Mid-Week Training Week 2

This week we had two great days of training. On Tuesday we were able to run a full length GS down Smith Walton and Wachusett. It was about 40 out so (much to the chagrin of some athletes) we were able to get in some real race simulation by stripping down to GS suits. There were some strong performances by Mallory, Eliza, and Blaine on the course. The BC coach is particularly fond of placing "stubbies" in the course which are small gates that can be useful in directing one's line, though our guys weren't quite as into them as he was.

Today we switched hills for the first time in many years to train slalom at Blue Hills (this is the hill that you can see at the 95/93 Interchange). They were making snow on Smitty W for the general public at Wa-Wa, so we took off for the day to Canton Mass (hometown of both Mike Cohen and men's ski team legend Dilly). The hill is definitely on the small side (see picture to the left), but has a solid steep pitch that rivals Smitty W at points. The best part was that the double is super quick (about 3 minutes) which means that our athletes were able to get in a ton of runs. We set two courses - a training course without timing and a "race" course that had timing. Even with about 40 racers on the hill (BC, Babson, and us) we got in about 8-10 training runs which is amazing for midweek training. Blue Hills is also much closer to Providence than Wachusett (about 35 minutes versus 70 minutes) which everyone was pleased with as they didn't have to rush to make 1 o'clock class! Those without classes will be skiing tomorrow morning at Wachusett as well as we get ready for our race this weekend at Pat's Peak and Loon. We are pleased to note that Nick Moore, the club team member of the men's club team, will be announcing this race as he did with much enthusiasm last year at Wachusett. We are also hoping that some former members of the team will be showing their support on the hill so watch out for them!