Wildcat, Cranmore, Attitash 2001 - in Review
There's a reason work is a four letter word, and it has to do with the way it interferes with skiing. Class 4's David Bell didn't let work get in the way of Friday's SuperG at Wildcat. He had a big load of potatoes to deliver up in Maine. A man with his priorities straight, he headed his 18-wheeler north in the wee hours before dawn, dropped his load, and made it to the Wildcat parking lot in time for the inspection. There it was, the T-Rex vehicle dwarfing all our 4x4's. The day proved worth the ride. He overpowered most of the field, finishing third overall. He was bested my mere hundredths by Will Withington in second, and by David Lamb two tenths of a second ahead in first. Incredibly over such a distance, the top 5 men finished within less than a second of one another, with Tip Kimball in fourth and James Harding in fifth, less than eight tenths of a second behind Lamb.
We've rarely seen such a day for the Wildcat SuperG. The temperature was tolerable, the sky clear blue, and the course plainly visible with the curious quality that the more we skied it, the better it got. The practice run left many questioning their wax choice, reconsidering line, and a brave few tightening bindings. But the thing itself, for those with the bravado to pull up the anchor and head straight at the gates, exhilarated and rewarded the hundred intrepid competitors. Within the classes, Doug Wisse and John Howe have locked in mortal combat. Wisse took first in the SuperG about eight tenths of a second ahead of Howe, an order that was to be reversed Saturday in the slalom, where Howe established a lead of a little over a tenth of a second. Class 7 pitted Bob Wigglesworth against Dwight Conant, Wigglesworth the victor by less than half a second. In Class 6 Roger Doherty took a first, shaving past Kent Dover by less than two tenths of a second. There was a close race for second place in Class 2. David Bruhm skied a sizzling 63.37 to Kyle Tracy's 63.58.
Only 15 women competed. Sarah Pendleton, who's day job precludes weekend competition, blasted to the finish in first place, about a second and a half ahead of speed specialist Nadine Price. Karen Nash glissaded into third, but not far ahead of Class 6's Gay Folland, who is finding her way into the top 5 with impressive regularity this year. Patti Lane, another consistent threat to the leaders, placed fifth.
Saturday Cranmore hosted the slalom leg of the Gibson Cup, an honor awarded to the male and female with the fastest combined GS and slalom times. Karen Nash, moving with feline grace and power into a fifth place finish, combined with her second place finish in the GS, established her position among great New England skiers as this year's winner. Chris Johnson, inspired with the spleen of fiery dragons, claimed the overall victory on the day. Trailing Will Withington after the first run, and second behind him in the Cranmore GS, Johnson rallied with a second run straight from the "zone," earning him the 2001 Gibson Cup title. Not only did the winners have their names added for posterity to a distinguished list of past winners, but each received a bottle of Mount Gay Rum to aid in celebration.
The other story of the day was the Superseed, which pitted the first run's top 10 male finishers against one another after the second run of the Class 6 men. Class 6's George Merrill earned a position in Superseed. (There was loose talk, which nobody believed of course, that Brennan may have sandbagged so he didn't have to ski 11 positions later.) A spectacle more spectacular than the 4th of July fireworks, these men battled it out to establish the day's winning lineup, which played out as follows: Chris Johnson, a full 2 seconds ahead of Sean Florian, followed by Will Withington, David Lamb and Hans Schemmel. Merrill finished 7th, edged out in the second run by Brennan.
Class 8's David Britton, second after his first run, out-skied Robert McKee in the second for a lead of three tenths of a second. In Class 7 the race was for second place, where you needed a camera and instant replay to determine the outcome: Chuck Phillips, in third place after his first run, finished with a combined time of 116.06. Pete Donaghy finished with 116.07.
Class 6 was also well represented in the women's race, where Cindy Berlack, still skiing well enough to qualify for a position on her alma mater Middlebury's team, commandeered a solid 8th place. No one seems able to contest Carolyn Beckedorff in slalom, where she once again established a untouchable lead in the first run and held it. Martha Wylie, out by 2 seconds a run, finished second, and Kirsten Bosworth held onto her 3rd place position after the first run. The Class 4 women are deep and strong this year, with five finishing in the top 10. Margaret Vaughn claimed 4th a few tenths of a second ahead of Karen Nash, followed by Kim Wolff, Cheryl Rowland, and Patti Lane in 9th.
Attitash, always one of the best-run races of the season, did not disappoint. The day started cold and windy and George Merrill was down in the lodge peddling green dominator wax professing it worked well on grass. Those who failed to keep a high line over the waterfall suspected he had insider information. But the real challenge didn't come there, but farther down where failure to assess the punch of those benign rolls resulted in a fair amount of attrition. We must have been able to determine the cause of this effect in the second run, or rather the cause of our defects, because times were faster and the thrill of the Superbowl, beer, and pizza paled in comparison.
Will Withington charged through both runs faster than anyone else, but it wasn't an unassailable lead. He only had four hundredths of a second on Chris Johnson, less than a tenth on Sean Florian. Withington prevailed to beat David Lamb, who skied an authoritative second run, by a little less than a second, and Florian by just over a second. Explosive Doug Tucker was in there, too, fourth place, hardly a second and a half out of first. And Class 1's Vladimir Krylov moved into the top 5 lineup with some skiing that combined the power and grace of a gold medal gymnast. Close Class contention was found in Class 8 where Steve Foley, second after the first run, slammed through a great second run to beat Bob McKee by less than a second, and in Class 6 again, where George Merrill, also second after the first run, bested Bill Brennan by less than a second.
Although master's racing is primarily class competition, the system thereby building in an age-adjustment factor, it is difficult not to stop and take notice, with a mixture of admiration, inspiration and hope, when a Class 8 woman finishes in the top 5. Anne Nordhoy literally bashed the course for two impeccable runs to finish 4th. Class 2 women Kirsten Bosworth, Susanne Giombetti and Carolyn Beckendorff finished ahead of her. Anne bested Kim Wolff by two hundredths of a second.
The weather, the post-race festivities, the exuberance engendered by the sport provided an invaluable escape from work. Part of the allure is the challenge and the inherent danger of speed, the total focus exacted to negotiate the course. So it's always sad to have to report fortune has claimed a victim. In the second run of Sunday's GS, Chris Johnson, this year's Gibson Cup winner and last year's SISE Cup champion, fell, inflicting enough damage to his knee to in probability keep him out for the balance of the season. He'll be badly missed.
Next weekend the Mount Gay Rum SISE Cup series continues at Mount Sunapee for the GS and Pat's Peak for slalom.