Despite injuries and poor weather conditions, Carleton’s Nordic ski teams placed third and fourth at the Canadian Colleges and Universities Nordic Championships (CCUNC) in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. from March 17-24, said Ravens head coach Chris Mamen.
The team won two bronze medals, one for the women’s team in a team sprint and the other for Andre Marchand in the one-kilometre sprint. The men ended up placing third overall, and the women fourth.
Two skiers, Kendra Murray and Peter Biesel, placed in the top six overall, and were named CCUNC all-Canadians, Mamen said.
“It was a good week,” he said. “It wasn’t as good as we had hoped, but it wasn’t terrible.”
The men’s team especially had many athletes battling sickness, Mamen said. Leeland Hawkings, a top performer throughout the year, came down with the flu, which Mamen said impacted the team.
“That was kind of rough on us, because it hurt our team points,” he said. “I don’t think it can get much worse, I mean three people out.”
In addition, the nationals took place during a heat wave, and the athletes competed in above-zero temperatures, which reached up to 18 C.
“We were skiing in slush. It’s actually like skiing in quicksand,” Mamen said. “The snow is very deep, so you sink in, so it’s a lot of work. It means all the races are a lot longer, they’re a lot more tiring, and it’s frustrating.”
Ingrid Hagberg, who won the bronze medal along with Murray on the women’s team sprint, said the weather made racing hard for athletes.
“One of the hardest things was not to overheat,” she said. “When you’re racing, you’re basically in full bottoms and a long-sleeve top. Some of us had to race in shorts and a T-shirt, but even then it canget pretty hot.”
Another factor was that the team was tired from racing all year, Hagberg said.
“I know some of us were just tired from all the racing,” she said. “Nationals is usually earlier in March, and it’s a long season,. We were racing from December all the way through to March, and it does take a toll to the body.”
With the season behind them, Mamen said the team improved considerably during the year.
“It was definitely a team-building season for us,” he said, “I think the results don’t really tell the full story, because the team is going to be performing year after year again now, and they’re going to be performing at a much higher level.”
With none of the athletes graduating, the team will look the same next year.
“We definitely have a lot of potential as a team, and all the people individually can improve and keep doing better,” Hagberg said. “It’s going to be good to see what the team can do in the next few years.”
The team gets a month off in April, but training starts again May 1, Mamen said. He said he’s looking forward to beginning training again.
“I’m looking forward to seeing a lot of hard work put in over the summer, and seeing if they come back over the summer, and being in really good shape again,” he said. “I’m here to build the team for next year.”
