| On the Road With UMPI Nordic Skiing |
| Monday, 25 January 2010 16:40 |
 A blog by freshman, Gordon Scannell (North Yarmouth, ME)January 22-23, 2010 After 10 hours on the road, mostly in Canada, we (the UMPI ski team) arrived at our hotel in Burlington, VT. The next morning, we have our first race: a 15 kilometer skate race. Having spent 10 hours on a van within the past 24 hours, I felt rather lethargic during my race, and found out from talking to other team members that I wasn’t the only one. During the race I also managed to fall off the trail into a ditch with about 4 kilometers to go… sweet. All in all it was one of those races I was glad to be done with, so I put it behind me and enjoyed relaxing the rest of the day. Day two comes along, and this time it’s a sprint relay, classic style. The relay teams consist of three skiers who do one lap of the course before tagging off to the next skier, a process that repeats until each skier has done 3 laps. This is a race that’s better for spectators because it’s a mass start (for all the scramblers, the first leg of their relay team) on a 1 kilometer course so the racers are visible much of the time from one spot. This race is also better for me because it’s shorter. Being the scrambler, I started in the massive wave of people on a trail that was wide enough for about six skiers. I skied the hectic first lap, falling once as a result of tripping over myself, and tagged off. The next two laps went fairly smoothly for me and our team ended up beating two other teams (I won’t mention all the teams we didn’t beat). ay The girl’s race came afterwards and was equally as exciting to watch. Our girls ended up beating twelve other teams, which is a personal best for the UMPI girls so far this year. Soon after all the girls had finished it was time to pack up and hit the road. Although I personally didn’t do too well in the races, I can’t complain about this weekend excursion. We were fortunate enough to have good weather each day and decent snow conditions, and you can’t go wrong with being in Vermont. Right now we are in the middle of our 10 hour van ride back to Presque Isle, and I am tired of writing and need some sleep. Two more weeks we will be back in Burlington for the UVM carnival. I’m starting to get used to these long trips. For complete skiing results at the St. Michael's Carnival (Huntington, VT): www.eisaskiing.org |