First Carnival! Lake Placid, day 1: Individual Classic 5/10km

The weather was uncooperative, but it didn't bring down the spirits of the team, who rose to meet the challenge and ended up placing 6 skiers in the top twenty-five. Half of the team raced on the new zero/multi skis, a waxless racing ski which has become a popular alternative to "harries" skis in the nordic race world. The other half raced on a klister or klister-covered mix. The zero skis were a bit slippery in places, the klister skis iced on top of the hills. When it came to race skis today you did, as Evan put it, have to "pick your poison". Luckily, the rest of the field had the same conditions. :) One minute it was lightly raining, the next was light snowfall, the next saw sideways sleet. . .
The women raced first on the 5km loop, which was a series of hills that climbed past the 3km mark before plummeting down a series of wide straights and skiable corners, before spitting the racer back into the stadium. The men had to complete two of the laps. Most agreed that the course was very tough, but also great for racing.
The women's team had a tough time choosing skis and wax combinations, and on a whole did not have the best day of races, though freshmen Christina Knapp and Blair Robinson were psyched with their first college carnival race. Alice Nelson and Kirsten Johnson were the top two finishers, in 16th and 17th, with Sarah Tory finishing third for the team in 35th.
The men had a pretty solid day as a team, Keith Kantack heading the charge in 10th, with Evan Dethier close behind in 14th. Caleb Lucy and Robby Cuthbert came in 24th and 25th.
The mens team is currently sitting in 6th, the women in 8th. Watch out for the cows tomorrow!
Race Results HERE

Christina has just completed her first College race - and is all smiles!

Maddy: Bring it on.

Holly waits for Coach Fisher to put the finishing touches on her race skis so that she can test them out.

Robby Cuthbert double poles his way into the second lap

Keith Kantack: stride-out

Kirsten is bundled up to cheer on the men's team

Caleb Lucy comes through on his second lap as the snow starts to accumulate

The boys team relate post-race battle stories.