*all photos courtesy of flyingpointroad.com
Day 2 of the Dartmouth Carnival was a 20k skate mass start, an event that is always fun to spectate. Skiers completed a 3.3k loop (see map below) six times. Vibes were great and as UVM skier Annie McColgan said, “everyone was really fun to ski with and the course was great. The sun was out and DJ Aidan was mixing, it was great.”
Course Map
Women
95 skiers toed the line at 10am for the start of the women’s race. After one lap, it was surprising to see such a big group come through the stadium. Women’s races tend to get very strung out early as they usually go faster from the gun than the men. Hattie Barker (UNH), Emma Crum (Bowdoin), and Annie McColgan (UVM) were among the leaders of the massive pack. Things remained mostly the same through the fourth lap. Leaders shifted and we saw Ava Thurston (Dartmouth), Shea Brams (Middlebury), Evie Walton (Dartmouth), and Sofia Scirica (Middlebury) all up front. The lead group got smaller but still consisted of about 15 skiers at the start of the 4th lap. Ava Thurston was the leader on the downhill at the start of the fifth lap and little groups began forming. A group of seven skied through the stadium for the start of the sixth lap followed by a chase pack of six. Everyone in the stadium waited anticipating an exciting sprint with so many skiers still in the race. A group of five came over the top of the hill sprinting to the stadium. This group was led by Annie McColgan who ultimately came away with the win today. When asked about her race, McColgan commented, “I felt pretty good today. I led most of the first couple laps and I took it out pretty slow because I feel usually the women’s races are pretty fast from the gun. I was hoping to change that today. There was a lot of shifting that happened in the middle laps, but then at the end of the day it came down to the final hill and sprint. It’s kinda funny when an hour of racing really comes down to one little hill.” UVM skier Kristin Maltun Helland came in just two seconds behind her teammate and claimed the second spot on the podium. Kristen took a different approach to today’s race than her teammate stating, “my strategy was to never lead. I was just sitting in the back of the pack. I didn’t know when they were going to go for it so I stayed in contact.” Kristen commented on the speed of the first half of the race stating, “the pace wasn’t that fast the first two to three laps, so it was easier to follow. I didn’t make any moves, I just followed when other people made moves.” Though different, both the UVM skiers had effective strategies that allowed them to secure the top two spots today. Rounding off the podium, and coming in just 0.5 seconds behind Kristen, was UNH skier Jasmine Lyons. When asked about her race, Lyons commented, “I felt really good today, the cheering was awesome and the skies were really really fast.” Lyons deployed a strategy more similar to Kristen’s. After her race Lyons said, “I like to start off a little slower to save as much energy as I can and let everyone else do the work. And then as the race picks up, I go a little faster and try to get to the front.” This “sit and kick” strategy was also demonstrated by Middlebury skier Quincy Massey-Bierman who was 21st in the first lap and finished 7th overall.
Men
The men came through the first lap looking the same as the women’s race, though this is more typical for a men’s race. On the second lap, the field still was all together with St. Michael's skier Oliver Miatke leading the huge pack. St. Michael's skier Declan Hutchinson had the fastest time on the third lap, followed by Jack Young (Colby) and Luke Allan (Dartmouth), who created a little bit of separation from the pack. The group remained large but more strung out and on the 5th lap we saw Keelan Durham (Williams) and Aidan Jacobus (Dartmouth) at the front among other skiers. On the final lap, the top three skiers made a move and secured their spots on the podium. They were followed by Jack Young and a chase pack of about 15 skiers. Dartmouth skier Luke Allan got the win today with a time of 46:12.7. His teammate John Steel Hagenbuch came in nine seconds behind Allan to earn the second spot on the podium today. Rounding off the podium and coming in less than two seconds behind Johnny was Middlebury skier Logan Moore. When asked about his race, Moore commented, “I’m really happy with how my race went today. I was trying to close the gap between me and the top guys, which has previously been a lot bigger. Today I was closer.” Moore spoke yesterday about the “sit and kick” strategy and utilized it today saying, “the race was really tactical. Until it blew up on the 5th lap, I was just chilling in the back.” After having a couple skiers leading the race, the St. Michael's men finished second on the day.
Podiums
Team Scores
Dartmouth was able to hold on to their lead from Day 1.
Thank you to all the volunteers, Oak Hill, bullitttiming, and everyone who worked hard to pull off this race weekend!
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