What’s better than watching the 2020 US Olympic Team Trials
for the marathon? Skiing a marathon, of course! A couple of our teammates
(Charlie ’23, Cam ’23, Steph ’22, Gabby ’21, Tim ’21, Kate ’20, Emily ’20 and
former teammate Erin ’19) journeyed over to New Hampshire over the weekend to race
in the Bretton Woods Marathon at the Mt. Washington hotel. For those of you who
don’t know, this hotel has a gorgeous view of Mt. Washington and with sunny
blue skies, we were able to have a great view skiing around!
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| The boys checking out the view (Pic: Gabby '21) |
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| Some of the crew! (Pic: Gabby '21) |
The race itself is pretty much a 21K loop that the full marathon
skiers raced twice, whereas the half marathon skiers finished after a lap. It doesn’t
have the vertical elevation gain as the Lake Placid Loppet, but consists of
some pretty gradual hills and short, steep uphills sprinkled throughout. The
combination of sun and colder temperatures the night before made for some icy
tracks! On a whole, our glide was bombproof but the klister kick all but scrapped
off by the end. Pretty much everyone agreed that it was the fastest distance
race they’ve ever done, and they had a ton of fun.
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| Em's beautiful smile! (PC: Emily '20) |
The race started at 9:30 AM with the half marathon and full
marathon racers starting together. This was quite confusing the first time I did
it because all of the bibs look the same. Which meant I blasted the first lap
with the half marathon people only to watch them finish after 21K when I still
had another lap to go…oops! Thankfully that didn’t happen this year. They had
water, Gatorade, and fig newtons at the feed stations around the course,
ensuring that a bonkfest did not happen.
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| Cam '23, Tim '21, and Steph '22 all happy! (PC: Emily '20) |
Besides having a blast, we also had some great performances!
Some highlights include Emily ’20 who won the half marathon for the U23 women’s
class, Tim ’21 who finished 4th for the U23 men, and Steph who placed
3rd for the U23 women! We
were treated to a meal in the Presidential Wing of the hotel after the race for
awards, and then we drove back to campus.
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| Uh oh, Charlie! (PC: Emily '20) |
I like to think of this race as the last hurrah of the
season, and it was awesome to bring up so many of our athletes. We also were
able to talk with former SLU skier Leah Hart ’12 during the marathon. She still
keeps tags with the team which was pretty cool to hear.
Thank you to Liesl Magnus and her family for hosting some of
the team at her house! Also thank you to Emily ‘20 and Jamie Doucett for the great
photos.
Results from this weekend can be found here.
Pictures from Jamie Doucett (professional photographer) can be found here.
Tune into here for Lucy’s race results as she competes in
NCAAs in Bozeman, MT this Thursday and Saturday!
Also check here to check Brian's results as he completes in
Junior Nationals this week!
See you on the trails,
Gabby ‘21
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