Rumford JOQ Weekend!

Another great weekend of skiing, if a bit on the nippy side on Saturday. As Joe Bouscaren and I drove over to Rumford from the motel we hit one pocket of -27F air......Brrrrrrrrr. Fortunately, the sun came out, there was no wind and so it was somewhat reasonable for the sprints as long as you kept moving. That, and I brought my down jacket that is like wearing a sleeping bag....sweeeeeeeeet.

The coaches set up waxing in the old lodge in relative comfort while the kids grabbed tables in the new lodge and we settled in for a day of sprint racing. CSU had some excellent results by the time the day was done and the sun was heading down. I'll try to post those when the results are up on NENSA.

On Sunday the temperatures had moderated. 9F on the drive over and snow falling. This time we set up for waxing under the tent at trail-side and before long it was falling at 1 inch/hour. The tracks basically disappeared and we knew the uphills would get destroyed in these mass start races. J2s did 5km, women 10km and men 15km. Wheeeee haaaaaa, 3 times up high school hill in mashed potatos for the men!!

In the J2 races CSU was awesome. The thin red line formed at the front and when the snow settled Jackson Rich took first decisively and gaining some meaure of revenge after taking 2nd in the sprints. Eli Hoenig nabbed 6th, Neil Garrison 9th, Rion O'Grady 23rd and Erik Brote 24th. On the girls side Corey Stock took 2nd, Hannah Smith 6th and Nadja Kern 10th.

In the 2 lap women's race Hilary Rich was 14th, Alex Jospe 24th and Olga Golovkina came home in 29th. It was clear from watching this race that you had to be patient and wait for things to open up to pass people without thrashing. It was also not a day where you could hammer the kick......finesse was the way to go.

Watching the men's mass start from behind as we waited for the separate master's wave was an impressive view as over 200 starters surged up the first hill in 10 long lines. I was very happy not to be a part of that confusion! We started 1 minute later and caught up to the first person from the front wave in about 1/2 km! It was difficult weaving in and out and patience was the key on lap one. That and not killing yourself on trip number one up High School Hill. Somewhere along the way Chris Burnham got his pole ripped off, but got another pole from someone. Surprisingly, the skiing and tracks got better each lap as they got skiied in. CSU's wax for the day (Ski-Go covered with Rode multi-grade green) was awesome. It kicked everywhere and wasn't slow. On lap three up the hill, between Alex Jospe and Eli Hoenig yelling at us, we got up and over thank god hill.....as in thank god its over! It was a fun race......hard, but fun. Everyone was crusted with snow and ice. Nick's glasses were stuck to his face. Stories abound. Chris Stock was 47th, Isaac Hoenig 57th, Jimmy Burnham 107, Rob Bradlee 108, Joe Bouscaren 126, Chris Burnham 128, Jamie Doucett 132, Bob Burnham 136, Jim Stock 138, Michael Goldenberg 147, Nick Serbedzija 152, Michael Chiuzzi 166 and Will McCartney 168. That was one tough race!

All in all a truly fun weekend.