Masters Moments: George, Beckedorff secure Sise

If you’ve been around ski racing long enough, you know that if you want it to snow, just schedule a speed event. A rare opportunity in New England to ski super G was once again only a pipedream as close to a foot of snow fell on Sugarbush on March 2. Some skiers used the opportunity to rest, while others, smart enough to read the weather forecast, brushed the dust off their rarely used fattie boards and immersed themselves in powder therapy.
New England Masters Sise Cup finals
By Barb Brumbaugh

    If you’ve been around ski racing long enough, you know that if you want it to snow, just schedule a speed event. A rare opportunity in New England to ski super G was once again only a pipedream as close to a foot of snow fell on Sugarbush on March 2. Some skiers used the opportunity to rest, while others, smart enough to read the weather forecast, brushed the dust off their rarely used fattie boards and immersed themselves in powder therapy.
    After about an hour of “tolerating” the snowy conditions, Derek Griggs entered the lodge with an ear-to-ear grin stating, “Boy, that really sucked, I don’t know why anyone would want to do that!” before heading back out for more.
    While many enjoyed the powder, others saw missed opportunities to change the outcome of the season’s leaderboard. But what are you going to do … that’s ski racing! You get over it, and start planning for next year, and then you convince yourself that you would’ve met your goals if just that one race wasn’t canceled!

Giant slalom     
    A move to Sugarbush South and the “Spring Fling” race trail proved a welcomed change in Sugarbush venues. Doug Lewis and crew welcomed masters racers to “his” side of the mountain. GMVS coach Brandon Dyksterhouse and Killington’s Doug Tucker set two great courses, but it wasn’t the set that concerned most.
    The heavy snowfall on Friday made for soft conditions for the GS on Saturday. Despite a great deal of sideslipping prior to racing, the No. 5 racer on course, Class 7 Gay Folland, commented, “The forerunners left troughs.” The course continued to deteriorate as course workers (aka Tucker) desperately attended to holes and ruts.
    Much to the chagrin of many racers, Pete Donaghy set precedent and enforced correct sideslipping. (See Sean Florian’s article on sideslipping!). Racers normally accustomed to “The Austrian Sideslip” (snowplowing the hero line at minimally 30 mph) bit the bullet and continued assisting course workers to make the course skiable for later runners — with occasional reminders. Old habits are tough to break! Despite some holes, the course actually improved well after the women finished and later runners said it “wasn’t too bad.” But still, anyone rocketing over the berm was in for a near-death experience.
    Lisa Densmore (W5) scorched two runs to win the race. Nadine Price (W6) detoured with a little freestyle skiing in the first run and took the second from Kim Wolff (W5), but Wolff hung on for second overall by 0.12. Class 5 Patti Lane held on to fourth overall as she ripped the second run with the third-fastest time. Anne Nordhoy rounded out the top five.
    For the men, it was GMVS coach/racer Dyksterhouse (M2) winning both runs. Challenging Dyksterhouse was Bob Hill (M4) and the ageless wonder Dorin Munteanu (M8). Both skied smoothly and made the conditions look easy. Well-matched, Alex Gadbois and Mark Budreski exchanged race runs for fourth and fifth overall with only 0.13 separating the two Class 3 racers.
    The second run either wiped out or provided for interesting commentary at the postrace video review as cross ruts and holes acted like snow snakes. After seeing his Class 6 rivals self-destruct in the soft snow, Hans Truckenbrod commented, “I benefited from my class casualties and moved from seventh to third.”

2007 Sise Cup overall winners
    The last race on the calendar which counted toward Sise Cup points found Class 6 Mark George taking the men’s title for his first overall win and the first time a Class 6 racer has ever won. George took hold of the standings from the beginning of the season and never let it out of site. As he accepted his trophy, George savored the moment graciously and said, “I’m never going to win this thing again, so I’m staying up here and you’re just going to have to listen to me!”
    Carolyn Beckedorff took the women’s overall title for her second Sise Cup Trophy. An ailing hip and a child with a fever kept Beckedorff from the festivities and off the slopes for the final weekend, but her husband Tony DiGangi accepted her trophy — and drank her celebratory adult beverage. Age-group winners to third place received coveted Denby Pottery and bragging rights for the year.
    With the Sise Cup over for 2007, the season closes out with the masters national championships in Big Sky, Montana, and the Eastern Regional Championships at Sunday River, Maine.
    Full results of Sise Cup overall, age-group winners and team results at www.nemasters.org.

PNSA Masters
    PNSA Masters enjoyed two days of sunshine and warm weather at Mount Hood Meadows. The race was put on by the Skiyenti Ski Club. It’s an all-women’s ski club with a long history, a great organization and lots of volunteers.  
    It was a bit disconcerting driving to the mountain. It rained heavily all the way from Seattle to Mount Hood on Friday evening and Saturday morning was drippy at Government Camp.  But with the last turn into the Hood Meadows area, we broke through the clouds and into great weather.  
    The Saturday slalom was run on Stadium — a super slalom hill with multiple transition changes. The fastest time for the women was recorded by Anne Bracy and for the men it was Willy Scroggins leading the way.
    On Sunday, the giant slalom was on Middle Fork. And we had another set of multiple transition changes and passages through some narrow chutes in a GS that was more than a minute. The fastest woman was Jeannie Hummel by .3 seconds. The fastest man was Shawn Whalen by .8 seconds.   
    It was a super weekend that included a Saturday night prime rib banquet and lots of loot to hand out.