the grill!

Phil getting some work done on his tan

HAPPY 19th Birthday OLIVIA!!

Isaac racing in the 20K

Will early in the race

Olivia in the 15K

Laura and Sarah enjoying the day

And a few videos from my phone of the skate races:

Women's 15K 2013 NCAA Start from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

Women's 15K NCAA on course from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

Men's 20K 2013 NCAA Start from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

Men's 20K NCAA at 3.5K from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

NCAA 5/10K Classic

Yesterday was the 5K Classic race for the women and 10K Classic for the men. The waxing changed from binder and hardwax in the morning to covered klister right as the men started their race, which made things pretty interesting out on the course. As the race went on the tracks became very glazed on the upper climbs and it was a tough day out there for Will throughout the race as he used his binder skis, but he held it together and finished 38th. Isaac skied very solidly and put together a good race to finish in 32nd. Christina and Olivia were up next in the 5K classic. Christina had an AWESOME race to finish up her great season of classic ski racing and finished in 27th (less than 10 seconds out of the top 20)! Olivia finished in 36th to round out the day on the ski trails for the EPHS. Here is a link to the Sports Info coverage: http://athletics.williams.edu/sports/skiing/2012-13/releases/20130307v72d51
The depth of both fields was very impressive and there was some fast skiing going on all day!! 

Tomorrow is the finale of the NCAA Championships with the 15k Skate for women at 10AM and the 20K Skate for men and noon. It's going to be an extremely exciting race with a huge group of spectators and some fast racing. Hopefully we'll see you at the venue to cheer on Christina, Olivia, Isaac and Will as they wrap up their outstanding 2012-2013 seasons!!!
 Here are some pictures from the week so far:

The Classic start as it looked on Tuesday afternoon

Having fun at the banquet

Olivia and Christina all smiles:)

The Williams Table

The Eastern Men

Christina in the start gate

Olivia in the start gate

The bottom of the slalom course

 GEORDIE WAS 8TH AGAIN TODAY. TWO NCAA ALL-AMERICAN FINISHES!!! WAY TO GO GEORDIE!!!!

The middle portion of the Slalom Course

Catching up after the morning ski

Will and Isaac enjoying the Alpine Races

Olivia and Christina cheering on Geordie today

 

NCAA 5/10K Classic Tomorrow!

We've had a great block of training and skiing at Prospect in AMAZING mid-winter conditions since the EISA Championships. Will, Isaac, Christina and Olivia are here in Middlebury, VT ready to ROCK THE COW tomorrow in the first nordic race at the 2013 NCAA Championships. The lone EPH in today's alpine event started off with a bang finishing in 8th place and earning herself all american honors in Giant Slalom. Congratulations Geordie!!

Also, here are a few videos from the EISA Championships. One of the women's mass start and the other of a cool down lap that the entire men's field skied together after the conclusion of the 20k. Pretty great!!

2013 Bates Women's 10K Mass Start from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

2013 Bates Carnival Group Cool Down from Williams Nordic Ski Team on Vimeo.

More to come after the races tomorrow.