Mt. Gay Rum Sise Cup Series Culminates at Mt. Snow

by Jen Calder

They came, they saw, and . . . well, yes . . . they pretty much conquered the men's field. The New York State Masters were in attendance in full strength for the New England Masters' Championships and the final two races of the Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup series at Mt. Snow March 16-18th. And it wasn't a lie. Mt. Snow really did get more than 3 feet of snow in that storm that shut down parts of New England the previous week. But March moderated its temperament for the drumbeat of celebrity competition and it waxed so warm on Thursday that in prudence the SuperG practice was cancelled. The course held up Friday for the charge of 113 intrepid ski racers, most of whom took serious air on the final drop despite numerous inspections and extensive discussion regarding the proper angle, depth and pace of the approach. One racer reached the finish and in some awe quipped, "Still on two feet and not bloody!" That says it all.

New York State put three men in the top five. Utah's Bill Skinner won it by about 3 tenths of a second, but Greg Sarkis took second, Pepi Neubauer fourth, and Mark Sertl fifth. Patrick McNamara enabled the rest of New England to save face by slamming to the finish in third.

Cheryl Rowland, combining the high voltage combustion of a speed skater with the lithe grace of a figure skater, authoritatively secured first place among the women. Class 5 women Nadine Price and Meg Nutter blasted through the course for the second and third spots, and Class 8's amazing Anne Nordhoy corked fourth, barely 2 tenths of a second out of the third place slot. Making her debut to New England Masters, skiing her first SuperG, New York State's Class 6 Barb Settel finished in the top 10 and won her class.

Saturdays' GS on Fallen Timbers was set so tight it left many wondering if they should reach for their slalom skis. It didn't slow down Class 2's Margaret Zuccotti. Recently returning to racing after a maternity absence, she nailed the first run with enough of a lead to prevail over a screeching second run by Cheryl Rowland. Class 5's Meg Nutter, second fastest female finisher in both the first and the second run, finished third.

Class 7's Pepi Neubauer smoked everyone, including Park City ringer Bill Skinner, who tied with Class 3's Patrick McNamara for second place. Fourth, fifth, seventh and eighth places went to New Yorkers Greg Sarkis, Mark Sertl, Bob Andree, and William Zimmerman. John Pierce, with some acrobatic athleticism, commandeered the sixth place slot.

The weekend grew curiouser and curiouser and the piper would be paid for the fine weather. The first slalom run turned into a rout. Early racers proclaimed the course a delight, "a nice rhythmic, fun ride down." It was a lamb tuned lion by Class 5, by which time the trenches grew so deep it was less a ski race and more a luge, a balancing act in which the combatants survived by a combination of work and luck. Class 3 was pretty much decimated. The run to see was Class 4 Bob Hill's: fearlessly fighting centrifugal force, he used the ruts to accelerate him into warp speed. Here is a cowboy. He pulled off a dramatic third, behind Bill Skinner (2nd place) and the peerless Pepi Neubauer, but on decidedly deteriorated terrain.

The women's competition was close. Nadine Price, ordinarily stronger in the speed events, is seeing the song in slalom too. Leading after the first run, she banged one edge too many into the soft snow to yield the spot to relentless Cheryl Rowland. Lisa Dietrich found the rhythm and finished third.

The post race awards party Saturday, hosted by the New England Masters, featured copious contributions from our sponsors. Mount Gay Rum generously provided vests, sweat shirts and T-shirts to the Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup winners, together with gifts of Swiss army watches and ski bags for the draws, and, for the overall winners, offerings of its fine libation, Mt. Gay Rum. Swix donated carbon poles, Arctec furnished brushes to the class winners, and Denby China supplied four sets of china for the annual draw and a table full of selected items for the class winners. Beneficiaries of the drawings included Anne Nordhoy, Bob McGrath, Caroline Beckedorff, and Wendy Hill.

The Tobin Award, a service award each year honoring those who have contributed most to masters ski racing, this year recognized the incomparable Duffy Dodge. Patriarch of the Dodges, icons among New England skiing families, Duffy has over the years supported all aspects of the racing, from hauling bibs to congenial levity in support of his colleagues. He epitomizes the spirit of healthy competition and sportsmanship and is, as everyone will testify, "a heck of a nice guy to have at your party."

They strive mightily, but eat and drink as friends. This year's Mount Gay Rum Sise Cup competition stayed close throughout the season. Men's champion Will Withington, who credits Chris Johnson for inspiration, battled long and well against worthy opponents Sean Florian and Stephen Willey, and none of them could relax in the presence of the persistent aggression and tactical imagination of adversaries Dave Lamb and Ronn Gifford. Many of the class competitions sorted out early in the season. Rodney Aller got Class 12; George Caner took 11; Bob McGrath won every race he entered to close out 9; Steve Foley consistently finished first in Class 8 to take that prize, as did Dwight Conant in Class 7. Doug Tucker was almost unbeatable in Class 5, as was Will Withington in Class 2. In class 10 Duffy Dodge and Larry Voelker danced their annual pas de deux with Duffy carrying the lead. Class 6 pitted Bill Brennan, George Merrill, and, until fortune's finger claimed him, Bill McCollom, in weekly confrontation that finally determined Brennan the victor. Bob Hill and David Lamb finished in a points tie for first, and Jim Nash was out there most weekends keeping the pressure on and the level of competition commanding. Class 3's Sean Florian, Ronn Gifford and Stephen Willey showed each other no mercy as they jousted it out to the final race of the season, and in Class 1's Vlad Krylov displayed some dynamic skiing to take first, while Bryan Reimer and Steve Ouellette valiantly battled for second.

Carolyn Beckedorff had established an early season lead when injury sidelined her, but she held on to win the championship over Lisa Densmore. Nadine Price finished third, Margaret Zuccotti fourth and Cheryl Rowland finished fifth. Within the classes, Alice Pepper secured Class 10 early in the season; Wendy Hill closed out 9; Anne Nordhoy preempted 8. Dee Larsen and Suzanne Boulter see-sawed all season, and finished a close 1-2 with Dee in the lead. Class 6 pitted Gay Folland and Tamara Marcinuk in close combat in which Tamara emerged the victor. Nadine Price and Meg Nutter both displayed some four-alarm skiing that placed them often among the top 5 female finishers, but the season finished with Nadine in first place. Class 4 was a war zone. It finished up Cheryl Rowland, Karen Nash, Margaret Vaughn and Kim Wolff , all with tiger's hearts wrapped in woman's hide, but on any given day any one of them might have triumphed. Lisa Densmore won every race she entered to take Class 3, Carolyn Beckedorff finished in a tie for first place with Margaret Zuccotti in Class 2, and Kathy Mason stayed ahead of Roz Puleo in Class 1.

When the hurlyburly's done, when the battle's lost and won, it's with great nostalgia we separate and put closure to this little season of life and laughter. As Will Withington observed, it's hard to explain to the world at large what we do on weekends. Padded and helmeted, ski racers rank a little above pro-bowlers in terms of recognition, and you probably have to try to do it to understand the complex of body control, hand-eye coordination, quickness, strength, flatout speed, and that weird mixture of caution and abandon named courage, exacted to carve a single turn on these courses. Also smarts. It's the sort of thinking and movement that could only be accomplished by a highly conscious entity and, ultimately it can only really be done by the subconscious. In other words, ski racing is athletic artistry. How do you explain to people why you need to do it? The shared adversity builds indelible bonds, establishes a communication and a community hard to find in the off-season. As we departed Sunday with our raccoon-tan badges of courage, we were already counting the days to next season's kickoff race.