Masters Moments: Pico elicits peak performances

It’s not just the history and charm at Pico Peak that make it a favorite stop on the Sise Cup Tour.
New England Masters: Beckedorff, Irwin and Berube claim wins at Pico and Okemo

Pico GS
    It’s not just the history and charm at Pico Peak that make it a favorite stop on the Sise Cup Tour. The B Slope doesn’t seem intimidating to the average ski racer, but the hill has it all — a steep pitch on top, a compression followed by a killer long flat, then a crucial money turn going into the final descent. But an easy slope can be deceptively difficult to ski fast because there’s no room for error.    
    Finishing her first run with eyes as big as pizza trays, and shaking her head, Carolyn Beckedorff (W3) battled back from an astonishing first-run recovery to steal Lisa Densmore’s (W5) first-run lead. Kerry Brennan (W2), 1.67 seconds off the pace, settled for third place overall to round out the podium. Two solid runs by fourth-place finisher Nadine Price (W6) fought off Margaret Vaughn (W5).
    Brian Irwin (M3), never at a loss for words, could have let his skiing speak for him. Irwin left the men’s field scratching their heads after his run. Then, just to add to the excitement, he did it again on the second. Energetic and animated as always, Irwin dove off the top pitch only to realize he wasn’t on his “optimal line.” He said, “There’s a mixed crowd here. I definitely can’t say what I was really thinking!”
    In this GS SuperSeed format, Bob Hill (M5) hung on to second. Taking advantage of a clean course, Class 2 Steve Ouellette managed to pull ahead of Doug Tucker (M6), while overall men’s leader Mark George (M6) finished fifth on the day and continues to lead the season overall. Other racers making the SuperSeed were Matt Aeschliman (M2), Doug Carpenter (M5), Terrence Fogerty (M4) and Brian Reimer (M2).
    The closest age-group race pitted Class 9 Steve Foley against the rapidly improving John Lussier, with Lussier taking the win by 0.42-seconds. Never one to gloat, Lussier quietly stated, “I have no idea — it just seems to be coming together.”

Okemo GS
    It’s been years since New England Masters have raced at Okemo. Two weekends in a row on Chief was a welcomed pleasure as Peter Cornish and his race crew brought out their “A game” to make a perfect day for masters. Cornish and crew set two very different and challenging courses, one wide-open and one deceptively turny on a firm but grippy surface.
    Again it was Beckedorff for the women’s win, followed by Sally White (W6), with Price only 0.58 behind in third. Kerry Brennan enjoyed another top-five performance, as she held off Kim Wolff by 3.74-seconds. With the win, Beckedorff took over the Sise Cup lead from injured Jessie McAleer.
    Bob Hill (M5) scored the fastest second run, but it wasn’t enough as Scott Berube (M4) took the win. Steve Masur (M4) was a surprise third overall as he held off Ouellette and Tucker. Berube joins a lengthy list of eight other men who have at least one win this season
    Berube, who currently coaches Berwick Academy in southern Maine, says that he was introduced to masters racing in 1989 at Sugarloaf. “It was great to be able to race with peers again, and I had admiration for the guys and girls who could rip off fast times through the ruts,” said Berube.
    Speaking on behalf of many a masters racer, Berube said, “The best part of masters that remains consistent is the members who bring forth a passion for racing with a competitive spirit and a friendly atmosphere.”
    New England Masters takes the weekend off as the first major snowstorm of the year is around the corner. See you at Cannon and Loon!  Full results at www.nemasters.org.

