UVM Carnival

The carnival season began with the alpine portion of the UVM Carnival.  The alpine races were moved up from their usual early February spot on the calendar to accommodate a large number of racers going to February NorAms in Vail.

The weekend started off with great weather and snow conditions for the GS. Leading the women was Emily Bamford in 19th. She was followed by Katie Fitzpatrick in 21st and Emily Hayes in 29th. As a group they finished 7th, which was definitely not what we were looking for but still a solid start to the season.

The men were led by Chris Bradbury in 25th, a great finish out of the 62nd start position. Tanner Dirstine was our next scorer in 39th and Cody Bullen was our final scorer in 43rd.

Emily Bamford (Photo: Cory Ransom/EISA)

Chris Bradbury (Photo: Cory Ransom/EISA)

Emily Hayes (Photo: Cory Ransom/EISA)

After the races the team was treated to a wonderful dinner at the home of Randy Hoder (Class of 1983).  The team enjoyed a great meal and some time relaxing by the fire.

The weather changed dramatically overnight. We arrived in the morning to a hill that was shrouded in fog and had been softened by overnight rain. This made for very tough conditions that saw more than half the men's field DNF or hike.  Ryan Symancek battled through the tough conditions to finish 23rd. Tanner and Chris who both hiked the first run were our next two finishers in 29th and 30th.

The snow for the women's race was just as challenging but the ladies did a great job handling the conditions. Avril Dunleavy led the team in 7th place. She was followed by Anne Rockwell in 10th, Katie Fitzpatrick in 13th, Emily Hayes in 17th and Emily Bamford in 18th. Overall the women finished 3rd in the SL just behind UVM and Dartmouth.

After the alpine portion of the races Bates sits in 8th place.  The Nordic events take place the first weekend in February and hopefully they can move us up a few notches.

Anne Rockwell (Photo: Cory Ransom/EISA)