New England Masters Ski Races: Killington, February
6th & 7th,
1999
by Jen Calder
Killington, ski mogul of the East: miles of varied terrain, state-of-the art grooming, snow making capacity that enables protracted winter, slope-side hosts to help you have a nice day-- all this and they know how to put on a race too. If New England has failed to profit from an abundance of snow this year, it wasn’t evident on the Sky Lark Trail. We enjoyed near-perfect racing conditions both days, and the back-up crew moved eleven classes through with courtesy and deft efficiency evidencing a practiced team of professionals.
Saturday’s tight slalom courses tried our technical talent and many were found guilty of aggravated aggression against the relentless perfidy of the turns. Attrition proved high as many of our best tumbled trippingly through the gates. Ever undaunted by pernicious courses, Patrick McNamara twice jousted his way to the top time for first place. Bob Hill and Hans Schemmel mounted tough assaults on his position to finish second and third, closely followed by Mark Sorel and Class 2’s Stephen Willey. In what proved to be a weekend roll, Class 8’s Ji Chang took the podium with a lst place finish, and was to medal again Sunday with a 2nd. Former downhill racer Rod Taylor bested Class 7’s Chuck Phillips both days in a 1-2 combination on the podium.
Putting together two powerful runs and an impressive display of dexterity, Margaret Zuccotti dominated the women’s field. Karen Nash slashed through the courses for second and Patti Lane proved her Cranmore/Wildcat performance was no fluke with a close third. Margaret Vaughn and Cindy Berlack rounded out the top 5. Pennsylvania athlete Nancy Anne Bonura, new this year to the circuit, completed 2 strong runs for 6th place and promises some vigorous competition.
If Picabo had been on the slope for Sunday’s course inspection she would have seen fire in our eyes-- thinly veiling the fear in our hearts. Course setters gifted us with a wide open, rock-’n-roll GS. Only the undergate on the traverse above the final descent prevented us from launching into warp speed, and Troy Watts needed a tailtook at the finish as he clocked the fastest first run. Course organizers added 6 gates and racers added about 4 seconds to the afternoon run and those class competitors in close contention resolved to take a more aggressive posture. The result was some spectacular spectator fare, and those of us fortunate enough to be positioned at the bottom when winner John Pierce negotiated his acrobatic final plunge witnessed a run to be catalogued into our "correct-mental-image" data bases. Mark Sorel finished second with John Neal in third followed by Bob Hill, a narrow 4 hundredths of a second out in fourth. Doug Tucker took fifth.
Sara Barbee, with the 11th fastest first run of the day, nailed down first place. Margaret Zucotti, with the fastest women’s 2nd run time took second overall, and Susan Withington and Lili Winslow finished 8 tenths of a second apart for third and fourth place. Karen Nash did some strong skiing for fifth.
The Masters’ races resume, after a break over Presidents’ Day weekend, will next be hosted by Cannon (the Hochebirge Challenge) and Loon Mountains on February 20th and 21st.