Masters Moments: Skier's Edge Eastern Regionals

It opened with classic Eastern spring conditions — sunny and warm with honest, hard snow. Two runs of super G training on Thursday, then two super G races on Friday drew the speed junkies, some from as far away as Colorado and Utah. Both races counted toward the Molecule F National Speed Series.
Skier’s Edge Masters Eastern Regional Championships
It opened with classic Eastern spring conditions — sunny and warm with honest, hard snow. Two runs of super G training on Thursday, then two super G races on Friday drew the speed junkies, some from as far away as Colorado and Utah. Both races counted toward the Molecule F National Speed Series.
    Unfortunately, that’s as far as the championships progressed. The competition ended in a classic Nor’easter ice storm of Biblical proportions closer to what Whiteface skiers are accustomed to. Thick-as-soup fog and pounding sleet curtailed Saturday’s events. Freezing rain and falling temperatures caused multi-state power outages on Sunday morning. The powers that be (NYSEG) thought it inappropriate to run the lifts when homes and businesses across the Northeast had no power and running the lifts might cause a power grid failure on a larger scale.
    Despite heroic efforts of NYSEF Director Thomas Erhard and his race crew, the GS and slalom had to be cancelled. The Eastern Regional team was named on the basis of the Regional super G result and everyone experienced the reality of playing in the great outdoors in unpredictable weather.
    In Masters racing, racers are divided into 13 age categories and these five-year age brackets are lumped into four large groups. Group A encompasses ages 20 through 44, Group B 45-59, while Group C is all women, and Group D is older men over age 60.
    In the group competition, New Hampshire racer Ben Green was the victor over Pennsylvanian and 2008 New England Sise Cup Champion Randy Detrick in Group A as these two racers continued a late-season battle for bragging rights.
    Group B saw New York’s Mark Sertl hold off Bill Skinner by just over eight tenths of a second. Skinner is the masters coordinator visiting from Park City.
    For the women it was old school versus new school as Lisa Densmore took the race by eight hundredths over 21-year-old rookie Megan Thayer who survived near disaster on the steep pitch four gates from the finish.
    Just making it into the top 10 overall, Pepi Neubauer won the older men’s race, bumping Vermont’s Bill McCollom to second place.
    The afternoon SG sponsored by O.R.D.A. saw much the same results. Green again took overall honors with Skinner stepping up the pace to take second, dropping Detrick back to third. The tight overall podium was separated by only 0.29 seconds.
    Experienced Densmore again outpaced Thayer by just over a half second with Vermont’s Kerry Brennan rounding out the top three for the women.
    Prior to naming the Eastern Regional team, the prestigious Tobin Award was granted posthumously to George Anderson. The trophy is presented annually to honor an Eastern masters racer for lifelong contributions to masters racing. The trophy will reside at the Vermont Ski Museum until it is once again awarded in 2009. A heart-wrenching letter from George’s wife Nicole was read by masters friend and competitor Michael Rooney to those in attendance.
    The Eastern Regional Team: Duffy Dodge, Alphonse Sevigny, Haldor Reinholt, Anne Nordhoy, Dee Larsen, Sally White, Johanne Gosselin, Lisa Densmore, Angela Schneurch, Kerry Brennan, Megan Thayer, Dick Komarmi, Pepi Neubauer, Bob Andree, Mark George, Mark Sertl, Steve Masur, Brian Irwin, Randy Detrick and Ben Green.
    — Barb Brumbaugh

A personal account: Ten races down and two to go in the 2008 Masters Molecule F National Speed Series as told by Bill Tomcich of Aspen:
With more than a full week off before this winter's final competition, I finally have an opportunity to update friends, family and supporters on this exhausting yet exhilarating winter activity that has consumed every free moment I've had since mid-January and then some.
    Barely two years ago, I was convinced to enter my first masters downhill at Buttermilk to redeem myself after a very disappointing result the prior week at the Aspen Town Downhill. Little did I know I would pursue a national title in my age class while chasing some of the fastest masters skiers in the country. I have truly been pushing myself to the limit these past seven weeks in every possible way to see how far and how fast I can go with this sport. I have also learned how to balance my personal and professional obligations at the same time.     
Professionally, I've learned how much can be accomplished when you are forced to cram a five-day work week into two or three days as I’ve managed to stay as productive as ever on the job while pushing myself to the limits of my ability on every race course. Of course none of this would be possible were it not for mobile broadband technology, my laptop and my I-phone which has allowed me to keep in touch.
    Since Jan. 19, I have competed in a total of 11 super G races and seven downhills (plus another 15 timed training runs) at Ski Cooper, Park City, Keystone, Winter Park, Soldier Mountain, Aspen, Schweitzer, Mammoth Mountain, and have just recently returned from Lake Placid for the Eastern Regional Championships at Whiteface.     
    What started out as a group of nearly a half dozen Rocky Mountain Masters speed freaks who committed to the entire 12-race Molecule F National Speed Series has gradually whittled down to Don “Cowboy” Johnson and myself.
    We both just clinched our respective national age class titles after surviving this past weekend's rugged, bullet-proof and humbling course at the Eastern Championships super G on Upper Thruway and Draper's Drop (site of the 1980 Olympic GS) at Whiteface (they don’t call it “Iceface” for nothin’) following a classic New England ice storm.
    “Cowboy” is in contention to win the overall national speed title across all age classes pending two more really strong results at next week's National Championships. Donnie competes in Class 5, while I'm in Class 4.
    As someone who was frankly a lot more effective at leading and organizing his college ski racing team as captain rather than competing on it and after a 15-year layoff from competitive ski racing, I came to realize several years ago that I'm actually far better at it now than I ever was when I was younger, especially in the speed events. It's really cool to be chasing and competing alongside competitors like Johnson, and reigning national overall speed series champion Franz Fuchsberger, or a national downhill champ like Willy Scroggins. And throw in former 24 Hours of Aspen competitor and solo survivor from the 2000 event, Alan Beyer.     All these gentlemen have become great friends and I've learned a great deal from all of them. I’m definitely pushed harder, and am now skiing faster and better than ever. I'm also in better physical shape now than I've ever been my life. I am now attacking race courses that I never would have dreamed of running just two years ago.
    Some of this year's highlights so far include successfully nailing the 125-foot blind "Easter Bump" on the Soldier Mountain downhill in Idaho to finish second in class while posting a top-15 result overall in what was truly my best downhill run ever on the longest, fastest and most intimidating track I've ever f
aced. I have the courage to attack the tight, straight line down “Brown Streak” on Racer's Edge at Buttermilk where top speeds pushed 85 mph in the finish line compression where I squished my back but still posted a respectable result.
    This year's greatest disappointments include a crash in the Park City super G after going too straight and getting stuck in some soft snow at 60 mph before declaring mayday, along with a recent race at Mammoth Mountain that had to be rescheduled until the following day due to 90 mph winds that shut down the entire mountain after Don and I road-tripped the 945 miles for the competition.
    Next week, we will be traveling back out to Mammoth Mountain for the 2008 USSA Alpine Masters National Championships. The national championship downhill will be contested next Wednesday, March 19, and the super G will be on Thursday. I expect it to be the strongest field we have faced all year on what I know is going to be one of the coolest and wildest courses we have experienced yet.
    National Speed Series Results: https://ussamasters.org/2008/nss