Lots of Wind and Laps, Can’t Deny Easterners Have Grit – FasterSkier

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By: Francesca Kitch

Weekend one of the EISA Winter Carnivals went off this past weekend in Rumford, Maine. Hosted by Bates College, hurricane-force winds in the days prior to the races made organizing the event an extra challenge. The original plan of a classic sprint and skate 15km mass start was abandoned in favor of a skate sprint and individual start 8.4km race, which could be more easily accommodated by the little snow left in skiable condition. Regardless, it was an event to remember for more reasons than one, with a notable “tunnel of sound” on the last uphill in the women’s distance race on Saturday; men’s teams, coaches, parents, friends, and three large speakers stood hyping up everyone as they passed by. 

As the Bates Carnival approached, the volunteers at Black Mountain of Maine were working tirelessly to make snow and create courses for the weekend. Unfortunately, however, early last week, “two days of hurricane force winds coming off the mountain made the tracks pretty much a carpet of sticks and pine needles and little spruce twigs,” Bates Head Coach James Upham reported. “At the same time, there were open sections of the course that had pretty good coverage, but when we groomed the,m the snow would get picked up by the wind and launched into the stratosphere, so we lost snow that way as well.” Considering these complications, the organizing committee made a fantastic effort to pull off the best event possible.

The start of Friday’s 1.2km skate sprint was delayed by an hour–the men’s qualifier began at 11 instead of 10–to allow the course to be prepped for racing with last-minute cleaning of debris and moving of snow to cover rocks on the track. Even so, there was nothing short of excitement and enthusiasm from the racers. 5th place finisher in the men’s race Keelan Durham (Williams) said, “It was super fun to be back on the carnival circuit, and I felt like I raced into the day really well.” Tactics were certainly at play, especially in the heats with the narrow course. Winner of the men’s sprint Luke Allen (Dartmouth) commented, “the course was more of a rolling downhill into a long working uphill section. I played the strategy of hanging in the top two to three on the downhill and then starting to move up through the pack on the working uphill section.” Allen added that it was great to be joined by three of his teammates in the semi-finals and was joined in the finals by his teammate John Steel Hagenbuch who finished the day in third. UVM’s Fin Bailey finished in second and his teammate Benon Brattebo was in fourth. In the team standing for the day, Dartmouth secured first place, followed by UVM and Williams.

Quincy Massey-Bierman (Middlebury) had an outstanding performance on Friday with her first EISA win. “It was great, wasn’t sure how much energy I would have after getting back from nationals in Alaska since the time change was tricky to adjust to, but evidently, it was enough!” Recovery time from Alaska was in question for many other top athletes on the circuit. With races wrapping up on Tuesday in Anchorage, athletes were given just a few days to travel back east and try to adjust time zones before hitting the ground running. The women’s podium for the day included UVM’s Kristin Multun Helland in second and Dartmouth’s Ava Thurston in third. Thurston’s teammate Evelyn Walton and Massey-Bierman’s teammate Mica Bodkins rounded out the top five. The women’s team scores for day one settled out, with Dartmouth on top, followed by Middlebury and UVM. 

Saturday’s distance race consisted of seven laps of the 1.2km sprint course, skied in the opposite direction, which turned out to be a challenging course with little rest. The day started off with the men’s race at 11am, delayed 30 minutes to accommodate last minute patching up of the course. Hagenbuch won the race by 36 seconds over his teammate Allen. Middlebury’s Logan Moore raced into third place, stepping atop an individual EISA podium for his first time. Luke Rizio of UVM (4th) and Roger Anderson of UNH (5th) closed out the top 5. At the end of the day, Dartmouth men were in first, with Middlbury and UVM right behind them. All in all, Allen said he was “super happy with a great weekend for the team.”

On the women’s side, 3rd place finisher Shea Brams (Middlebury) remarked that the race was “7 laps of grueling. Honestly I think I got the most rest on the uphills.” Yet she was still fired up during the race because “all the boys were just absolutely going ham” on the last hill, cheering for the women. “It was really hard but it was a lot of fun because we love the EISA.” Thurston, the women’s distance winner, echoed Brams’ words. “The tunnel of sound and music and cheering really kept me going…it would’ve been a lot harder without that out there.” She added, “It was a really fun first carnival…stoked to be out here with the team, and it was a good weekend for Dartmouth.” 4th place finisher Emma Strack (SLU) didn’t race on Friday, having traveled back from Anchorage that week. As a Senior, she mentioned, “it was so funny to be the one talking the freshmen through [the carnival weekend]” remembering her own first carnivals. Rejoining the team after a semester off, she was excited to have this moment with the first years and see them in action. Teammates Clara Hegan and Hattie Barker of UNH finished second and fifth, respectively, leading UNH to a women’s team win for the day. Middlebury and Dartmouth’s women tied for second.

“We hope that everyone enjoyed the weekend as much as we did, and we want to extend a special thank you to our friends and companions at the Chisholm Ski Club for assisting us in facilitating the carnival!” said Bates Men’s captain Wyatt Teaford. It was an eventful weekend indeed, and each of these teams will be looking forward to their next carnival, hosted by Saint Lawrence University, this coming weekend in Lake Placid. 

Full EISA Schedule & Results

Saturday, January 11, 2025: 15km Freestyle – Individual Start: Men’s Results  –  Women’s Results

Saturday, January 18, 2025: 7.5K Classic – Individual Start

Saturday, February 1, 2025: 3x5k Classic – Relay

Saturday, February 8, 2025: 15k Classic – Mass Start

Saturday, February 15, 2025: 15k Classic – Mass Start

Saturday, February 22, 2025: 15k Freestyle – Mass Start