Eastern Cup Openers

With the school schedule a bit odd this year exams are taking place this week, this we had only a small field of racers in this weekends opening Eastern Cups in Craftsbury. Ethan and I decided to split up, and he stayed back in Canton with the majority of the team while I was in charge of the racing crew (Erin, Sienna, Kate, Margot, Evan).

SATURDAY

Saturday's classic sprint was cool but warming, initially klister conditions on a transformed sugary track. Women raced first, and I had a klister combo that was in the "alright" range, I'd say. As our women's start times got nearer and nearer I apparently missed the memo that many were switching to a hardwax cover or simple warmer klisters, and the SLU girls weren't entirely thrilled with the boards. In general most everyone looked to be struggling at least a little bit on the final climb to the finish, though, probably a combination of the tricky conditions and everyone's (except for Craftsbury Green Teamers) lack of time on snow this winter.

Because of the track being closed,  I also got reports from the girls of the sugary and extremely soft 'back hill' on the course, which nobody had been able to get to as the women started. With that info I had a better plan lined up for Evan: A real warm klister underfoot to get some purchase on that back hill, covered with a corn snow klister to prevent icing. Coming through he looked strong and smooth, and really powerful on the final climb. He told me the wax worked well, so I was 1-for-2 in that department.

...Women's results took an oddly long time to appear...while waiting I told everyone to change clothes, cool down, and eat some food. "Treat it as if you know you made the heats. What would you do? How would you prepare?" The girls mostly laughed at me, but I kept pestering them: dry clothes, food to refuel...

...Women's results finally appeared, and sure enough Sienna had made the J1/OJ heats (top 12 J1/OJ racers outside the open heats) in 6th place among that field. I began getting her skis ready... 

...Women's results appeared again (???) and now despite Sienna moving up a place, there were not more Junior women in front of her, bumping her down to 15th...Everyone began travel waxing and packing up. (Evan is a U23 and was fairly confident that despite his good race it would've taken a lot to make the guys heats)...

Next thing we know, Fred Griffin is running down to the shanty-tent wax village, informing everyone that they've decided to re-run the qualifier. No heats, just the qualifier. Again. In an hour a half.

So the day began anew. Good thing the girls had listened to me and all changed, eaten and prepared as if they had another race all along, because it turned out everyone did! This development met with a pretty positive response from the whole SLUSKI crew...a chance to race again and correct mistakes, as well the opportunity for Coach Terko to get the kick right. This time conditions were stable, and I found a hardwax combo that the girls were all really happy with. Sienna again showed a lot of speed, and ended up 42nd (she would have made the heats OFFICIALLY this time in 9th if they had run them, though they did not) and Kate really made the most of the opportunity to race again. I told everyone to think about what they struggled with the first time and correct it, and Kate looked like a whole new racer this second time: speed, power and most of all, quickness were all 100 times better.

By the men's race, the sun was setting and it was getting cold. Martell and I worked out a combo we liked together. "These will be awesome" he told me, and headed up for his start. Somehow though, he almost missed that start and was forced to pull the newbie move of racing in his Swix pants. Additionally, the wax didn't work out quite as well as we both felt it did on the testing track. Evan was none too psyched with his race after having a good one that morning, but that's racing.

SUNDAY

Things were straightforward for this one. Sienna and Evan were no longer present, and Margot now joined the action. Kate looked really strong in this race, and had a nice crew of college racers to ski most of the whole race with, pulling away from them at the end and posting a very respectable finish. Erin and Margot ended up right next to each other and had mixed feelings about the day, but were nonetheless competitive in the massive field.

It started snowing heavily for the guys race, but since we had nobody racing we decided to jet before road conditions got worse and our drive home got even longer.

None of the snow made it to Canton, but Gatineau is open for business so we will be skiing this week as the team size whittles down as exams end and Winter Break looms.