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Sugarbush Racing Club on a “dicy” course March 11

The day before the race, the Sugarbush Race Club members checked out the race course and saw “rivers of ice”.   The “river’ put fear into most of their hearts, except for a few stalwarts who saw it as “world class racing snow”!   That evening, the Sugarbush Groomers stepped up, and, using their magic,  groomed the course.  For the most part, the race department was able to arrange the gates to avoid turns on ice.    While it looked dicy, 18 brave hearted racers were determined to take on the challenge the next day.  

The racers, with newly sharpened skis, were ready and nervous. Strategies were discussed and some decided  that  simply navigating the course was a better approach than accelerating out of the gates.  Several members had been injured during the week, which added to the caution, but there were no injuries on the race course Friday.  

Cindy Carr, Rick Duckworth, Gil Edwards and Boris Shajenko accelerated out of the gates as if ice was their friend and their times showed it!   Boris took advantage of the ice in both races edging out Rick Duckworth by 24/100ths of a second.   Abby Motson, a new member, had a good time;  she has been moving up among the finishers all year.  Three cheers for Barbara Brady who never says no to a race. 

Among the men, we had some firsts.  Peter Menkes ran his first race of the year and got a Bronze.  David Nadel came out of no where to nip at the heels of Jula Fender who has also been moving up in this year’s standings.  Peter Koch and Rich Jones walked away with big smiles on their faces with overall times beating out Dave Ellison who received a gold but was sure his time was miscalculated in one race.  Chris Ham-Ellis was in the lead of the 40 second group with Strojny, Menkes and Brady. Al Pierce stretched out in front in the high 30’s. 

On Thursday March 10, we gathered at Chez Henri for our annual cheese fondu treats and a few drinks. It is hard to be at Chez Henri and not be touched by the history of Sugarbush.  Memories flowed, such as reminiscing about those who climbed the greased pole.  Who witnessed Killy, Henri and Doc.  Check it out.   What really went on in those back rooms in the good old days…some secrets are best left unrecorded.  Our party found the  back room was a perfect place to share stories of the week, encourage each other to race and enjoy our weekly raffle and get together.

See all the race results from Friday’s race at https://sugarbushracingclub.com/racing/ select RESULTS.