Masters: Lambs and Lions Alike Race at Eastern Regionals

By Published On: March 26th, 2015Comments Off on Masters: Lambs and Lions Alike Race at Eastern Regionals

One of the greatest things about masters racing is the massive age span. Witness the recent Phillips 66 Eastern Masters Championships in Vermont, where more than 70 years separated the youngest race from the oldest. Sure, some of lambs, in Class 1 (age 18 to 29), proved faster than the lions each day, but some of the older racers remained among the ones to watch, with the oldest in the field, Dick Calvert, Class 14 (age 90+), providing one of the most inspiring moments of the multi-discipline event, held Feb. 26 to March 1.

Speed

The four-day event opened with a Molecule F Downhill at Okemo Mountain. Though it didn’t count toward qualification for the Eastern Regional team, it provided valuable points towards the Molecule F speed series in a year when many of the Western races in the series were canceled. Easterners Thomas Scheeler (a member of the 2015 U.S. Masters Ski Team) and Lisa Marien claimed the top spot for the men and women, respectively, in a sizeable field of 68 competitors. Perennial speedsters Don Johnson and Erik Klemme, both from the Rocky Mountain division, made the trip to Vermont and nabbed second and third among the men.

The next day, also at Okemo Mountain, the super G counted toward both the Molecule F series and the Eastern Masters team. Scheeler was again the fastest man, with Jackie Levy topping the women’s field. Klemme slipped a spot, to third overall, behind Ben Drummond in an even larger field of 110 racers.

Tech

The competition heated up once again during the tech events when masters newcomer Alec Tarberry and 2015 Masters National team member Alexandra Andrews showed up. The slalom at Suicide Six was the first-ever masters event for Tarberry, a former captain of the Middlebury Ski Team and an NCAA All-American in both GS and slalom. He put two solid runs down the historic slalom trail to sneak by Scheeler by just over a second. The next day in the GS back at Okemo, Tarberry did it again, besting both Scheeler and Charles Christianson, former captain of the Williams Ski Team and one of Tarberry’s longtime rivals.

Alexandra-Andrews_Yellow-JeepAlexandra Andrews; Yellow Jeep Photo

“After the slalom, I called Charles and urged him to race,” says Tarberry of Christianson, who drove the hour from Dartmouth’s Tuck School of Business for the event. “It was wonderful! The courses were awesome, at a high level. The GS at Okemo ran over a minute with conditions switching from ice to snow, gate to gate. It was exhausting. The slalom at Suicide Six is steep and never easy. It was a real battle. I felt like I needed to ski fast and clean or I was going to get beaten. I had to take it pretty seriously.”

A Family Affair

Tarberry, who works for a commercial real estate developer in Boston, made the trip to Vermont mainly to race with his father, longtime masters racer Joe Berry. The fact it was the Eastern Championships, the most prestigious masters event in the East this winter, was not the draw.

“We’ve talked about racing together for years,” says Tarberry, who also coaches two weekends per month at Attitash Mountain, N.H. “The timing just worked out for our schedules over the Suicide Six/Okemo weekend. Dad always attended my races and often foreran them, even at the NCAAs in Bozeman one year, but this was the first time we’ve competed in the same race. It was special to both of us — the most memorable race I’ve had in a long time.”

Alec-Tarberry_Joe-Berry_ATarberryAlec Tarberry and Joe Berry; courtesy Alec Tarberry

Though racing with his father got him there, it was not the only high point of the weekend for Tarberry. Meeting the most senior racers on the hill was, too. “I heard these 80-plus year-olds trash-talking each other as they walked out of the lodge,” says Tarberry. “It was great to see the competitive fire at that age! I came for a ski race but joined a club. The masters have a fun vibe. It’s a big group of friends with lots of stories to tell. It’s wild how many people have known each other for so long.”

The Eastern Regionals ended with the most senior racer on the hill, Dick Calvert, a member of the 2015 U.S. Alpine Masters Ski Team and the last member of the 10th Mountain Division still competing, announcing that the GS at Okemo would be his last race. At age 92, he declared his legs weren’t strong enough to turn longer skis any more. (He skied the super G on slalom skis.) Calvert was honored at the final awards party for his service to the country during World War II and to masters racing.

Dick-Calvert_Lisa-DensmoreDick Calvert; Lisa Densmore photo

How fitting for racers like Tarberry, new blood of the masters circuit, and Calvert, veteran extraordinaire, to meet at the former’s first masters race and the latter’s last. The camaraderie and respect among old and young are part of what makes masters racing special. The Phillips 66 Eastern Masters Championships proved once again that ski racing is a sport for life.

For complete results from the Phillips 66 Eastern Masters Championships, go to www.ussamasters.org.

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About the Author: Lisa Densmore Ballard

Lisa Densmore Ballard has garnered close to 100 masters national titles and four world masters titles since 1991. This long-time coach, racer and member of the U.S. Alpine Masters Team also chairs USSA's Masters Committee.