Today was a huge breakthrough for Erin! There's been shades of this kind of speed all year from her, but things hadn't come together in a race setting until this morning, when she blasted through the qualifying round to take 20th spot overall. Erin's quarterfinal left her a little behind out of the gate, but throughout the course she continually tried to push through and move up. Unfortunately the other women were skiing pretty aggressively as well, and each time Erin tried to move alongside she would get boxed out or cut in front of. The course ended with huge sweeping downhill into a uphill finish. If you tried to win the heat from the front (plenty tried with little success, aside from eventual winner Maddy Pfiefer who was still almost caught at the line) you risked being swallowed up, but if you were too far from the lead you were unable to respond to the inevitable push up the final hill. Erin ended up in the latter situation, but came away ready to fight and throw some elbows next time she's in some heats. Trust me, she will be there.
Sienna was tantalizingly close (try .4 seconds away) to making the open heats in 32nd place. Still, her time made her the 2nd fastest qualifier for the J1/OJ heats. The top 12 J1 and OJ skiers who are outside the top 30 race in what used to be called 'consolation heats'. There are 2 heats of 6, and an 'A Final' and 'B Final' generated from these results. Get all that? It still confuses me sometimes...These heats don't affect final placing but are good experience. In her first heat Sienna took 4th skiing solidly within the group. For the 'B Final' I told her to try something different and just go for it from the start. Why not? Nothing would change, and it would be good to see how fast she could take it. Within the first 50 meters Sienna had gapped the field by a good 5 ski-lengths, and had a big lead coming into the big downhill. And then, like I described above, she was swallowed up by the pack working together on the long descent. But as I said, nothing was at stake so why not go for it? And I think she did have some fun blasting away from those girls and knowing she has the pure speed to draw on.
Melanie was also joining us, racing in her first Eastern Cup ever. She said that a big race in Nevada or California would be around 30 or 40 people...so having 150 girls in today's race is definitely a good pre-carnival scene. With the big drop in altitude Mel said she felt like she was lacking a little in quickness, though her lungs felt unsurprisingly superhuman.
We owe a huge thanks to the Dier family, who are letting us stay for the weekend at their slopeside condo at Killington, just down the road from the races. Quite a step up from the questionable Rutvegas we would have been staying in otherwise!
Things have been pretty warm here. There was some serious slush forming today by the later heats and it isn't gonna get below 40 overnight. The sounds of blowtorches will be everywhere in 'tent village' tomorrow!
Discussing some race stragegy
A girls heat heads through the lower field
Conditions at the end of the day. Spring skiing, anyone?
Slopeside amenities at Killington: big thanks to the Dier family!
Sienna showing how it's done in one of her heats
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