Masters Moments: Sise Cup awarded at Sugarbush

The two-and-a-half month New England Masters season wrapped up this past weekend with three days of stellar racing at Sugarbush. Racers got a chance to tackle some outstanding courses set by Sugarbush racing directors Doug and Kelley Lewis. The three days of racing kicked off with a super G on Friday, slalom on Saturday and concluded with a GS on Sunday. Throw in a little fresh snow and a bluebird sunny day and Masters could not have hoped for more.

New England: Season Finals – Sise Cup Awarded at Sugarbush
The two-and-a-half month New England Masters season wrapped up this past weekend with three days of stellar racing at Sugarbush. Racers got a chance to tackle some outstanding courses set by Sugarbush racing directors Doug and Kelley Lewis. The three days of racing kicked off with a super G on Friday, slalom on Saturday and concluded with a GS on Sunday. Throw in a little fresh snow and a bluebird sunny day and Masters could not have hoped for more.
Super G
Anyone who has ever met Doug Lewis knows he is a speed freak. His set for Friday’s super G was proof. With some open turns to build speed at the top, racers had to navigate a big sweeping turn onto the pitch of Spring Fling and then got to use the entire width of the trail before reaching the flats just before the finish. Training run times hovered in the mid-51 second range, but those in the know felt they might be able to shave more than a second off when all the racers tripped the wand when it really mattered. It should come as no surprise that Lisa Densmore (class 5), a speed merchant, and collector of titles, would take top honors.             Visiting New York racer, Angela Schnuerch (class 4) would take second and class 6 Nadine Price rounded out the podium in third.
     In the men’s event, 8 or 10 racers had a shot at earning top dog honors. Dorin Munteneau (class 8) ran early and set a blistering pace. It wasn’t until the “young bucks” came down that his time would topple. Brian Irwin (class 3), fastest in training, managed to squeeze another six tenths out of the course on race day. It looked like he might hang on for a win with a 51.14 when Randy Detrick (class 2) could only come within a half second of Irwin’s time. However, class 1 racer Ben Green, riding a pair of ex-USST athlete Warner Nickerson’s skis, blew away the field of 80 skiers with a winning time of 50.56 to claim the top spot on the podium.
Slalom
The final scoring event of the Sise Cup took place on Saturday with a slalom. Green continued his streak in the month of February having won four straight events since the beginning of February. March 1st wouldn’t change a thing. Green won both runs with strong, fluid skiing. Detrick mounted a charge but came up short in both runs and settled for second on the day. Class 3 season champion Alex Gadbois battled back from a first run deficit within his class to round out he top three with a great second run to edge classmate Vlad Krylov.
    For the women, Carolyn Beckedorff has won almost everything this season, but notice was served on this day by Katie George. Daughter of 2007 overall champion Mark George, Katie won both runs and took the victory while Carolyn finished second. Lisa Densmore finished third in a race that saw a driving snowstorm in the first run and almost perfectly clear visibility in the second run.
    After the races concluded for the day it was time to declare the champions for the season. Last year’s champion, Mark George managed to stay in the hunt to repeat until the final weekend when he was passed by this year’s overall Sise Cup champion, Randy Detrick with Ben Green in second. Fourth place went to Alex Gadbois and Tip Kimball (class 5) rounded out the top five. For the women, With 12 victories this season, Carolyn Beckedorff defended her title and dedicated her season to George Anderson.
    Beckedorff looks to be well on her way to winning some national titles at Mammoth later this month. Lisa Densmore (class 5) mounted a valiant charge to unseat Beckedorff, but had to settle for second. Third place went to class 6 Margaret Vaughn with her best overall finish ever. Fourth and fifth went to Nadine Price (class 6) and Kim Wolff (class 5). Class champions were named at the final awards party while those in attendance shared stories and memories from the season.
Giant Slalom
Sunday’s giant slalom did not count toward the overall season point titles, but most certainly counted for bragging rights among the competitors who stuck around for last race of the season. Ben Green managed to complete his sweep of the weekend and run his winning streak to six races to end the season. Canadian Maxime Masse (class 1) made it close, especially after winning the first run, but came up just short at the end of the day. Mr. Consistency, Alex Gadbois, finished third for what seems like the hundredth time this season. Tracy Reimer (class 3), who took a couple of years off from racing, and got herself a win in the women’s event to end the season. She managed to hold off a late charging Margaret Vaughn, who finished second for the fourth time this season, but got ever so much closer to getting her first Master’s win with Kerry Brennan in third.
    Best of luck to all the skiers who will be continuing their racing at the Eastern Regional Championships at Whiteface next weekend and at Nationals in California the following week.
— Brian Irwin
 
