SISE CUP SEASON IN REVIEW
by Jennifer Calder
March 13, 2000
The first SISE Cup season of the millennium, ushered in like a lamb at Okemo under lightly falling snow and near perfect conditions, slammed out like a lion at Mt. Snow in a New England wintry mix of snow, sleet and freezing rain. It was not strength but art that obtained the prize, and to be swift was less than to be wise, as compromised visibility and that lethal admixture of ice and wet snow combined for the most challenging races of the season. Both the final competition and the post-race festivities were enhanced by a large contingent of New York state masters, who proved to be ruthless opponents and hardy partiers. The bloody business of the day ended, the community of battle weary skiers convened for revelry, camaraderie, and the serious business of recognizing this season’s victors.
Melissa Patterson established and held an early and ultimately incontestable lead in the women’s field. New this year to the circuit, she has proven not only to be a preeminent athlete, as gracious when she wins as when she doesn’t, but a genuine and generous supporter of her competitors and an endearing asset to the masters’ ranks. Lisa Densmore, unable to participate in a number of the earlier races, tenaciously attacked her way into an unassailable second. Kathy Rae Emmi, steady, skillful, and strong, commandeered third. Margaret Vaughn finished up in fourth, and Karen Nash clinched fifth.
Chris Johnson, gaining new glory and augmenting the old, again proved to be the gate-slayer of incomparable prowess. No slouch in a clutch, Bill Withington’s consistent performance earned him a strong second place. Marc Sorel nailed down a secure third. Bob Hill pulled out fourth and Jim Nash finished fifth, and those two provided spectators with some of the season’s most spectacular feats of athletic valor.
While it’s hard to imagine how the trials of 19 races would not have netted out unequivocal class winners, the final statistics revealed ties in six classes. Class l’s Chris Bither tied Bryan Deimer for fourth. Class 3 pitted Eric Tanner and John Pierce for fifth place, and in Class 6 the contest for that fifth place slot waged between Russ Probert and Greg Gill. Higher stakes in Class 8: Klaus Haas evened out the score at Mt. Snow to tie for second place with Dick Rusden. And Larry Voelker glissaded right to the finish of the final GS in a second place tie with Paul Rich. Again the race was for silver in Class 11, where Richard Wood and Fess Morse jousted through the season locked in a close competition that was not resolved.
Thanks to sponsor Elan, provender of copious spoils of victory, the SISE Cup competition once again featured the annual drawing for state-of-the-art skis. The first two drawings are plucked from a hat containing the names of male and female class winners. Gay Folland and Will Withington were the beneficiaries of that selection. The second two drawings, from a common hat containing the names of all competitors, regardless of sex, who have participated in six or more races, named Walter Elander and Dick Rusden.
While a number of skiers were recognized for perfect attendance at all 19 races, Patti Lane and Jim Shafer were honored for accomplishing the incomparable feat of competing in and completing every race this season. Not too shabby
The John C. Tobin Cup, awarded in acknowledgment of special contribution and selfless service to eastern ski racing, was presented this year to Joan and Marshall Skiff. Established icons among the New York state racing community, the Skiffs have been active participants in masters’ racing since 1964. They have not only committed of their time and energy, ever supportive, quick with a smile or a word of encouragement, but they have raised two generations of talented skiers to continue the tradition. The SISE Cup season earlier awarded the Janeway Cup, earned for the fastest times for skiers over forty, this year to defending champion Nadine Price and New York State’s amazing Pepi Neubauer. The Gibson Trophy, presented to the man and woman with the fastest time at Cranmore, went this year to Melissa Patterson and Patrick McNamara.
There should have been one more award: a vote of gratitude elevated to recognition. Because the play’s the thing. And as each of us reports each weekend to try our fortunes, to play out the play, we find a faultless performance at which our only concern need be the unmasking of our nearest competitor. Rarely are we forced to consider the stage manager, grappling with the logistics, with the vagaries of New England weather, the complex of volatile personalities among disparate race crew, caterers, sponsors, the conundrums engendered by computer compilations of results, the endless details, demands, and dilemmas. The true beauty of it is, it appears artless and effortless. Trouble shooter, fixer, circus director, there should be a SISE Cup award for Gary Colwell, without whom New England Masters would not be the class act it is.
It was a small, wet group that huddled in the competition center after Sunday’s race for the day’s awards and the final accounting on masters’ teams. Masters racing is essentially a solitary endeavor, rarely pitting teams against one another. But the season bonds us as surely as any organized team, rewarding persistence and consistency as much as talent. Where else could one find assembled a group of people prepared to compete with broken wrists, torn knees, sprained ankles wrenched backs, bouts of the flu and a variety of other enfeebling mishaps? Who else, shivering, would find joy in pulling on parkas and pants that crack with frozen rain; cheerfully ride the chair lift with a 25 below wind chill; debate at length whether it’s better to ski without goggles and suffer the sting of driving sleet or wear them and ski blind? A feeling of lingering nostalgia for the close of a season prevailed, a mellowing of shared memories--some of us in the vaward of our youth, some of us with the smack of age in us, but all of us, like true New Englanders, relishing the saltiness of time and trial and tough challenge.