Last Updated: 14.Mar.2016

Following the theme of this winter, the U16 Championships underwent a series of changes in order to make the event run smoothly. None of these changes seemed to flap the Craftsbury crew who all had great weekends of racing. The event was scheduled for Black Mountain of Maine, in Rumford, but a stadium that was wetter than desired  and a little less snow than ideal necessitated a move to the Pine Hill Trails at Gould Academy in Bethel.

The series kicked off on Friday with a 5k interval start skate race. Rebecca Thompson and Ruby Lamb were both in the top 10, in 7th and 10th,respectively. Kyle Marie Hekeler was 23rd, Claire Ellis, a late qualifier to the event, was 31st, and Loren Searles was 77th. Saturday was purely classical technique. The morning race was a 5k, where Rebecca was once again 7th. Ruby was 15th and Claire was close behind in 17th. Kyle Marie was 30th and Loren was 74th. Griffin Wright was 4th in the boys’ race. In the afternoon, the sprint racing began. Differing from the usual five person wave starts traditional to U16’s, two racers began every 15 seconds. Rebecca was 4th, Ruby was 12th, Kyle Marie showed her sprinting skill in 16th, Claire was 32nd and Loren was 70th. Demonstrating extraordinary consistency, Griffin was once again 4th in the sprint. The championships concluded with a 1.2k skate sprint, run in the same format as the classic sprint. Rebecca continued to confirm her sprint speed with a 5th, Ruby was once again in the top 10 in 10th, Kyle Marie was 17th, Claire was 26th, and Loren had her best result of the weekend in 56th.  

U16’s is not simply a series of individual races. Each states’ points are tabulated to declare a winner. Team New Hampshire was this year’s champion, with Vermont only a scant 306 points behind, though Vermont kept a 989 point lead ahead of Maine. Individual standings are also calculated to determine the fastest U16 competitors present at the championships. Rebecca was 7th, Ruby 12th, Kyle Marie 21st, Claire 25th, and Loren 64th. Griffin was 64th for the boys after racing two races.

Get excited for Eastern High School racing next weekend!