Thomas Inneson Memorial Slalom, Bromley, Saturday, January 26, 2002 I have pleasant associations with Bromley. In the sixties when Liz and I were newly married, we sometimes stayed at an old hotel in Manchester Center, ate Saturday night at the Sirloin Saloon and skied at Bromley together. Today, Bromley seems an improved version, but still what I remember. The lodge seems the same, the trails still roll and come together and the wind still blows cold at the top. I have been doing a little training at Bromley this year, and Bromley has had excellent snow and the people who work there have been friendly and helpful. On Saturday, Bromley was crowded with Boy Scouts. Scouts are instructed to do a good turn, and I think that a lot of Scouts were trying to make good turns. Upstairs in the lodge, we were somewhat close to others, and the ones near me were polite and accommodating. I helped a young skier in her search for her gloves. The slalom courses were set on East Meadow. East Meadow has a start house, begins gradually, then drops and rolls and goes into flats as the finish nears. For me, it is non-intimidating steep. The first run course had three hairpins and a flush, and I believe that the second one did too. After my first run, I stayed by the finish and watched the Class 7 to 1 men. I watched Pepi Neubauer control the skis on the snow. In the first run, the flush was the principal undoer of the young men who were undone. I watched some fine skiing through the course until flushed. I think that it must have been challenging, at the young men's speed, to ski basically straight in the flush and then set up for that next gate to the right. Interestingly, the skiers who DSQed or DNFed in the first run didn't in the second run with a flush in essentially the same place. Before my second run, I stood between the second and third gate and watched Classes 6 through 4 women. I watched Gay Foland, Tamara Marcinuk, Meg Nutter, Sara Sherter, Lisa Densmore, Margaret Vaughn, Susan Jefferson, Patti Lane and Lisa Dietrich. Standing at 90 degrees to the course, I could appreciate the speed and the acceleration as the women went by. After my run, I watched from the bottom and saw John Pierce using his knees and upper legs to stay low and make rapid edge changes. I saw Bill Zimmerman accelerating out of a gate, perhaps with air. I saw George Anderson and Bob Hill skiing well in the second run. I would suggest that Class 3 was our top men's Class of the day because the top ten men included more of Class 3 than the other Classes, with Pat McNamara, Chris Johnson, John Pierce, David Roberts and Sean Florian in that ranking. There was a spectrum of other Classes that made the men's top ten too. Classes 2, 4, 5, 6 and 7 each had one racer in the top ten, and they were Shawn Mato, David Lamb Chip Brettell, Robert Andree and Pepi Neubauer. For the women, I would say that Class 2 shone, with Carolyn Beckedorff, Susanna Whitcher, Deborah Adams and Richlene Mooney in the top ten. Classes 3, 4, 5 and 8 made it also, represented by Barbara Brumbaugh, Lori O'Brien, Lisa Densmore, Patti Lane, Meg Nutter and Anne Nordhoy. I would like to express our appreciation for the course setters, officials and gatekeepers. Bob Hill told me that in the first run one of the gate keepers instructed him to climb, so he did so although his inclination would have been otherwise. After skiing, we drank some draft beer, listened to some new-style music, had the awards, and I found my car with my panic button. Bob Butler
Results:
Bromley Slalom Bob Butler is a class eight racer residing in Wilton, Connecticut, whose first ski race was a New England Masters race at Sunday River in 1994. He had been a recreational skier since the mid 60's and after the Sunday River Race became more or less hooked. A long time runner and road racer he started attending some race camps and more New England Masters races. Bob, an attorney, recently retired as the Chief Litigation Counsel for Union Carbide Corporation. |