Season in review.

Well, this is awkward...


So, I've been kinda busy as the author of the SMC Nordic blog, so if you want to see the results from the EISA circuit, see here.

Well, where to begin...

On New Years Eve, I made my way out to Lake Willoughby, VT for the Mt. Hor Hop, a 10km Skate on some very technical trails. This race tends to bring out some good skiers, such as North Conway's own Sean Doherty, who won this years race. I bonked on the second lap, but still managed a 6th place effort.

After the second SMC training camp, Silke and I ventured out to Lake Placid, NY for the Harry Eldridge Memorial Classic Race and JNQ. That day, it was about 45 degrees and raining, so waxing for the 7.5k race was a little challenging. The race was held at the base of the K90 and K120 ski jumps, and featured a single-track obstacle course right after the start, or a pond-skim if you so chose. First lap, I chose the pond, and was immediately soaked from the chest down. Silke toughed it out as my support crew of 1, and I finished 16th overall, after SMC alum Colin Delaney won it. The day was capped off with a trip to Adirondack Chocolates and a quick tour of Lake Placid.

The struggle of warm weather racing in the rain. It is real.

Up next came the first college race of the year, the Colby College Carnival. It was rough, a 2.5-ish kilometer loop to ski a 10 and a 15km race on, things got pretty monotonous. 

On friday, it was a 10km classic, in constantly changing conditions. It was the opening carnival, so I wasn't expecting huge things, but nothing really went as I had hoped. it ended up being a 10km double pole with almost no kick. Turns out yellow klister isn't always the answer...

The next day went a little better, 15km skates are my preference anyways. That day, I started in a pack of very strong skiers, and ended up racing trying to fend off Paddy Caldwell and Akeo Martucci, two of the strongest skaters in EISA. I lost count of laps on lap 4 (kinda like this race), but was back on track the next time around thanks to the rest of the team. It was a tough race, and I ended up 63rd overall.

To finish up the weekend, I competed at the Eastern Cup at Rumford, a 10km Classic. Things didn't quite go as I had hoped, but I needed to try and get my points down. I was 58th.

The season continued with collegiate racing (again see here), and towards the end of February came the last Eastern Cup, my last shot at qualifying for JN's. 

It came the day after the Williams Carnival, at the Holderness School in NH, my second triple of the season. It went rather well, not being passed by anyone and coming in what I thought was a respectable 30th, my second best classic result all season, in what felt like a very solid, relaxed race. But, the points didn't line up, and I was well out of the running for a JN's bid, by almost 15 places. 

After that, I started figuring out what I needed to do for next season, and prepped for the EISA Championships. They went much better than I had expected, and I hope that I showed some other coaches what I can accomplish, in beating their JN-experienced athletes. I was 55th in the Classic, a race that I finished as the last one across the line, and was 52nd in the Skate Mass start, after leading a train of UNH and Colby skiers for 10km. It felt good, and hopefully things go better next year.

-tl..

New Year, New Events

Okay, so it's been a little while, and honestly, not a lot has been going on. Last update was after the last Eastern Cup in December, and since then there have been only a handful of races. Three NHIAA Nordic, three jumps, and another Eastern Cup have occupied the past 4 weeks. Those, and a lot of facility maintenance.

At Kennett, we own no fancy grooming machine to maintain our ski jump. No snowmaking, no Piston Bully, nothing but our own two feet and skis. So this ^^ is what we do to keep it intact. The above is the K20 meter jump, while the K35 sits, waiting to be done.

Meanwhile, I have been racing. Nothing out of the ordinary on the NHIAA front, two classic races and a skate, all dominated by Kennett Nordic. The first, hosted by us at Whitaker woods, was a close race, with Kennett coming out on top by only 9 points. Next, a Skate at Plymouth High School, we fared a little better, taking the win by a whopping 25 points.

Behold, the elusive creature Benson Yeti in its natural habitat: the nordic race.

Then, at Great Glen, it was cold. And I mean very cold. Like 3 layers and a buff cold.

Yeah, that cold.

It was a small meet, which we came within 3.5 points of winning with a perfect score. We won by 11 points, while I took home top honors (as with all the other races) by a considerable margin.

And now for the Nordic Combined portion of the post, the Jumping section. There have been three meets since the beginning of the New Year. And Kennett has not won a single one. There has been a meet at Proctor Academy, Lebanon, and on the Kanc, all of which I have been steadily improving, 

Lebanon's K25

Our precious jumps (K35, K20)

The view from house, last jumper of the night.

At home, I came in 6th overall, with two long jumps of 26m each, short by 4m of the longest on the night.

And finally, an Eastern Cup. 

If you remember my post from the end of last season, Mountain Top Resort was not good to me in the classic discipline. Well, it was time for redemption.

January 12th: Freestyle Sprint. 3 minutes of all-out, individual sprinting on a brand new pair of Yoko 8100 carbon poles (Thank you Nordic Skater!). Initial result: 42nd overall, the #9 J1/OJ That means that I made the Junior Heats at the end of the day. Two more sprints for me! The heats didn't go as well as I had hoped, coming in fifth each time, for a grand place of 11th in the youth. But it was the first time I had ever made heats at an Eastern Cup before!

200m to go, I was in second. 180m later, fifth.

January 13th: Redemption Day. The 9.3km Classic. Last year, during a 4.8 at EHSC, I had a dismal 44th place finish. This year, 54th. But, it was against college skiers this time, and I ended up 12th in my age group. So overall better than before.


As a bonus, on January 6th was the Jackson Jaunt, a 10k self-seed mass-start freestyle on the International Course at Jackson Ski Touring. Against what seemed like all of the Maine College Skiers that didn't go to Nationals, I ended up 15th overall. Not bad for a kid who completely guessed his wax the night before!

And now I rest, preparing for the Geschmossel Classic at Bretton Woods on MLK day.

Ciao.

A week of Races, Tests, and PR's.

Let's start off with the mayhem that was scheduling this Tuesday's Thursday's Skate Classic Skate race at Moultonborough Sandwich. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here is apporx. 3000 words worth of pictures of words:

  

And that, my friends, is chaos.

The race went off as "planned"with the Kennett boys winning the race by 20 points, with myself winning by :50 seconds. Hannah also won her race in spectacular fashion, coming in first by over a minute. The Sandwich course is, for the most part, a rather easy course, with a couple of narrow 2-way stretches. The course only has 2 major hills, and takes place around the fairground. Results are here. 

Donovan Spaulding (Photo courtesy of Josh Spaulding, no relation)

Then, on Friday, came my first day on Alpine skis all year. And also my first race. It was an afternoon Slalom (had to go to Midterms first, which went well) at King Pine Ski Area, and had about 5 schools in attendance. I had to take a few warm up runs before I got on course, and was in relatively good form for having not been on skis since last February. After my 2 race runs, I was 12th overall, and the 9th Kennett skier. Not bad for having taken 5 runs all year before my race.

Image Courtesy of Josh Spaulding

After the Alpine race, I drove over to Proctor Academy for a Jumping meet, and boy was it fast. After we had all practiced from top bar, they set a 3 bar limit, dropping us all down to bar 3. When the meet came around, I immediately set a new PR of 30 meters, only to be broken 2 jumps later at 30.5 meters. I came in 13th overall and Kennett came in 4th as a team.

That was the extent of my week, and next week brings us a Jump at Plymouth and XC at Gunstock for a NH Coaches Series race, which is an Eastern HS Qualifier.