Thirteen masters from the United States took a crack at the best masters in the world at Abetone, Italy. The Masters World Championships featured a title super G, GS and slalom and an additional FIS Masters World Cup GS.
THIRTEEN MASTERS from the United States took a crack at the best masters in the world at Abetone, Italy. The Masters World Championships featured a title super G, GS and slalom and an additional FIS Masters World Cup GS.
    With snow limited over most of Europe, the Alps of Tuscany took three feet of snow in stride and put on first-class events on great venues. The Americans were spearheaded by the nine members of the Skier’s Edge team, coached by Skier’s Edge owner Joel Loane. It was the largest U.S. participation in  Europe in years.
    Eastern’s Ann Nordhoy led the charge and won Class 8 in all races. Knut Olberg followed with a gold in super G and a couple of silvers. Sally White medaled in all events except slalom. Tim Hill was the brightest light for the Group A men with a bronze in the World Championship slalom and a gold in the Masters Cup GS. Tyler Milligan was a close second in that event.
    Top-five finishes were scored by Dennis Wilhelmsen (SL, SG), Bill Skinner (SL) and Steve Lindemer (SG). Past U.S. masters chairman Keith Thompson had top-10 finishes in a field he considered the best he has raced against.
    To touch the best in masters racing, a trip to Europe is a challenge of a lifetime.

Eastern masters
By Barb Brumbaugh
 
It is the end of March and all the championship events are finally over. That means masters racers can officially start training for the 2007-08 ski season.
 
Super G
    Sunday River hosted the Masters Eastern Regional Championships, sponsored by the Skier’s Edge Company, on March 22-25. A training day for those either retired or with forgiving employers was held on Thursday with real super G training. Those who trained had nothing but positive remarks on the day.
    The race on Friday, however, mysteriously turned into a tighter, GS-influenced race that once again favored the technical skiers. Beata Wiktor (W2) won for the women, with Canada’s Maxime Masse (M1) narrowly edging New York’s Mark Sertl (M5) by four-hundredths of a second. Mark George (M6) followed in third and local “Mainer” Tip Kimball (M5) won the battle over Bromley coach Dorin Munteanu (M8). Wiktor held off Lisa Densmore (W5) by more than a half second with Lake Placid’s Liz Mezzetti (W1) trailing by 0.37. Tracy Beckerman (W3) and Class 6’s Nadine Price followed to round out the top five.
 
Giant slalom
    In the giant slalom on Saturday, it was Beckerman, Densmore and Wiktor for top three honors, holding off youngsters in Class 1, Lauren Bennett, racing only in the GS, and Abbi Lefebvre. First-run leader Mezzetti dropped on a hip early in her run but managed to hold it together for a finish. For the men, again it was Masse holding off Sertl with Gould Academy alumni and newcomer to masters racing Brent Grygiel (M1) taking third. Class 6 racer Bill Zimmerman effectively removed himself from any overall combined championships by electing not to ski the super G. Zimmerman placed fourth overall, holding off Kimball with a strong second run. Matt Aeschliman (M2) had the fastest first run but later DNFed.
 
Slalom
    To make things interesting and to spice up the action, the Sunday River race crew turned the slalom into a head-to-head dual event. The top eight women and top 16 men of the championship slalom qualified for the wildly entertaining elimination finals.
    A fully rested Carolyn Beckedorff (W3) made a cameo appearance in the women’s event to win by 1.51 seconds over Mezzetti. Densmore regained a distant third from Lefebvre with a strong second run, with Beckerman taking fifth.
    Who says the senior classes aren’t competitive? Class 11 Jane Cooke, paired with Class 12 Duffy Dodge in the dual, demonstrated a little friendly banter and “trash talk” in the start. Flying out of the start, accomplished racer Dodge ended up hooking a tip a few gates into the course and Cooke, as she skied by him, asked, “Duffy, what are you doing down there, I’m passing you!”
    Another “older” racer (don’t tell him that!), Class 8’s Munteanu, had his hands full as he held on to third overall, sandwiched between several Class 1 and 2 racers. Youth prevailed when Grygiel showed home-turf dominance by winning the first run and holding off a multiple-recovery-laden charge by Luke Hiebert (M1). Exchanging runs and hold the advantage, Masse held off Aeschliman by only four-hundredths of a second to push Aeschliman to fifth overall.
 
Eastern Regional Team
    Those named to the 2007 Eastern Regional Team received vests donated by the Skier’s Edge Company (www.skiersedge.com). Age-class overall champions are: Liz Mezzetti, Beata Wiktor, Tracy Beckerman, Barb Brumbaugh, Lisa Densmore, Nadine Price, Gay Folland, Dee Larsen, Jane Cooke, Max Masse, Mike Mezzetti, Jerome Guerard, Scott Berube, Mark Sertl, Mark George, Jeff Barrows, Dorin Munteanu, Steve Foley, Bob McGrath, Alphonse Sevigny and George Caner.
     Click here for complete results.

PNSA Masters
Last weekend was a very interesting weekend at Stevens Pass. Saturday it rained from the Puget Sound area all the way to Stevens Pass. Even with that foreboding situation, there were a fair number of masters racers wandering around in the lodge. It was pouring — buckets.  Some racers in the corner were talking about cows and flat rocks.  The race officials said there were some safety issues, but the clincher came when several masters racers said, “I’m too old and too smart to go outside in this.”
    Sunday was a beautiful day — which tells you a lot about the weather patterns in the Pacific Northwest. Snow was, obviously, a little soft. But the slalom came off without a hitch. A few holes in the course for the young guys, but overall the Stevens Pass Penguin Club handled it great. Top three women racers were Lauri Reutimann (C5), Mary Geddes (C4) and Karen Kilian (C6). Men were Steve Moe (C6), Richard Zimmerman (C8) and Peter Christian (C5).