We had a really great weekend in Lake Placid for the annual Castle Conquest event! This involves a skate rollerski sprint race on Saturday, and the famous Climb to the Castle uphill rollerski race on Sunday.
The weather was wonderful, the leaves were just starting to turn, and the racing was of the highest quality in terms of organization, timing, courses, facilities, and competition. I will recap our own club’s participation in a separate post, but here is where I’d like to get on my soapbox and work up the courage to publicly criticize the collegiate teams who did NOT attend.
Rollerski racing is huge in Norway and Sweden…on a recent podcast it was stated that more Norwegians tuned into the Blink Festival rollerski races than the Tour De France. And those races featured some sprint competitions as well as an uphill rollerski climb…exactly what was happening this past weekend.
The Keys to the Castle race on Friday took place on a very new rollerski loop, with TDs present and world-class timing from Bullitt Timing systems. Sunday’s races were on a safe closed road with full skier access. Again Bullitt Timing was present, even though the start and finish were 5 miles apart up a mountain. That is a serious logistical commitment.
Competitors had access to matched skis to equalize racing, exactly as it happens in the Blink Fest and other rollerski races in Scandinavia and beyond.
So, if the Norwegian rollerski festival is not any more well organized, and as a country we are trying to grow, develop, and become more competitive at ski racing, where were the teams and participants from the 4 EISA college teams within a 90 minute drive from this event? I’m referring to SLU, UVM, St. Mikes, and Middlebury.
The top U23 male skier in the world, Ben Ogden, was present. Recent World Championship medalist Julia Kern was present. There was certainly quick competition to be had, and amazing experiences to be gained. If cost was an issue, I’d make the argument that the race entries for this weekend would be worth dipping into a college team’s wax, stonegrinding, apparel, tools, or travel budgets for. This would’ve been an excellent fall testing opportunity, critical sport-specific racing experience, and even a relevant recruiting opportunity given the number of Junior racers.
Some college teams aren’t permitted group/coached training yet due to NCAA regulations, but the fact that Saturday’s race began at 10:00AM left plenty of time for at least a day-trip for some sprinting action. The “royal court” format also meant that everyone raced the qualifier and 3 separate heats, far more racing for your money than just speeding through a qualifier and having that be the end of your day.
In conclusion to my mini rant here, I’d just like to say that it was disheartening to have such high-level racing taking place in a location literally surrounded by strong, fun, engaged, competitive skiers/teams and see almost no collegiate athletes in attendance, save for local school Paul Smiths who had an awesome presence!
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