Bates Carnival

Whoa.  That was a whirlwind of a weekend.  It literally feels like the past few days were sped up, and I can't believe we're done with the first carnival and onto the next one.  Before I get into the details pertaining to this past weekend's carnival at Bates, let me first show you what the team was up to leading into it.

Eli doing some skate intervals at Prospect.

Olivia charges during some L4 skate intervals.

The team climbs 2290 at Prospect.

Heidi and Eliza practice their H-bone!

That's a whole lot of H-bone!

Josh, Eli, Hans, and Will enjoy the beautiful scenery and skiing at Prospect!

As you can see, we've been pretty spoiled with the awesome skiing at Prospect.  Despite a kind of lackluster snow year in most of New England so far, Prospect continues to have some of the best skiing around.  This was solidified while we were in Rumford this past weekend.  I think it's safe to say that most of the team got a fresh "stone grind" on their race skis during the 15/20k mass start classic and 5/10k individual skate races at the Bates Carnival.  An even layer of rock and gravel was added to a select few areas on the race course to shake things up a bit.  I must say though, it was a pleasant surprise to be driving through Rumford and it not smell like a complete sewer.

Thursday, the team packed up the ski truck and vans pretty early.  We left Williamstown just after 8am, and headed towards Falmouth, ME.  The Abramson's offered to host us for lunch, so we took a quick pitstop at their house.  We arrived at Black Mountain in Rumford, ME that afternoon for an easy skate ski/course preview.  

Friday was the 15/20k classic mass start.  Waxing conditions were slightly weird.  The women started first, and at the time it was fairly sunny and in the low 20'sF.  Olivia was our first finisher in 20th.  Tsaina and Heidi weren't far behind in 26th and 28th.

Olivia skis to 20th in the women's 15k mass start classic.

Tsaina skis to a career best 26th.

Heidi scores for the team in her first carnival race in 28th!

The men's race was a little weirder.  Half way through the 20k race, a snow squall rolls over Black Mountain and covers the tracks in an inch of powder.  This created some variable snow speeds throughout the course, as in some places the men would lurch forward as their skis hit powder.  Regardless, the men had a good showing with Eli almost cracking the top fifteen in 17th, Jack right behind in 18th, and Will rounded out the scorers for 21st.

Eli was our first scorer in the 20k in 17th.

Jack skis to 18th in his first carnival race!

Will skis a solid race for 21st.

Despite being 5 degrees F at the start of the women's race, Saturday's 5 and 10k individual skate races provided another day of exciting racing.  There was a high attrition rate on the women's side, as many are battling colds after returning to campus.  So we only had four possible scorers for the women.  In just her second carnival race, Heidi skied another great race as our first scorer in 21st.  Tsaina had another career best in 24th, and Olivia rounded out our scorers for 37th.

For the men's 10k, Will skied to an impressive 11th place finish.  Jack skied to another solid finish in only his second carnival race for 18th overall.  Vanya skied into the top twenty for our third scorer in 20th.

Happy Freshman!

Coaches coaching.

We had a great start to the season, and the team is hungry for more!  Pretty psyched for this weekend in Stowe, Vermont hosted by UVM.  HUGE thanks to all the parents this past weekend!

Perry