Thursday’s downpour washed out the SuperG practice. Then the temperature plummeted and the first thing one saw as the sun touched the top of the mountain Friday, the first day of the 1999 Eastern Masters’ Championship, was that awful glint which alerts the skier to prepare for a very cold weekend and some very firm surfaces. Ice was everywhere in evidence: on the road, in the parking lot, at the base of the lifts. You wouldn’t have thought they could do it and one has to give them a lot of credit: Sugarloaf groomers had the Narrow Gauge in astonishingly skiable condition. That’s not to say you could get an edge in everywhere, and race officials tried to save us from ourselves by curtailing speed as we twisted down to the head wall. Then the course opened out and the right series of setups almost permitted the bravest among us to reach escape velocity. The time disparity between the courageous and the cautious measured a full 56 seconds.
The New York State Masters contingent was well represented in quality if not in quantity. Rochester’s Class 4 Mark Sertl blasted down the course with almost a 2 second lead over Class l leader Mark Sorel, but behind him the race for the podium was measured by the merest of margins. Donald McEvoy charged into the finish area barely 2 hundredths behind the second spot and David Bruhm clocked in a hundredth slower. Tip Kimball finished fifth within a tenth of a second. The Canadian faction made its presence felt as Quebec’s Michel Masse bested Class 5 leader John Singleton, and Sun Valley’s Bob Sarchett showed us western skiers can negotiate ice as well as we can taking Class 6 top honors.
Lisa Densmore was the women’s SuperG champ. Joan Barthold’s work and family schedule have precluded her participation in many of the races this season, but she finished a strong second, followed by Brooks Axelson and speed specialist Nadine Price. Karen Nash continued an impressively consistent record of finishing in the top five.
Theoretically it’s all physics. Some combination of mass, gravity and distance gets weighted, mixed, blended and pureed to yield a time. The fickle fate afforded ski racers in Saturday’s GS makes one question whether the laws of physics really apply to us, or if maybe there is some unidentified or unquantifiable variable at play in that equation. We could name it the "slide factor," which is a function of the intangible variable, fear. The surface on Competition Hill was unyielding in the morning. By the second run it was virtually impenetrable to the sharpest edge or the most impossible ratchet of the ankle. "I d-d-didn’t u-used t-to st-st-stutter," quipped one finisher as he arrived breathless over the finish line. The course exacted the sacrifice of some of our finest and the fallout pattern was inexplicable.
Notwithstanding high attrition, many of the same athletes made it to the medals. Mark Sertl, again the men’s victor, again by a solid 2 seconds, was followed by Class 2’s Stephen Willey. John Pierce edged out Class 4’s Doug Tucker by a little more than a tenth and Scott Adelman finished a slim two tenths behind.
Joan Barthold proved most powerful in the women’s field, besting Lisa Densmore by almost 2 seconds. Karen Nash put in a strong performance for third, only tenths ahead of Class l leader Margaret Zuccotti. Class 3’s Cheryl Rowland put together two great runs for 5th.
The blizzard moved through, "wild" was the best word for the weather Sunday, and the story was less the race and more the powder. The first few runs of the day one contended with oxygen deprivation as great spumes of snow spiraled in rooster tails behind in-- no kidding-- over two feet of fresh snow. And it kept coming, and by afternoon, so did the wind. Course setters worked a near miracle in setting and clearing a safe, rhythmic, technically challenging slalom.
Chris Johnson carried a powder-induced manic mood into the gates to vanquish the field, thirteen hundredths ahead of Hans Schemmel. Stephen Willey, second at the GS, finished third in slalom. Mark Sorel secured fourth place barely a tenth of a second ahead of Class 2’s Scott Berube. Demonstrating their prowess in real snow and technical courses, the two western skiers, Bill Skinner and Bob Sarchett, finished in the top 10.
Lisa Densmore, with a strong first run, held on to win, with the irrepressible Tracy Boulter barely a second behind her. Margaret Zuccotti slammed home the fastest second run for third place, only a tenth of a second out of second, and Joan Barthold finished out a dynamite weekend of skiing in fourth place. Once again Karen Nash secured 5th place, a scant 2 hundredths of a second out.
USSA Master’s Coordinator Bill Skinner, hosting the post race receptions and award ceremonies, assured us of the continuing organization for Master’s racing and alluded to the one factor which remains constant, if unquantifiable in ski racing: the "fun factor." The real winners in this sport are not limited to those who make it to the podium. The central mystery of the sport, which holds fascination for all of its participants, lies in its link to passion and commitment which each of us experiences every time we step into a starting gate. As we sharpen our edges for the final ‘99 SISE Cup competitions next weekend at the Stratton/Mount Snow races, we reflect that our success each year is measured ultimately in competition with ourselves, and the reward for meeting the season’s challenges and challengers is personal growth, and a great deal of fun. We shall miss it.