They Came, They Saw, and A Few Even Conquered
They came, over 200 strong, from far and wide for the USSA Eastern Regional Masters Championships. Racers bearing T-shirts and extraneous schwag identifying them as from Washington, Utah, Montana, Minnesota, Canada and even Germany joined the elite Eastern cadre at Sugarbush Resort's Mt. Ellen for three days of racing on Feb. 28 through March 2. All were vying for a spot on the Eastern Regional Team, awarded to the top finishers in each age class in the super G, GS, and slalom. The championships also provided an arena for those racers from the New York masters series to go toe-to-toe with the New England masters heavyweights. It has long been speculated that because the New Yorkers have as much as eight hours of time to fill while driving to Vermont, conversations inevitably turn to their ski racing exploits. Thus, it's no wonder the New York contingent shows up with a bit of attitude, but they traditionally back it up with fast skiing. Thankfully for the New England racers, this year they were able to counter with Ivar Dahl (cl 2) in the men and Jessie McAleer (cl 2) and Sally White (sl 6) for the women, who delivered devastating knock-out punches to preserve at least a few bragging rights for the New England masters. Following a bright, sunny day of training on Thursday, Friday's super G race again brought spring-like weather, and perfect snow - hard and fast. As for the course, Luc Robillard from the host Green Mountain Valley School, reported, "One guy came up to me and said it was too slow, and then I turned around and another racer exclaimed that it was too fast." GMVS headmaster, Dave Gavett then quipped, "I guess you had it just right." Sally White would be the first to agree. The West Dover, Vermont native scorched the course, the women's field, and probably the bases of her lengthy 198 cm super G skis in winning by nearly three seconds over Angela Strojny (cl 3) from the New York team. White's time placed her in 15th among the entire men's field. Class 5, Stacey Weston took her class, as well as the third place overall finish. Things were not looking good for the New Englanders in the men's super G after two class 4 New Yorkers, Mark Sertl and Greg Sarkis were gloating in third and first positions with Central Division racer Stuart Homsy sandwiched in second as the race was coming to a close. Ivar Dahl had the last word, however, as he came from the fourth to last starting position to nip Sarkis by nearly one second. The class 7's made their presence known by placing three racers in the top 11 - Pepi Neubauer (7th), Helge Lien (10th) and Dorin Monteanu (11th). A long fast giant slalom from the same start as the super G spread the times and enabled Dahl and New England Masters Series leader, Jessie McAleer to dominate their respective fields. Under a record (for Vermont) third straight sunny and warm day, McAleer took a three-second lead over Sally White after the first run and stretched that to five seconds by the end of the race. Strojny finished another second back for third. Most of the men pretended not to notice McAleer's two-run total time, but for those who did the math, McAleer finished 13th in the field of over 125 men. In the men's GS, Dahl abandoned any rope-a-dope tactics and just came out and hammered the field in the first run. Dahl, Tecnica/Volkl director of promotions, landed a first round KO, giving him a three second lead, which he extended to over six seconds by the end of the day over Sertl with Sarkis third and New Englander Matt Aeschliman three-hundredths back in fourth. A post-race table of munchies, along with beverages and copious awards will guarantee a packed house among masters racers. Bill Skinner, USSA masters coordinator, dispensed USSA medals, Artech Company supplied waxing brushes for class winners, and masters racer, Pepi Neubauer handed out gift certificates for Schneider ("not Spyder," as Neubauer reminded racers) racing suits. Forever pragmatic, masters racers were even given packets of Advil, thanks to a Wyeth Company donation. There was good news and bad new for Sunday's slalom. Starting with the good news - the racing track was perfect; now the bad news - it was snowing so hard racers couldn't see the track. Maybe it was payback after three days of sunshine, or perhaps it was Skinners comment at Saturday's award ceremony. "I can't believe what beautiful weather you all have here in the East," crowed Skinner, who was then interrupted by a heckler saying, "Just wait until tomorrow." It poured snow so hard that it was difficult to breathe, much less see. But hey, when the starter says go, masters racers are out of the gate onto the course. There were even racers who DNF'ed in their first run inquiring if they could take a second run. After the race, one of the GMVS race workers said while wringing out his undershirt, "I have to hand it to you masters, you guys never quit." But as is usually the case in ski racing, the good guys and gals still manage to find a way to win. McAleer, White and Strojny emerged victorious on the group C/D course along with Haldor Reinholt, Bob McKee, and Dave Britton from the class 8 and 9 men. The class 7 and younger men enjoyed the rare luxury of running on the fresh A/B course, where Skinner forced Dahl into a second run mistake to take the win by a convincing four seconds over John Pierce. Neubauer took third, just ahead of Sertl, Homsy, and McCollom. Racer organizer Dave Iverson (known locally as "Iverdog" and not to be confused with Ivar Dahl) and the entire GMVS race crew were thanked, along with Sugarbush Resort and racer sponsors - Bula, Molecule F and Skier's Edge. The coveted Eastern Masters Regional Team vests were then awarded. As the sodden masters racers packed up their bags for departure, conversations had already turned to the next big event - the U.S. Nationals, coming up March 18 - 22. |