Category: XCFeeds

Today was the last day of the REG camp and we had great food, coaching, and training throughout the whole camp! Yesterday morning we went on a 3 hour classic OD in Eastern Craftsbury to preview the course for todays time trial. We had an easy afternoon and were able to try sculling on the lake next to the center. The sculling was fun and no one flipped because we were in the training boats. br /This morning we had a 6K skate time trial. The course started with a steep V1 hill and then flattened out into lots of V2 rolling hills (times and a link to the video will be posted asap). The time trial was pretty tough, but it was a good way to finish off an excellent camp. We ended with a swim at the rope swing and a wrap up meeting after lunch. Thanks to Matt, Janice, David, Jason, Cami, Pepa and Eileen for a great camp!br /Below are pictures of some of the SMS kids that we snagged from Janice (thanks). Check out her REG reports on www.nensa.net.br / a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgxRZV9UI/AAAAAAAADG4/nt7e7I_BB1I/s1600/66.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgxRZV9UI/AAAAAAAADG4/nt7e7I_BB1I/s400/66.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727707968992578″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgreWcIzI/AAAAAAAADGw/iaqII7hxl-M/s1600/62.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgreWcIzI/AAAAAAAADGw/iaqII7hxl-M/s400/62.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727608367260466″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgmiTQ0BI/AAAAAAAADGo/rX6fdMPnmDc/s1600/59.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgmiTQ0BI/AAAAAAAADGo/rX6fdMPnmDc/s400/59.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727523528331282″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgew1XhFI/AAAAAAAADGg/TvD7aAR8sF4/s1600/58.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;” src=”http://4.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgew1XhFI/AAAAAAAADGg/TvD7aAR8sF4/s400/58.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727389990519890″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgaJ9VMnI/AAAAAAAADGY/IjEzdDL278U/s1600/35.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 400px; height: 225px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgaJ9VMnI/AAAAAAAADGY/IjEzdDL278U/s400/35.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727310835462770″ //abr /a onblur=”try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}” href=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgRpHLpSI/AAAAAAAADGQ/CpbkCq1pDoo/s1600/11.jpg”img style=”display:block; margin:0px auto 10px; text-align:center;cursor:pointer; cursor:hand;width: 225px; height: 400px;” src=”http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_H2SCM3lmKm8/TCvgRpHLpSI/AAAAAAAADGQ/CpbkCq1pDoo/s400/11.jpg” border=”0″ alt=””id=”BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5488727164579456290″ //abr /br /By Austin Caldwelldiv class=”blogger-post-footer”img width=’1′ height=’1′ src=’https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/tracker/4680416899705879324-1079781242048707820?l=smsxc.blogspot.com’ alt=” //div

img src=”http://28.media.tumblr.com/tumblr_l4syljytbF1qzt3xbo1_500.jpg”/br/br/pNo children were harmed in the shooting of this photo. (viaAJ)/p

Watching Devon Kershaw’s (CAN) amazing race in the Olympic 50k this past season was both thrilling and a bit heartbreaking.  There’s something of a reality distortion field that takes hold when the Olympics roll around that elevate the top three positions in a cross-country race to near mythic levels.

This is at least slightly bizarre, since, really, why three?  That’s totally arbitrary.  The ancient traditions that guide our sporting world could just as easily have designated the top five as the magic number to worship.

Podium-worship has crept out of the Olympic venue and into less prestigious races over time.  And I’m not really complaining.  There’s something to be said for tradition, meaningful or not.

But it’s a bit odd that we’ve created this arbitrary cutoff, that for no reason other than that we’ve all decided it to be the case, renders a 5th place finish at the Olympics a disappointment.  Which in Kershaw’s case, it kind of was, but kind of not.

If there’s a plus side to podium worship, it’s that it gives fans of the sport something to agonize over.  And any sport worth it’s salt has shit that fans can argue and debate and agonize over.  That’s what makes being a fan so fun!

So.  No one likes just missing a podium finish, particularly in big races like the Olympics or World Championships.  Where does Kershaw’s race stack up compared to results from recent history for Olympic and World Championships?

You can mess around with this table if you like on your own.  I didn’t look past 6th place, so there could be some 7th or 8th place “near misses” that I’m missing, but I doubt that’s happened much.  You might note that these kinds of things happen in bunches, so you’ll see a handful of people nearly missing the podium from the same race (like both Kershaw and Tobias Angerer in this case).

Of course, this is just Olympic and World Championship races.  What about regular old World Cups?  Well, missing the podium probably isn’t as heartbreaking in this case, but only by a bit.  There’s a huge discrepancy in the World Cup points awarded to the top 3 and everyone else.  So let’s look at the near misses at regular World Cups: