Beckedorff and Hiebert Win Prestigious Hochgebirge Slalom; Beckerman and Hill Win at Loon By Barb Brumbaugh Cannon Hochgebirge Cup A regular stop that brings many ski racers out of retirement once a year, the Hochgebirge Cup is one of the most well attended races on the Sise Cup. The Ski Club Hochgebirge (SCH) became instrumental in the development of skiing and racing in New England. The first slalom in the United States was run by Dartmouth Skiers in 1925, but not long after that, the “Hochies” staged what is now the longest running ski club race in the country. The first race, a downhill, was held on Mt. Moosilauke in 1931, and by 1933 the race was moved to Cannon Mountain. In 1960, it became an all Masters event, but before that, the race had attracted world wide stars from the US, Austria, Norway and Japan, once serving as an Olympic trials. The race became a Sise Cup Masters event in 1974. There are many races within the Hochgebirge Challenge. Fastest Man and Woman, Fastest Overall Team and Fastest Women’s Team. There are The Dollar Bets, The Adult Beverage Bet …which Alex Gadbois won over Brian Irwin. Irwin was clearly the winner of The Best Retro Outfit (Spyder in pastels, and Demetre Wool) with a strong challenge from Peter Carter’s CB gear from the 1970‘s. Carter was later disqualified when it was found out that his “retro” gear really IS his everyday gear. The first race of the morning though is for the best parking spot. One now has to arrive well before 7:00 am to avoid the walk from what seems like Franconia. The Alexander Bright Trophy went to Luke Hiebert (M1) from Maine. Hiebert rose to the challenge to become the 2007 champion over second run course setter Dave Roberts (M4). Class 6 Mark George narrowly missed the overall win when he was forced to ski too round while searching for a missing gate three gates from the finish. Like a gentleman, George declined a re-run and settled for third place overall, calmly stating “…nah, I don’t think I lost that much, it’s o.k.” Matt Aeschliman (M2) and Tip Kimball (M5) battled it out in a tight race for fourth and fifth with Aeschliman blasting the second run and taking Kimball by 1/100th of a second. Masters newcomer, Hiebert, a Burke Mountain Academy graduate lost a college racing career due to an accident two weeks before trials and has only recently resumed racing. His last season of FIS racing saw his point profile in the fifties. Hiebert, a real estate appraiser, stated “it’s truly fun being back in the game.” Carolyn Beckedorff (W3) once again laid it all out and took the women’s race for the Clarita Bright Trophy. Gould Academy alumni and the lone Class 1 competitor Abbi LeFebvre (pronounced “LaFave“), hung onto a 1/100th first run lead over Tracy Beckerman (W3), then stretched her lead to 0.13 to hold second overall. Kim Wolff (W5) was fourth and Meg Nutter moved ahead a spot to round out the top five. The Fastest Ladies Team and the Michael Harding Trophy went to “Fast Women”, a team thrown together at the last minute comprised of Swix and Comets women Barb Brumbaugh (W4), Gay Folland (W7), LeFebvre, and Anne Nordhoy (W9). The team clearly benefited from early starts and insatiable youth. The Fastest Overall Team, and winner of the Hochgebirge Challenge Cup was the “Comet Renegades” consisting of Aeschliman (M2), Matt Bemis (M4), Terrance Fogarty (M4) and Bryan Reimer (M2) taking the win over the “Bottom Feeders” (Beckerman, Hiebert, Jim Nash, and Beata Wiktor) by over four seconds
Sise Cup GS at Loon In the last regularly scheduled race before the Sise Cup Finals, the women fought a tightly contested race, which deteriorated well before the class 9 men finished. Beckerman took the win over Lefebvre by 0.16 with the two racers only 0.03 apart for the weekend. Wiktor (W2), a second run casualty at Cannon, held onto third place overall over Margaret Vaughn (W5). Anne Nordhoy moved up to fifth place overall when 19 year old newcomer Emma Masur (W1) lost a beat with the course. Not many seemed to enjoy the difficult course sets: tight, rhythm changes, holes… the men especially had it bad. The strong survived as the course claimed one racer after another with nineteen DNF’s in the men’s division. Bob Hill (M5) amazingly made the courses look easy with his patient arcs from one tough turn to the next as he won both runs and the race by an astonishing 2.54 seconds. Tip Kimball (M5) also looked fast but struggled in sections as he took Irwin by 0.16. Gadbois (M3) lost his Adult Beverage Bet, but held onto fourth over late runner Ben Green (M1) who fell into hole after hole on the top pitch. A lot of credit goes out to the younger men who held on for a rough ride. The 2007 Sise Cup Season ends at Sugarbush, VT with the Season Finals Party on Saturday, March 3 with super G on Friday and GS on Saturday. The Eastern Regional Championships follow the National Championships in late March. |