Blue Mountain

Last weekend we were at Blue Mountain in Pennsylvania for races in the Mid-Atlantic Series. There was one race on Saturday and another on Sunday. We left Massanutten on Friday morning, stopped at home long enough to unpack, repack, Whitney to work, then we were off. One nice thing about the weekend was we got to see one of Bob's cousins. He lives in NY and Blue Mountain is where he boards so he came to watch the races and hang out with me for a bit.

Saturday's Race
The race on Saturday went really well, although it was a really long day! We got to the mountain, checked in, then Whitney met up with a couple of girls she met last year and was off to the course. As it turned out she was the only one in her age group (jams women, 18-23) and there were several other older "singles" as well. They put all four of them together so it was her, a jams man, a master woman (30-39), and a kahuna man (50-59). The good part about this was racing the jams guy, kind of like racing one of her coaches, and as it turned out it was mostly the two of them out front then the other two a bit behind them.

They started with time trials for everyone, even if they were the only ones in their age group. This took forever since there were 72 people registered and they go down one at a time. Once that was done they set up the brackets for the age groups that needed them and started racing.

The three races they did were close! In the first race, Whitney came in second about a board length or so behind the jams guy. The second race was exciting! From where we were standing towards the end of the race we saw the jams guy fall and Whitney catch up to him then it was a race to the finish. With a big crowd watching there was lots of yelling and cheering. When I talked to Whitney after she said that she had fallen just a bit earlier and figured that there was no way she'd be able to catch up to him then he fell. Problem was that he fell on a rather flat part of the course so he had a hard time getting going again. We could see them neck-and-neck over the hill towards the finish but couldn't tell who got there first. Whitney beat him by about a board length! Very exciting! The third race she was just behind him again.

She said that she impressed both the guys she was racing with; they were surprised at how well she could keep up with the younger guy.

Sunday's Race
Another early morning at the mountain but the rest of the day went much faster. Whitney was with the same jams guy and master woman but the older man couldn't make it. Instead their fourth was a senior guy (23-29); he had another in his age group on Saturday but was the only one on Sunday.

It's tough racing against two guys who are older and bigger, but she held her own. On Sunday, she came in third, second, and third. In the second race the younger guy fell and ended up in fourth. In the first and third race, she may have come in third, but she was right on the heels of the two guys. What she found really frustrating was being a girl. She said she had the best start of the four of them but because of their size the two guys were able to get speed faster than she could. In the end she had a really good time, which is what it's all about.