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Skier’s Edge
2008 Masters National Championships, Mammoth Mountain, California Masters
wrap-up competition at Nationals By Barb
Brumbaugh The 2008
Skiers Edge Masters Nationals closed on Saturday night with what Masters
Coordinator Bill Skinner called “the best Nationals in recent memory.” Can you
imagine blue skies, warm temperatures, cold firm snow and a first class race
organization. It was ski racing at its best and the Masters loved it! Over 200
racers and their families attended and there was some fierce competition, as
Mammoth Mtn. resort, known for world-class skiing, put on a world-class event.
Beat Hupfer, racing guru at Mammoth, commented. “These folks came from all
over, we felt they deserved a first class show and Mother nature was good to
us”, he said with a smile. In Group A (age
20-44) Matthew Savage captured another event as the class one Far West racer
swept the giant slalom overall, group and age class titles. Trailing Savage
were Central division racers Steve Lindemer and Mike Shklovski. Leaving
nothing on the field, Savage also won the slalom with the fastest time of the
day. That left Eastern’s Jim Thoman and Lindemer to duke it out with a
handful of class two and three racers for class titles. Group B (45-59)
was a horse race between class five and six racers as Erik Klemme found
himself in a “Skinner sandwich.” Bob Skinner took the first run of the giant
slalom and Bill took the second run leaving Klemme flanked by the brothers.
Just a hair over a second separated all three racers. Class 7 winner Bob
Andree ripped his second run to be bested only by Bill Skinner in that run. With Bob
Skinner in the lead, and four racers within 0.29 in the first run of the
group B slalom, one could foresee yet another dog fight in the second run.
Adding drama to the event, Willy Scroggins stepped up to the plate in the
tech events for the comeback award of the championships to win the class five
overall combined title. Scroggins, historically known as a speed guy, won the
second run and the race with Bill Skinner and Dennis Wilhelmsen taking top
three honors and leaving brother Bob back in fourth. There were no
big surprises in women’s action, but the Eastern Division swept the top three
places in giant slalom. Slalom ace Carolyn Beckedorff hung onto a first run
lead to win the race, surviving charges by Lisa Densmore and Megan Thayer.
The last racer down the hill, Thayer battled back from fifth overall to bump
off Dana Alexandrescu-Leach and Jen Kaufman. Beckedorff won
the women’s slalom convincingly with the nearest competitor,
Alexandrescu-Leach, over two seconds back. After tying Thayer in the first
run, Densmore fought back for third overall after Kaufman and Kerry Brennan
hiked for their finishes. In GS age group
action, it was the women’s class nine (60-65) group with some of the most
competitive women on the hill. No fewer than five women in the hunt for
hardware and the largest age group in the field, Nancy Auseklis took the
honors in both tech events. After three
days of racing, in the end only 1.06 seconds separated Pepi Neubauer and Knut
Olberg. This year, Neubauer took overall honors in Group D (men over 60).
Watching his lead dwindle after the SG, Knut Olberg stayed close in the
slalom. However, it was Neubauer who came back in the second run of the GS on
Saturday to push through Olberg’s first run lead to take both the slalom and
GS bragging rights for the year. Bob Sarchett was third in slalom with Steve
Perrins third in GS. Racing with
thirty-five competitors, Intermountain outscored the Eastern division and
Pacific Northwest. The National Division Cup was won by the Intermountain division,
with Eastern a close second.
The only person who actually understands the scoring of this event is
number cruncher and chief scorekeeper Deb Lewis. Kudos go to The
Skier’s Edge for their continued sponsorship of masters racing and to the
Mammoth race crew who hosted a first class event. “The courses held up well
for everyone” and the organization in general was tremendous, according to
Skinner. There’s nothing
like the nine lives of a masters competitor. Some racers went home bruised
and battered and physically and mentally exhausted, but nonetheless smiling
and excited for next season. Site for the 2009 Masters Nationals will be
announced when available. Complete
results with combined class champions can be found at: http://ussamasters.org/2008/nationals |