USSA Vice President of Events Calum Clark confirmed to Ski Racing late last week that the U.S. Alpine National Championships will be returning to Alyeska in March of 2009. The competition dates are March 24-31.
    The Alaskan resort last hosted the event in the spring of 2007. The U.S. Alpine Championships also came to Alyeska in 2004 and in 1981.
    “We are really pleased to be returning to Alyeska. They have ideal competition venues with that perfect mix of challenging yet safe race venues,” Clark said. “The Girdwood/Anchorage community is so passionate about alpine racing, they have always shown outstanding commitment to hosting excellent events up there.”
USSA Vice President of Events Calum Clark confirmed to Ski Racing late last week that the U.S. Alpine National Championships will be returning to Alyeska in March of 2009. 
    The Alaskan resort last hosted the event in the spring of 2007. The U.S. Alpine Championships also came to Alyeska in 2004 and in 1981.
    The 2009 nationals are scheduled for March 24-31.
    “We are really pleased to be returning to Alyeska. They have ideal competition venues with that perfect mix of challenging yet safe race venues,” Clark said. “The Girdwood/Anchorage community is so passionate about alpine racing, they have always shown outstanding commitment to hosting excellent events up there.”
     Clark, who said Alyeska officials approached him about hosting the 2009 event, added that the deal with Alyeska is for 2009 only but stressed that he would like to create a regular rotation between resorts that have hosted the event in the past, including Alyeska, Sugarloaf, Maine, and others.
    “Clearly we’ve got two great partners right now in Sugarloaf and Alyeska that have hosted us quite a few times before, and we’ve got two other folks I’ve been talking to. It’s just to build that community, and also for everyone so that they know what’s coming down the road and can budget accordingly. That’s my long-term goal.”
    Clark said he has been talking with officials at two other sites interested in joining the “community” of alpine nationals locations, hinting that they may be Whitefish, Mt., and Jackson Hole, Wyo. He added that alpine nationals will definitely be returning to Alyeska after the 2009 event. “We will be back, it’s just a question of when,” he said.

Alaska to hold a pair of U.S. championships in 2009
The race schedule calls for the national championship downhill to be run on Friday, March 27, followed by the super G on Saturday and the slaloms on Sunday. The GS races will round out the schedule on Monday and Tuesday. After that, many of the athletes competing likely will head to the helicopters and the hills of Alaska’s legendary backcountry for some powder skiing, according to Clark.
    “Clearly, the rumor had gone out that we were thinking about Alyeska because I was speaking to [Alyeska Resort] general manager Larry Daniels and he said, ‘You know what, I’ve been calling around to the local helicopter tour companies and the week after nationals is scheduled, everyone’s bookings have jumped,’" Clark said with a chuckle.
    The 2009 alpine nationals will close out a season full of high-profile national championship events for Alaska, as Anchorage recently secured the U.S. Cross-Country National Championships for the next two years. Clark said USSA didn’t target Alaska to hold multiple championship events in one year, but the exposure will be fantastic for a region that’s produced a number of elite athletes in both alpine and nordic over the years.
    “It’s really a great thing for us to have that double this year. For the cross-country nationals, we’re psyched about the fact that we’re getting a national championship almost at the doorstep of a major metropolitan area,” Clark said. “That is such a fantastic thing for us in the lead up to 2010.”

USSA exploring U.S. nationals, Nastar nationals combo
Elsewhere on the events front, Clark said USSA is still exploring the possibility of staging both the U.S. alpine nationals and the Nastar national championships at the same venue at some point down the road. Aspen was rumored to be the frontrunner for staging what Clark termed “a gorilla of an event.”
    “We really went down the line with the Nastar folks and the Nature Valley folks to see if we could make [a joint event] work this current season. It wasn’t possible for a bunch of reasons,” Clark said. “We’re not throwing in the towel on this effort. We’re going to have another look at it for the Olympic year and see if it is possible.
    “It’s such a major opportunity. We really need to bend our brains a little to see if we can make this happen. We’ve parked this for a while, but I’m going to have to break it out as my next summer’s project.”
    Reached on Monday at the airport, Clark said he was headed to the Lake Tahoe area to scout a few potential sites for next season’s U.S. freestyle nationals. He said an announcement on the where and when for that event should be coming soon.
    “I really don’t feel comfortable drifting past the Fourth of July with some outstanding sites,” he said.