The Race Season Has Started

Between the great snow making at Sunday River and an awesome trip to Colorado the team has been fortunate enough to be on snow for almost a month now and this past weekend we finally got the race season started with two FIS races at Sunday River.

Day 1

Avril Dunleavy '15 started the season with a come from behind win. Sitting 6th after the first run behind first run leader Emily Bamford '15, Avril won the second run to edge her teammate by 4 tenths of a second for the win.  Emily Hayes '15 and Anne Rockwell '14 weren't far behind in 6th and 7th respectively.

Chris Bradbury '16 got the men's season started with a strong 16th place finish from the 32nd start despite numerous mistakes in challenging conditions. He was followed by Coleman Lieb '14 in 24th and Tanner Dirstine '16 in 25th from the 60th start position.

Day 2

Day two saw some tougher conditions as the warm night left us with some chunky snow particularly for the men.  Unfortunately the men struggled in the conditions and Brent Talbott '14 was our only finisher of the day in 43rd.

The women had slightly better snow on their side of the hill and battled through the conditions to dominate the day once again. Avril took the win by 1.7 seconds over Williams skier Geordie Lonza. Emily Hayes completed the podium moving from 7th after the first run to 3rd. Emily Bamford finished off a very strong weekend just off the podium in 4th, a tenth of second behind her teammate. Anne Rockwell who was sitting third after the first run was an unfortunate DNF on run 2. 

The team is now finishing up finals before we move into a quick two day block of training to get ready for next week's Eastern Cup races at Sunday River (men) and Sugarloaf (women).  

As always you can follow the team at www.live-timing.com 

The Bates Fund Challenge

This Saturday June 30, 2013 is the deadline for The Bates Fund Challenge.  As many of you know the goal of The Bates Fund Challenge is to reach the goal of 50 percent alumni giving for the current fiscal year. If we reach this goal Bates will receive an additional $500,000 from a group of alumni leaders. As of today we need 78 more alumni donors to reach the goal.  If you have already given to the Bates Fund or the Alpine Ski Team this year, we thank you for helping us reach our goal.  If you haven't yet given, we ask you to please consider giving to the Bates Fund or directly to the Alpine Ski Team (All gifts to the team also count towards the Bates Fund).  Gifts of any amount will count towards the challenge.  Please help us reach our goal and support the team at the same time. Go Bobcats!

Click here to give to the Bates Fund.

Click here to give to the Alpine Ski Team.

Click here for more details on The Bates Fund Challenge.

Watch the 2012 NCAA Skiing Championships live here.

Williams Carnival Schedule Change

Tomorrow starts the Williams Carnival. The schedule has changed due to weather and we will run SL tomorrow and GS on Saturday.  First run each day is 9:15. Follow us on Live-Timing

Dartmouth Carnival and UNH Make-up race at Burke

Last weekend was another busy weekend of racing. In addition to the Dartmouth carnival we a third race on Sunday to make up for the GS we lost at UNH.

The great weather that start at UVM continued throughout the week of training and followed us to Dartmouth.  The team started off with GS on Friday on hill we have typically struggled on, but once again the women came through strong.  Emily Hayes '15 led the women in 14th, Katie Fitzpatrick '15 followed close behind in 15th and Zoe Livingston '13 completed the scoring in 19th. On the men's side Coleman Lieb '14 was our top finisher in 31st.

Emily Bamford '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

Saturday brought another perfect day for the SL.  The men were led by Alex Jones '12 in 21st and Coleman Lieb in 30th.  Emily Hayes once again led the women finishing 6th for her 4th Top-10 in the first four slaloms of the carnival season. Anne Rockwell and Katie Fitzpatrick rounded out the scoring in 19th and 20th to put the women in 5th place as a group.

Emily Hayes '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

On Sunday we still had the beautiful sunshine but the temps plummeted as it didn't go above zero all day at Burke for the rescheduled UNH GS.  The women continued their great skiing with Emily Hayes leading the team for the third day in row with an outstanding second run that moved her from 12th to 5th. Emily Bamford '15 had her best finish of the season in 11th and Anne Rockwell finished 20th.  Unfortunately Katie Fitzpatrick went out on the second run after having a stellar first run that put her in 7th.  The men were led by Alex Jones in 11th after he put down the fifth fastest second run after standing in 23rd after run 1.  Coleman Lieb '14 was our only other finisher in 30th.  As a result of her performance this weekend Emily Hayes was named Bobcat of the Week for Bates Athletics.

Alex Jones '12 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

Emily Hayes '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

UVM Carnival

This is a far overdue post about the UVM weekend and it was a good one.  We finally had great weather for two days in a row and the best snow conditions that I can remember for a carnival at Stowe.  The weekend started of with GS on cloudless sunny day.  The hill was in great shape with hard snow and the most terrain I've seen on Main Street trail since we started racing on it a few years ago.  The women started off the day with some great skiing. After the first run we had Katie Fitzpatrick in 7th, Avril Dunleavy in 9th and Zoe Livingston in 17th.  The men followed with some more strong skiing in the first run with Alex Jones in 20th and Peter Cole in 33rd from the 76th start position.  In the second run the women kept up the strong skiing.  Katie and Avril flip flopped and end up 9th and 7th respectively. Zoe put down a great second run to move up to 12th and complete the scoring which put the women in 2nd as team. It was our best finish for the women in an event since we took the win in GS at UVM in '07.  The second run for the men saw Alex Jones put it on his hip twice but still end up 20th and Peter Cole skied strong to finish the day 29th.

