Chris Stock's Report from Quebec

A bunch of college teams were in Quebec the week of Thanksgiving to train and race, including Harvard, Bowdoin, Bates (including Jimmy Burnham), Colby (including Olga Golovkina), St. Lawrence, UVM, and the local Laval University.


The big race was on Saturday - a 1K classic sprint. The course that we raced on both days was a 1K loop of predominantly gentle downhill and DP with one giant herringbone hill thrown in. The race organization paled in comparison to what we are used to. They seemed to be coming up with the format on the fly, and information leaked out through random sources as the day progressed about what and when the next heats would be.

Anyway, I had what I thought was a pretty sloppy qualifier with a sluggish DP in the beginning and a lot of messy slipping on the transition zones in the hill. I was surprised to find out I had qualified in second, 0.1 sec behind Pete Hegman of UVM. I had an easy quarterfinal, skiing behind Jordan Buetow the entire way. The semifinal was the most exciting heat: the way their format worked, only the first finisher in the semis moves on to the finals, and this had to be done by controlling the race early on. I was also up against two Bates skiers, Jordan and Lucas Milliken. So there were a lot of lane changes, team tactics, etc. I ended up second going into the hill behind Jordan but was able to out-double pole him in the flags. Anyway, when the A final rolled around I got back from the warm-up loop in the woods, ready to race, only to be told I had missed my start. This is the first time I can ever remember missing a start! What everyone else seemed to figure out (and I didn't) was that one of the changes in format along the way had also pushed the finals earlier. So I got fourth overall by default. It was a let-down, because it would have been exciting to try to break into the top 3 and get a Harvard jacket on the podium. Bummer. I won't let that happen again!

The Sunday skate race had a much smaller field, as a bunch of the colleges had gone home. It was 4K girls, 6K guys, around the sprint loop - a lot like skiing at Weston, with a bit more terrain. Olga raced in the Women's race both days and did well, qualifying for the A final in the sprints and getting tenth in the skate. Jimmy raced in the Men's race as well on Saturday.

Chris