Lobstah Roll

Sunday brought us a beautiful day of collegiate roller ski racing around the island of North Haven, about an hour and a half drive up the coast followed by an hour long ferry ride to the small island. At the ferry we met up with Colby, Bowdoin, and University of Maine at Presque Isle, as well as a few skiers from Gould Academy and Maine Winter Sports Center (hosts of the 6th annual Lobster Roll). The ferry ride was a great time for everyone to catch up with each other and take in the fresh ocean breeze—it’s great to see how close the skiing community is even outside of each athlete’s own team. We all seem to have close friends from at least one other school, no matter how competitive we are in races!

The women began the 14km race just after 11 o’clock with the men following just behind. Hallie and Margaret went 1-2 for collegiate women, and Jordan took bronze for the collegiate men. It was a great effort from everyone, battling headwinds and charging along the rolling coastal course. Bates skiers stacked the top of the field, fueled by the last Maine collegiate championship, the Chummy Broomhall Cup, where we were able to bring home the title (and the large crystal trophy).

It was also a great weekend to welcome our new assistant coach, Wilson Dippo, to the Bates Nordic family. Wilson comes to us from Salt Lake City, as a Bowdoin class of ’12 alum he knows the EISA circuit well and will undoubtedly be a huge asset to the team as we move toward the carnival season. Stay tuned for a more formal/detailed introduction!

Overall this weekend provided a great way for all of us to test our mettle and get into the mindset of racing teams that we’ll see every weekend for six weeks this winter. After seeing this weekend's results I’m even more excited for what’s to come in January!

-Danny



You can find results HERE. In the top right corner you can switch between men's and women's results.
Here are a few photos - more to come soon!

Going Big

October has been huge:

-The first week, testing.

-The second, big volume and the Dempsey Challenge.

-The third, more testing (and fun) at Rangeley Camp.

This past week was yet another serious volume week, and we wish October goodbye this week with an even bigger one, the culmination of which is the Lobster Roll - a rollerski race between the Maine colleges out on the island of North Haven. It's the first time we will have had the opportunity to go head-to-head with other college skiers and as sports psychologist and team idol Jerry Lynch would say we are excited to learn from our competition. 

We are also excited to absolutely tear them apart.

This past Sunday, we took part in the annual tradition of rollerskiing to the ever-generous Fuller's house in Freeport. It was a 25-35 mile ski, and we were received in Freeport with dry clothes and Debbie's famous lasagna. Here are some awesome photos which Steve Fuller took as we neared his house; you can check out the whole set at flyingpointroad and also purchase a print for the mantle!

Stay tuned,

-Filly

The Fam, minus a few.

Made it!

Hello loyal bobcat fans!

While there were no Patrick Dempsey sightings, and no adventures on the tops of mountains in Rangeley, these past few days have been pretty eventful. As far as training goes, everyone on team has been doing a really impressive job staying strong and positive during a week of distance and intensity workouts, despite all of now present academic pressures that seemed so far away in Rangeley. This morning we did a skate rollerski interval workout in west Auburn, and afterwards many people from the team went to cheer on Gabby, who was running in NESCAC’s for cross-country.  

In other exciting news, yesterday we all went to watch the inauguration of Bates’ 8^th president, Clayton Spencer. I think everyone was impressed by the transformed Merrill gym, the speeches, Clayton Spencer herself and by the familiar face of Coach Becky walking in the processional.

Shout out also to INGRID KNOWLES, MEGAN MCCLELLAND AND NATALIE RUPPERTSBERGER who made appearances on campus this weekend!

And good luck to Sam and Nat in their marathon tomorrow!