Becky Woods

HEAD COACH NORDIC SKIING
Becky Woods

A two-time EISA Coach of the Year, Becky Woods '89 has been the head Nordic skiing coach at Bates since 1994. A native of Auburn, Maine, she has coached four All-America winners, including Sylvan Ellefson '09, who was fourth in the 10K freestyle at the 2008 NCAA Championships.

During her collegiate career at Bates, she was a two-time captain, participated in three NCAA Championships and was a member of the All-East team. Woods received the Auburn-Lewiston Sports Hall of Fame President's Award in 1996 and has served on the NCAA skiing rules comittee since 1998.

Email: rwoods@bates.edu

Office Phone: 207.786.6339

Martin Benes

ASSISTANT COACH NORDIC SKIING
Martin Benes

Martin Benes '07 returns to Bates, where he was a four-year member of the team and served as co-captain his senior year. After departing Bates with a B.A. in Classical and Medieval Studies, he returned to his home club in California where he coached junior skiers at the regional and national levels.

Last winter Martin returned to New England as an assistant with the Dartmouth College Ski Team. He returned to California this past summer to continue working with the juniors he has coached through two Junior Nationals.

Martin is glad to rejoin the Bates team and is looking forward to working with a talented group of athletes this winter. Off the trails, Martin will be helping out Coach Flynn on the links as the Golf team assistant.

Email: mbenes@bates.edu

Office Phone: 207.755.5954

Bob Flynn

ASSISTANT COACH NORDIC SKIING
Bob Flynn

Coach Flynn posesses a impressive history in the Bates Athletics department through his continuous, untiring involvement for more than 40 years.

He was head skiing coach at Bates from 1968 to 1990 and was instrumental in the program's move to Division I competition in 1972, and in bringing the 1976 NCAA Skiing Championships to Bates. Flynn was also head baseball coach from 1991 to 1999. He is a member of the Lewiston-Auburn Sports Hall of Fame, the Maine Baseball Hall of Fame and the Maine Ski Hall of Fame.

In addition to Skiing and Baseball, in 2008 Flynn also returned to the helm as the Head Coach of Men's and Women's Golf, a position he held previously from 1990 to 1998.

Email: rflynn@bates.edu

Office Phone: 207.786.6441

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LINKS

Reid Lutter '93

Podiumwear

NCCSEF

Dave Chamberlain '98

Justin Freeman '98

Haley Johnson '04

Lauren Jacobs '07

Sylvan Ellefson '09

Blog

Twitter

YouTube

BATES NORDIC BLOG

Wednesday, December 16, 2009

Great Glen Sprints

A few days ago we drove up to Great Glen for some skiing and many athletes competed in the Great Glen Sprint Races. It was cold up there, and the wind chill made us realize that Winter is finally here. The sprints got going at noon and, with no preliminary rounds, got right into the heats. Everybody raced well, with Lucas, Abby, Beth, and Sophie all advancing to the finals. Catherine narrowly missed the final, racing against Sophie in the semis. In the men's final, Lucas was able to hold off some hard-charging junior skiers from Burke and Gould to take the victory. On the women's side, the Bobcats went 1-2-3. Abby took the win ahead of Beth, and Sophie was able to battle back from a early fall to take third. It was great for people to get a race start. Even though we hadn't been on snow that much leading up to the race, everyone's technique is really coming together. This weekend, a small group will be heading up to race at the Eastern Cup openers in Presque Isle.

Nate, early on.

Chill in the heats.

Abby on her way to victory. (Great Glen photo)

Lucas skiing to 1st. (Great Glen photo)

Women's and Men's podium. (Great Glen Photo)

Sunday, December 6, 2009

Snow and Skiing!

After yesterday's time trial against Bowdoin, we woke up this morning to a blanket of fresh snow. We headed down to Twinbrook in Cumberland and got on snow for a couple of hours. The conditions weren't ideal (they rarely are at this time of year), but once we had skied in a loop it was pretty good skiing.
Overall it was a great weekend of training here. Yesterday's rollerski time trial with Bowdoin was a great hard effort, followed by a productive weight room session. The course was a little over 10 km out on Ridge Road in Bowdoinham. It was a great spot with nice terrain and little traffic. Thanks to Coach Alsobrook for inviting us out there! Harry and Dayna had the fastest times for the men and women, respectively. As we move towards the race season it was a good opportunity to go head-to-head against some different people in a new environment.

Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Skiing Alums

This past week the domestic racing season got underway out in West Yellowstone with a classic sprint as well as classic and skate distance races. Bates was well represented with Dave Chamberlain '98 and Sylvan Ellefson '09 both posting solid results through the week. In the point-to-point classic sprint race, Sylvan and Dave finished 8th and 21st, respectively. In the skate race, Sylvan was 12th and Dave 53rd, while in the classic Dave was 19th and Sylvan 36th. Justin Easter '03 was also out in West, as the head coach for the Summit County (Colorado) Nordic Team. The SuperTour season continues this weekend with races in Bozeman, MT. You can follow Sylvan and Dave through this race season on their respective blogs:

Dave at http://blogs.fasterskier.com/davidchamberlain/

Sylvan at http://www.powerbar.com/user/sylvanellefson.aspx
Also, check out his YouTube account with some great video of Team HomeGrown out of Vail at http://www.youtube.com/user/sylvanellefson

Justin Freeman '98 is another Bates Alum who will be represented on the circuit this year. He also has a blog at FasterSkier, http://blogs.fasterskier.com/justinfreeman/

Also, Lauren Jacobs '07 will be racing for the newly formed Craftsbury Green Racing Project

Meanwhile, Haley Johnson will be representing the US in biathlon at World Cups this season and most likely at the Vancouver games in 2010. She is currently in Sweden and keeps a blog as well, http://comeskiwithme.blogspot.com/

Elsewhere, Reid Lutter '93 still acts as the executive director of NCCSEF, runs his company Podiumwear, and coaches the Minnesota Valley Ski Club.

There are plenty of Bates Skiing alums involved in the coaching world. Steve Monsulick '07 is the assistant at New Hampshire. Scott Jerome '93 and Matt Dunlap '08 act as the head and assistant coaches at Alaska-Fairbanks. Nancy Fiddler (nee Ingersoll) '79, former Olympian, and current coach for Mammoth Lakes, CA and the Far West division. Tim Whiton '09 is the assistant over at Bowdoin. Also, Andrew Gardner '00 is the Head Coach over at Middlebury. Its great to see so many former Bobcats still involved in the nordic skiing world.

Check out the links, and stay posted for more!