UVM double poles to a double victory at the 2024 Kendall Classsic
UVM’s Annie McColgan testing the feasibility of double poling skate skis (spoiler: it worked exceedingly well for the women’s winner).
[Visiting biathlete Jordan Thiesen reporting for Craftsbury.]
The 2nd day of Craftsbury’s opening weekend of ski racing was the interval start Kendall Memorial classic race. A generous amount of overnight snow bolstered the tracks on the manmade loop for the 5/7.5k race. Conditions warmed throughout the day enough for the slightest sprinkle of rain to glaze the tracks over. Which seems to have played in favor of the Men’s race champion, UVM skier Finn Sweet, who had already been scheming to double pole the race course. With glazed tracks and compromised kick, Finn was able to execute his plan with great success as he took the win over teammate Tabor Greenberg and the GRP’s Braden Becker.
UVM’s Finn Sweet double-poling thru traffic en route to his win.
“I think historically, striding courses are kind of my strength, but I've been pretty confident in my double pole recently,” explained Sweet. “We do a lot of really specific double pole workouts with the GRP in the summertime. After you have a lot of successful workouts, you can recognize it as a strength and make the decision to play to that.”
The Catamounts’ Tabor Greenberg running up Chip HIll.
Sweet will be next racing at the opening NENSA Eastern Cup in Craftsbury in two weeks’ time with his first season’s objective being US Nationals in Anchorage, Alaska at the end of the month.
GRP’s Braden Becker getting a last race in before heading to Wisconsin for the opening round of the SuperTour.
Women’s open podium, from left: Greta Kilburn, UVM; Annie McColgan, UVM; Quincy Massey-Bierman, Midd.
On the women’s side of the competition, UVM’s Annie McColgan executed a similar strategy as our men’s victor with equally rewarding results. “I was a little nervous about it,” explained McColgan. But after double poling a lap of the course for her warmup and receiving encouragement from her teammates, she was confident enough to commit and take a 30 second win over teammate Greta Kilburn and Middlebury’s Quincy Massey-Bierman who had grabbed two of yesterday’s podium places.
Middlebury’s Quincy Massey-Bierman showing her versatility with a 3rd place after yesterday’s sprint win.
McColgan will contest the first SuperTour in Cable, WI before heading to Anchorage for Nationals - but the real goal this year is to maximize her last year of EISA Carnivals. “There’s plenty of great racing to be had in the East this year. I kind of want to just milk that!” McColgan explained when asked about her season’s plans. With the snow conditions we’ve experienced so far in New England, McColgan is certainly right on the money.
Olivia Hanna of Ford Sayre en route to the win in the U16 girl’s 5k.
Open Men podium:
Finn Sweet, UVM
Tabor Greenberg, UVM
Braden Becker, GRP
Open Women Podium
Annie McColgan, UVM
Greta Kilburn, UVM
Quincy Massey-Bierman, Middlebury
Photos by Phil Belena (more photos coming, will upload as they are processed.
Today’s snowfall was peak snowball material.