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St. Lawrence Carnival Nordic Day 1

Writer's picture: Elizabeth GrazianiElizabeth Graziani
Starters lined up for the men's race
Starters lined up for the men's race

The St. Lawrence Carnival kicked off with a 20k skate mass start, a grueling race that challenged each and every skier. Lake Placid is a notoriously hard course, with lots of climbing and fast downhills, making for an exciting start to the weekend. Today’s race was four laps of a 5k course (see map below). The course was essentially all up and then all down, requiring skiers to be locked in the whole time. Middlebury skier Logan Moore put it well saying, “it was a tough race out there, this course is unforgiving.”


Harvard skier Quincy Donley followed by pack from several teams (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)
Harvard skier Quincy Donley followed by pack from several teams (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)

Women

The women started at 10:00am with Dartmouth skier Jasmine Drolet seeded first. As is typical for a women’s race, the skiers attacked from the gun. By the second lap, Dartmouth skier Ava Thurston had gapped the field by about 20m. On the third lap, Bowdoin skier Emma Crum caught and passed Thurston. Crum and Thurston skied the final climb together, battling for a position into the downhill. Ultimately, Crum came in first by one second and earned her first carnival win. After the race she commented, “This is the first time Bowdoin has won, so I’m mostly happy for our whole team. Our women’s team is crushing it.” When asked about her strategy for the race, Crum said, “I heard someone say to Ava that Emma’s hurting too, referring to me. I realized I’m not the only one in a lot of pain, so my strategy was to trust that everyone else is hurting as much as I am and go for it. It was definitely a push the whole way, it was never a guarantee, which made it so much harder but also more fun.” Rounding off the podium was UVM skier Kristin Multun Helland. After the first lap she was in 18th, but she made her way up picking skiers off every lap. Dartmouth first-year Maeve Ingelfinger came in 5th commenting, “this was my first ever 20km race, so the strategy was just to stay with the top 10 group for the first lap and then reassess. At that point I was skiing with four other of my teammates and was able to feed off that hype to propel me through the rest of the race. Overall just super fun conditions on a course that suits me well.”  Phoebe Hussey, a sophomore from St. Michael's, skied a great race and said, “it was really fun, I was prepared for the worst. It was a fun climb and fun downhills to recover on." 


Middlebury skier Logan Moore (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)
Middlebury skier Logan Moore (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)

Men

The men’s race stayed together for longer than the women’s, with a larger front pack skiing the first 2.5 laps together. After that, they turned it on and the real racing began. Dartmouth senior Luke Allan got the win today by over 30 seconds, commenting, “it was awesome, Lake Placid is always a fun one.” When asked about his tactics, Allan said, “my strategy for the day was just to hang in there, we had a big group going on lap one and two. Halfway up the climb on the third lap I went for it and tried to split up the pack a little bit. I skied alone on the last lap, but it was a fun one and a hard course out there.” Middlebury senior Logan Moore came in second, over 20 seconds ahead of the rest of the field. When asked about his race, Moore said, “my strategy today was to stick with the front pack and then when somebody made a move, I moved with them. Luke skied a fantastic race and on the third lap I don’t think anybody was expecting him to go on that hill, and he just punched it really hard. I saw him go, and I saw nobody else make a move and I figured you’ve gotta take risks if you want to win. I didn’t win, but I got really close and it felt really good.” Rounding off the podium for the men today was Sasha Masson from Laval. Dartmouth first-year Aidan Jacobus came in 6th today and earned his career best. After the race, Jacobus commented, “today was definitely gritty, and I tried to ski the first two laps in the pack as conservative as possible. I started feeling really good towards the end of the race and just tried to hang onto the other three for as long as possible. Overall it was a super good race, and I’m super stoked for the rest of the carnivals to come.” St. Michael's senior Declan Hutchinson placed 10th today commenting, “it was my career best so I’m happy about that. Out of all courses, you have to conserve on this one, so I wanted to keep it threshold as long as I could.”

Skiers from Harvard, UVM, and Bowdoin (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)
Skiers from Harvard, UVM, and Bowdoin (photo courtesy of Dave Brams)

Come back tomorrow for Day 2 of the St. Lawrence Carnival!

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