Great Glen Sprints

A few days ago we drove up to Great Glen for some skiing and many athletes competed in the Great Glen Sprint Races. It was cold up there, and the wind chill made us realize that Winter is finally here. The sprints got going at noon and, with no preliminary rounds, got right into the heats. Everybody raced well, with Lucas, Abby, Beth, and Sophie all advancing to the finals. Catherine narrowly missed the final, racing against Sophie in the semis. In the men's final, Lucas was able to hold off some hard-charging junior skiers from Burke and Gould to take the victory. On the women's side, the Bobcats went 1-2-3. Abby took the win ahead of Beth, and Sophie was able to battle back from a early fall to take third. It was great for people to get a race start. Even though we hadn't been on snow that much leading up to the race, everyone's technique is really coming together. This weekend, a small group will be heading up to race at the Eastern Cup openers in Presque Isle.

Nate, early on.

Chill in the heats.

Abby on her way to victory. (Great Glen photo)

Lucas skiing to 1st. (Great Glen photo)

Women's and Men's podium. (Great Glen Photo)

Snow and Skiing!

After yesterday's time trial against Bowdoin, we woke up this morning to a blanket of fresh snow. We headed down to Twinbrook in Cumberland and got on snow for a couple of hours. The conditions weren't ideal (they rarely are at this time of year), but once we had skied in a loop it was pretty good skiing.
Overall it was a great weekend of training here. Yesterday's rollerski time trial with Bowdoin was a great hard effort, followed by a productive weight room session. The course was a little over 10 km out on Ridge Road in Bowdoinham. It was a great spot with nice terrain and little traffic. Thanks to Coach Alsobrook for inviting us out there! Harry and Dayna had the fastest times for the men and women, respectively. As we move towards the race season it was a good opportunity to go head-to-head against some different people in a new environment.

Skiing Alums

This past week the domestic racing season got underway out in West Yellowstone with a classic sprint as well as classic and skate distance races. Bates was well represented with Dave Chamberlain '98 and Sylvan Ellefson '09 both posting solid results through the week. In the point-to-point classic sprint race, Sylvan and Dave finished 8th and 21st, respectively. In the skate race, Sylvan was 12th and Dave 53rd, while in the classic Dave was 19th and Sylvan 36th. Justin Easter '03 was also out in West, as the head coach for the Summit County (Colorado) Nordic Team. The SuperTour season continues this weekend with races in Bozeman, MT. You can follow Sylvan and Dave through this race season on their respective blogs:

Dave at http://blogs.fasterskier.com/davidchamberlain/

Sylvan at http://www.powerbar.com/user/sylvanellefson.aspx
Also, check out his YouTube account with some great video of Team HomeGrown out of Vail at http://www.youtube.com/user/sylvanellefson

Justin Freeman '98 is another Bates Alum who will be represented on the circuit this year. He also has a blog at FasterSkier, http://blogs.fasterskier.com/justinfreeman/

Also, Lauren Jacobs '07 will be racing for the newly formed Craftsbury Green Racing Project

Meanwhile, Haley Johnson will be representing the US in biathlon at World Cups this season and most likely at the Vancouver games in 2010. She is currently in Sweden and keeps a blog as well, http://comeskiwithme.blogspot.com/

Elsewhere, Reid Lutter '93 still acts as the executive director of NCCSEF, runs his company Podiumwear, and coaches the Minnesota Valley Ski Club.

There are plenty of Bates Skiing alums involved in the coaching world. Steve Monsulick '07 is the assistant at New Hampshire. Scott Jerome '93 and Matt Dunlap '08 act as the head and assistant coaches at Alaska-Fairbanks. Nancy Fiddler (nee Ingersoll) '79, former Olympian, and current coach for Mammoth Lakes, CA and the Far West division. Tim Whiton '09 is the assistant over at Bowdoin. Also, Andrew Gardner '00 is the Head Coach over at Middlebury. Its great to see so many former Bobcats still involved in the nordic skiing world.

Check out the links, and stay posted for more!