Sorry we were off the grid this past week.  We got back in action today at the Middlebury Carnival but we also race last weekend so let me hit those high points first….

Juergen and Franz went 2, 3 in the 10k and Alex was 23rd to pace the men to a second place finish.  Katrina, Jennie, and Mary paced the women.  On Saturday in the mass start Franz was second and Juergen managed an eigth place after his ski came off while he was sprinting for 3rd.  Alex scored again with a 13th as the men place third.  Johanna lead the women with her best finish of the season with Kat and Ellery finishing close behind.  On Sunday Laura and Kelly went 1, 2 in the Ichabod’s Revenge at Sleepy Hollow and brought home some sweet prizes.

Now for today’s results… I wish I had some photos as it was an exciting day!

Franz and Juergen out-dueled Glenn Randall from Dartmouth for 1, 2 finish in the men’s 10k Classic mass start.  It was an exciting race with Franz and Juergen battling it out at the front with Alex, Chris, Ryan, and Eric fighting it out not to far back.  In the end Alex hung on for 15th which was good enough for a one point victory over Dartmouth in the event.

On the women’s side, Caitlin lead the group home in 4th place.  Mary followed up with a stellar 12th place finish and Jennie rounded out the scoring in 18th which was good enough for third place on the day for the women.  All things considered it was a good day.  Caitlin didn’t show too much rust after a week off last weekend and Jennie is almost back after a lot of bad luck with illness.

The alpine team was strong as well today and we are only 5 points back of Dartmouth with freestyle relays and the GS tomorrow.  Watch for pictures on eisaskiing.org and hb3.smugmug.com

Caitlin, Juergen, and the women’s podium (that check is not for Caitlin), photos courtesy of nensa.net

Mother nature threw everything she had at us today and the Catamounts weathered  the storm admirably.  The day started off with a light drizzle with temps in the 40’s but by the time the women were warming up there was thunder and a white out blizzard.  The ladies took it all in stride and skied to some great results.  Caitlin picked up where she left off yesterday winning a tightly contested race in the last couple of kilometers.  Not to be outdone Mary came through with her best result yet in a carnival skiing to 10th place!  Johanna and Kat followed close behind in 15th and 16th to close out another strong result for the women.  Ellery was just outside the top 20 again and Mae skied to her strongest result so far in a classic race.  They finished second on the day and more importantly their strong result pushed us from third overall in the carnival to second overall.

During the women’s race the weather made another dramatic swing as the wind blew away the clouds and we were left witha sunny windy day for the men.  The temperature continued to drop and what was a somewhat soft and wet course became hard and icy.  With the weather changing quickly we just barely started working on the men’s race skis till 20 minutes before the first starter.  We managed to get them all out to the start on time (not every team did) and Patrick and I were left standing in the stadium wondering if what we got on was going to be enough.  As the guys started to come around for the first of 3 laps of the punishing Trapp’s 5k we were relieved to see that everyone was skiing well.  Juergen, Franz, and Chris were all in the top 5 and everyone else looked solid.  Juergen slowly pulled away from the field for  the victory and Franz and Chris hung tough for 5th and 8th place finishes, leading the men to their first team win of the season!  All the men skied well with Alex and Ryan finishing just inside the top 20 and Cole skiing to his best classic result of the season.  The men’s finished cemented second place for the Catamounts on the weekend.

Almost everyone on the men’s and women’s teams skied to season’s bests in classic today.  We are getting stronger at the right time and we are looking forward to the Dartmouth Carnival next weekend.

Thank you to all the parents that were out there today and yesterday.  Despite some bizaar weather today everyone had a great time.  I don’t have any photos but would be happy to post any that are sent my way.  There will be pictures from the race here before too long: http://www.hb3.smugmug.com/

We also owe a big thank you to all the folks up at Trapp Family Lodge, the Stowe Nordic Club, NENSA, and everyone else who helped to make the first UVM Carnival/TD Banknorth Eastern Cup/Supertour event a smashing success!

After a couple of near misses Caitlin managed her first carnival win today on Trapp Family Lodge’s unforgiving new 5k course.  She battled it out with Rosie Brennan from Dartmouth throughout the course as they were seperated by only a handful of seconds at each split station.  In the end Caitlin’s final charge up the last climb proved to be the difference as she won by less then 2 seconds.  Her effort lead another strong showing by the Lady Cats.  Kat was eigth and Johanna, Mae, Mary, and Ellery were not far behind in 20th, 21st, 23rd, and 25th.  The depth of this group is great and we expect another great outing tomorrow.

The men struggled a little today with several people at less then a hundred percent.  Freshmen Cole Talbot paced the men with 16th place finish and Juergen and Alex weren’t far behind to close out the scoring.  Most of the guys feel a little more comfortable with classic right now so we should bounce back tomorrow.

All in all it was a good day.  There were 400 plus racers out there and tons of spectators to cheer everyone on.  Also no Catamouts went hungry as we had an army of parents bring tons of food.  Check back for pictures and more tomorrow….

This weekend we are hosting the UVM Carnival in Stowe.  We’ll be debuting new race courses for both the Alpine and Nordic events this weekend.  Friday and Saturday the alpine teams will be racing on Main Street on Spruce Peak.  Saturday and Sunday the UVM Winter Carnival/USSA Supertour/TD Banknorth Eastern Cup events will be run at Trapp Family Lodge on their new FIS homolagated 5k race course.

Check the schedule of events below and come out and watch!

Friday, February 6, 2009 Alpine Events – Main Street
9:30 am              Women’s 1st Run Giant Slalom followed immediately by Men.

12:30 pm            Women’s 2nd Run Giant Slalom followed immediately by Men.

Friday, February 6, 2008 Cross Country Events – Trapp Family Lodge
12:00-5:00 pm   Cross Country training and course inspection. Trapp Family Lodge.

7:00 pm              Cross Country Team Captains Meeting Trapp Family Lodge Nordic Center

Saturday, February 7, 2008 Alpine Events – Main Street
9:30 am              Men’s 1st Run Slalom followed immediately by Women.

12:30 pm            Men’s 2nd Run Slalom followed immediately by Women.

3:00 pm Award Ceremony for all Alpine Races at Midway Base Lodge.

Saturday, February 7, 2008 Cross Country Events – Trapp Family Lodge
10:00am             Women’s 5k Free Individual Start, Podium Ceremony 11:45am

12:15 pm            Men’s 10k Free Individual Start, Podium Ceremony 2:00pm

Sunday, February 8, 2009 Cross Country Events – Trapp Family Lodge
10:30am             Women’s 10k Classic Individual Start, Podium Ceremony 12:15pm

12:30pm             Men’s 15k Classic Individual Start, Podium Ceremony 2:45pm

There were Catamounts and Catamount alumni racing all over the world this past weekend.

Kat in the 10k at UNH Carnival…

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