Intermountain Masters: Tough snow, great course
    The Snowbasin, Utah, race department showed its stuff for two Intermountain Masters slaloms Feb. 10-11.
    Unseasonably warm temps slushed up the snow on the City Hill course, but the RD kept things buffed for the thin field of 56 racers who showed up Saturday for well-set courses (Bob Sarchett, first run, Victor Roy, second run).
    The overall champs Saturday were the usual suspects; former Romanian ski teamer Dana Leach and new hubby Ryan Leach, with times of 1:45.82 and 1:38.21, both handily beating the first runner-up by a wide margin.
    Chris Katzenberger took second for the women in 1:46.95, while Victor “The Inflictor’s” course set still left him in second with 1:39.44.
    The SL course at Snowbasin was nine to 10 seconds longer than the slaloms the Intermountain Division has been running, so it was a test of endurance for many, who started out fast but faded by the flushes at the end.  
    The perennial duke-out between international champions Nancy Auseklis
and Anna Droege gave Auseklis the victory Saturday in 1:56.82 to Droege’s 2:03.59.
    Judy Gooch, rehabbed and back from injury, also gets faster each race, with a time of 1:57.34, while Liz Dranow kept up her good work, winning her class in 2:18. 41. Jennifer Rollins, who flew in the night before from the Midwest, overcame a lack of altitude adjustment to end up in 2:00.00. Young Riley Bergseng is rising through the ranks, the new Nate Schwing who, if he keeps improving, will give Leach a run for his money. He was third after Leach and Roy on Saturday.
    While everyone agreed Saturday was a great race, with many “You shoulda been there’s” to those who didn’t show for the event, Sunday was another story entirely. Rain and wet snow left course conditions sketchy. Many racers fell on the soft wet snow of the long trail to the City Creek course, and there was thick fog and blowing wet snow and rain.
    A smaller crew of die-hard racers showed up at the start Sunday. Though the ’Basin’s race crew did its best, delaying the race half an hour to slip even more of the sticky wet snow off the line, conditions continued to deteriorate. To the great relief of many, the race was called after the first run. The one-run race champions were Chris Katzenberger in 56:26 and Victor Roy in 53:25. Katz and Leach have everyone else fighting for third.
    Recognition must be given to Virginia Reed, who shows up for every race though she is more than 75 years old. Her joy in the sport is an inspiration to all.
    Full results can be found at www.intermountainmasters.org.

Brett Pendleton Memorial Fund
    All in Park City, Salt Lake and the ski community lost a good friend. The Park City Masters have initiated an effort to support Brett Pendleton’s family. I hope all that have benefited from Brett's being part of their life will help those close to him. This is a charitable effort, thank you Gary and Liz Drano and Thunder Jalili for organizing. Checks can be made out to the Brett Pendleton Benevolent Fund and mailed to:
Washington Mutual Bank
Cottonwood Financial Center
1845 East Fort Union Boulevard
Salt Lake City, UT 84121
Or for Pay Pal donation info go to www.i
ntermountainmasters.org.

Snow Country New York Masters
    Feb. 10-11, the Snow Country N.Y. Masters Series returned to Hunt Hollow Ski Club for the annual GS races. Hunt Hollow is a great private ski club located at the south end of Honeyoye Lake in the Finger Lakes region. As in the past years, Mark Wolcott and the Hunt race crew set two great GS courses. There was a good turnout of about 60 racers, most of the usual New York Masters skiers and also many new racers.
    The first race was a challenging and turny course on near-perfect snow conditions. For the men, Mark Sertl M5 was first overall, followed by Greg Sarkis M5 second and Jim Thoman M1 third. The top woman was Margaret Baleno W3, followed by Lynn Gordon W2 second and Barbara Settel W7 in third.
    Race two was a bit faster, with great snow conditions. The fastest woman was Baleno again, followed by Jen Haggerty W3 in second and Maria Shannon in third. There was close racing, once again, on the men’s side, with Sarkis first, Sertl second and Trevor Schoenmaker in third.
    After the races, there was some time for freeskiing, followed by the awards party with pizza and beverages. There were also some great raffle prizes from the sponsors, Snow Country, Swix, Sprint, Constellation Brands and Coyote Eyewear.
    This weekend, the New York Masters are at Brantling for two slalom races, followed by the annual Jim Holzbach Memorial Dual SL races.

Far West Masters
    49 Degrees North is in the northwest corner of Washington, so it has a mixture of Washington, Idaho, Montana and Canadian racers.  The plan — note I said the plan — was to have three slalom runs on Saturday and match each of those to three super G’s on Sunday. Conditions were good — could have used a bit more snow but what we had was hard and skiable. This part of the world is noted for regular fog conditions and this weekend didn’t disappoint the weather pundits. Fog was so thick at times it felt like rain.     
    The slaloms on Saturday worked great with reasonably good visibility and super course workers. On Sunday, the visibility was gone and so was the ability to have the super G’s. So, we had three more slalom runs. The fastest people were Dennis Wilhelmson on the men’s side and Karen Kilian for the women. And we had the luxury of Odd Vaarvik (Class 11) to show his stuff — and he did. We all agreed — at the cowboy bar Saturday night — that we’d be back for another try next year.