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Racing Club seeks more Racers from Membership

It seems unusual that one of the largest clubs in the valley, the 140 member strong Sugarbush Racing Club, can only field forty to fifty racers each week.  This past Thursday only forty-two members showed up to race when the weather and the dual courses set by the Sugarbush Race Department were ideal.  Many of “the regulars”, it seems, were ailing or absent but the ranks were bolstered by some members who were racing for the first time this year.  Many of the racers took advantage of the “slip clinic” offered by Ski School Director, Terry Barbour.

Danielle Hampton took the honors again this week in the women”s division in a decisive fashion defeating Elizabeth Walker in each of their two runs.  Anne Halvorsen registered a very close third place finish while Lauri Landau and Cindy Carr rounded out the top five all of whom garnered gold NASTAR medals.  Nancy Coombs apparently overcame her ailing back to race this week and Janella Pennington graced the slopes in her pink racing suit to place seventh.  Caryl Hurwitz has also overcome a disabling shoulder injury to race for the first time since the first race last year and shows promise to regain her former racing prowess.
Rick Duckworth came back from a week off with a vengeance to turn in a platinum medal winning time for first place in the men’s division over an almost equally fast young Riley Spaceman Winch.  Doug Day took third place and Dave Seymour was close behind in fourth place.  These top four finishers all wore spandex speed suits and turned in combined times of less than a minute!  Ageless John Lussier and Gary Duncan were next in line separated by only .08 of a second and peter Wicklund”s choice of skis seemed to be correct as he leapfrogged several places this week.  Dave Ellison and Al Carr seem to be right on the brink of breaking into the top circle of finishers.  Jim Hildebrand also jumped several places this week but Ray Bollerud hung on to best him by only the slightest of margins and an interesting rivalry seems to be forming between Chris Ham-Ellis and Jim Albanese as they were closely matched this week.  Carson Barbour and Chad Koenig were co-pacesetters this week and while Chad’s more than spectacular crash after his run caused a lot of excitement and laughter, their times  allowed only one platinum medal.  Fourteen gold medals were awarded, however.
The apres race party was well attended as always and was hosted this week by the Mad River Barn in fine fashion with several tasty hors d’oeuvres and a cash bar.  Social chairperson, Gordie Hoare, raffled off a gift basket crafted by Kate Jones as well as several other gifts including a forty dollar gift certificate to the Mad River Barn.  As always a “50-50” raffle was conducted with the proceeds going to the club’s favorite charity – the VASS ski program.  The party after next week’s race will be at the Hyde Away