Pacific Northwest Ski Association – Skiyente Race at Mt Hood
“Well it is over!” (said the race organizer – and anyone who’s been a race organizer knows what that feels like). We had a good level of participation and a lot of fun was had by all. We were overrun with racers for the gumbo feed on Saturday night, which was great!
    Some of the racers skied at Hood Meadows with the last vestiges of the flu. One said he was weak and skied awful. Another was bemoaning “what’s this flu crap, I’ll ski with it or without it” (without preferred). One of the flu racers actually took a nap in the GS start area, waiting for the second run, skipped awards and drove home, which was appreciated by all.
 Lots of “weather” happened for the Saturday slalom. Mother Nature let it snow, then threw ice pellets at us and dropped the thermostat just to get everyone’s attention.
    Major changes on Sunday for the giant slalom were greatly appreciated as the skies turned blue and clear and the temperatures warmed.
    Brad Scott sewed up the Class 6 season points as Peter Christian earned letters instead of numbers for a run of each of his races. Willy Scroggins won the men’s overall slalom by 6 seconds. Willy and Matthew Gilbert dueled for the GS with Matt ending up a few tenths ahead. The women had Barb Parshall as the overall slalom winner with Nancy Riley close behind. Brenda Ackerson and Karen Kilian led in the giant slalom.
    This was another successful race where our volunteers did a superb job. Thanks go to the Skiyente All Women's Ski Club.
— Richard Zimmerman
 
Intermountain: Masters beat the storm at Wolf
It was the last race before the Masters Nationals, Wolf Mountain — and Mother Nature — put on quite a show. So did the Skinner brothers, in their 50s, who still managed to beat off all rivals except each other. Bob was top man in the GS, while Bill won the slalom. Ownership of the funky white leather “BB” belt, awarded each year to the “Best Brother” is still up in the air. Dana Leach was the women’s GS winner, Donna Allen took the slalom.
    Saturday's GS was held just
ahead of a wild stormy burst of heavy snow in flat light and low visibility. Eden's Wolf Mountain, where the Austrian ski team secretly trained for the 2002 Olympics, showed that the race department still has that Olympic touch. An army of slippers kept the course smooth for every racer, despite warm temperatures that made the snow soft and wet.
 Technical Delegate Meri Stratton made the call to hold the second run at noon, rather than the normal 1 p.m. time, and it was a good call. By the time the last racer finished, hail-like slop was pounding the course. It would have been impossible to race at 1, when it was dark and dumping.
    Even Tom Reinerth, the Dominator wax rep who had set up a table to prep skis for whoever wanted him to do it, folded up his boxes of wax and left.
    Much swag was given out at the awards party at the Wolf Creek reception center; including ski and boot bags, T-shirts and Dominator wax. By the time it was over, 6 inches of soaking sloppy snow covered the ground.
    The weather kept some racers from coming back for Sunday's slalom, and they missed out. It was a bluebird day with hard, fast snow. Bob Skinner, the ski team coach at Weber State, brought some of his racers to forerun, and the Masters crowded around the start to watch their line.
    It was a good humored, relaxed race weekend, and the Intermountain Masters can’t wait to return next year.
— Wina Sturgeon