Alex Jones '12 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

Avril Dunleavy '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

Day two was the SL and the great weather continued.  The men started off the day with some more solid skiing with Alex in 18th and Coleman Lieb making the jump from 55 to 22 in the first run.  The women continued their great skiing with Avril 5th, Emily Hayes 6th and Anne Rockwell 17th after run one.  Unfortunately the second run for the men didn't go as well. Both Alex and Coleman skied out but Peter Cole, Devon Brown and Brent Talbott were able to salvage some points finishing 26th, 31st and 35th respectively.  The women put together another amazing day as Anne moved up to 12th, Emily moved up to 4th and Avril finished the day in 3rd for her first podium of her young career.  The women again finished second as a team to complete a great weekend. As an added bonus Avril was named Bobcat of the Week for her performance over the weekend.

Emily Hayes '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

Avril Dunleavy '15 (Photo:Cory Ransom)

UNH Carnival and Cranmore Eastern Cup

This past weekend was the UNH Carnival and an Eastern Cup slalom at Mt. Cranmore.  Unfortunately due to awful weather and unsafe conditions the GS was cancelled on Friday. That left us with just the slalom that was doubled for team scoring for the weekend.  While we had much nicer weather the course conditions were still rugged.  The men had a tough day with two DNFs and the rest failing to make the top-60 to qualify for the second run.  On the women's side the day went quite a bit better.  Avril Dunleavy '15 led the women with two solid runs to finish 9th.  Emily Hayes '15 enjoyed her first start in the first seed and followed up last weeks outstanding result with a 10th place finish.  Anne Rockwell '14 rounded out the scoring, finishing in 22nd.  Overall the women finished 4th as a team.

Emily Hayes '15 - Photo:Cory Ransom

On Sunday we moved across the valley to Mt Cranmore for an Eastern Cup SL.  Katie Fitzpatrick '15 battled back after a tough start to the carnival season to lead the team with a 5th place finish.  Emily Bamford '15 and Anne Rockwell '14 also had strong results finishing 9th and 10th respectively.

Thanks to Cathy and Michael Hayes for housing the ladies this weekend and thanks to all the parents that provided a spectacular lunch for the team and coaches this weekend.

Next we are off to Stowe for the UVM carnival. Go Bobcats!

Bates Carnival Recap

GS

Friday was the opening of the carnival season.  We were greeted with 6-8" of new snow which made for some difficult conditions but the Sunday River race crew, athletes and coaches did an amazing job prepping the hill.  The highlights for Bates were Avril Dunleavy finishing 9th from the 43rd start position in her first carnival and Alex Jones finishing 13th from the 53rd start position.

Alex Jones '12 (Photo courtesy of Cory Ransom)

Avril Dunleavy '15 (Photo courtesy of Cory Ransom)

SL

Saturday was the slalom and the cold weather and challenging conditions continued.  In the men's race Alex Jones was again our top finisher in 15th. In the women's race, Bates was poised for a great day with Avril Dunleavy in 7th, Emily Hayes in 11th and Anne Rockwell in 15th after the first run. Unfortunately Anne and Avril both went out within sight of the finish but Emily was able to put down a great second run moving up to 5th. 

Following the slalom we had a great reception hosted by Brent '81 and Sally Harwood P'10,'14. We would also like to thank Sue and Mark Harriman, Stephanie Dumont and Amy Connell for not only putting together  a great reception but also setting up the Friends of Bates Athletics tent and reception area.  Also a huge thanks to Sunday River for providing free lift tickets for the student spectator bus. 

Emily Hayes '15 (Photo courtesy of Christine Feehan)

Bates Carnival

After more than 2 months on snow and 10 races the team is ready for the most important part of the season to start.  The carnival season kicks off this week with the Bates Carnival on January 20-21. We hope you can join us for the races and a parents and alumni reception following the slalom on Saturday.

Race information can be found on the EISA website. Reception and Friends of Bates Athletics info is below. If you can't make the races you can also follow us live on Live-Timing.com.

The Friends of Bates Athletics invites you

to join the Bates Nordic and Alpine ski teams at Black Mountain and

Sunday River for the Bates Carnival and

an apres ski reception in Newry, ME after the Alpine portion of the carnival.

Reception

Saturday, January 21, 2012

hosted by Brent '81 and Sally Harwood P'10,'14

90 Pond Rd

Newry, Maine

4:00 p.m. - 6:00 p.m.

Please RSVP by clicking here or contacting 

Stephanie Dumont at 207-786-8370 or sdumont@bates.edu

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Friends of Bates Athletics Welcome Tents

Friday - January 20, 2012

Black Mountain - Rumford, ME

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Saturday - January 21, 2012

Sunday River - Newry, ME

Time: 10:00 a.m. - 2:00 p.m.

Winter Break

The team just finished up its winter break training camp.  We had 7 good days of training with a USSA GS at Sunday River in the middle (Bump Heldman and Emily Hayes took the wins). Overall it was a good camp although we did battle some sickness and injuries. We also welcomed our newest team member Emily Bamford who comes to us from the Australian national team.  She should be a great addition to our already strong women's team.  Next up are the Eastern Cups at Whiteface (men) and Stratton (women) at the end of the week and a USSA SL at Sunday River on MLK day.  These races will serve as our final prep before the carnival season kicks off with the Bates Carnival at Sunday River on January 20-21.

Bump Heldman 1st and Coleman Lieb 2nd @ Sunday River

Emily Hayes 1st @ Sunday River