Masters has had just as strange a winter as everyone else. Ours has had weather that went down to -7 at Berkshire East (MA) and -2 at Southington (CT).
West Mountain had its ups and downs in NY for this past weekends’ Mid-Atlantic Masters slate of races. Fog was the enemy on Friday and it took the day, with the Super G canceled as Mother Nature kept the screws on our ski season. Fog so thick you couldn’t see the next gate. It sat on The Cure all day.
Saturday brought forth a cold morning with an icy surface that challenged nearly every skier. I didn’t even want to slip it to check out the course. Matt Dodge burned down the course, posting runs of 56.19 and 58.77 (1:54.96). Giacomo Migliori was second at +3.73 and Jason Beland in third at +7.64.
Alexandra Mitchell took first for the women with a combined time of 2:14.19. Ashley Lindeman took second at +9.08 and Eliza Phillips took third at +10.30.
Class 1 Men (18-29) were well represented with 10 competitors as Jason Beland took first followed by Benjamin Pencak in second and Eric Vitiello in third.
Class 9 Men (65-69) was the largest group of the competition as William Zimmerman finished first followed by Donald Andrews in second and Edward Sparkowski third, just .68 behind.
Class 10 Men (70-74) were well represented with Eric Cutting taking the top spot with a combined 2:17.36, Hans Truckenbrod in second with 2:20.66, and Dale Ziegenfelder in third.
Class 12 (80-84) saw Roy Scovill claim the top spot with a time of 2:45.36, Paul Rogers in second with a 2:50.49, and Guillaume De Paoli in third.
Class 5 (45-49) racer Bill Bradley caught the main gate I was photographing on his first run, directly in front of me . It happens so fast. In my first frame, he appears perfectly set up for the gate. How quickly it changes. The look on his face as his ski catches the gate is astonishment, Then the ski pops into the air, taking him with it. I stopped shooting abruptly when I realized the ski was coming straight in my direction. He came to a stop just below me. He slowly got up, said nothing, and went down the hill. He said today that “Everything was fine, right up until it wasn’t.”
Eliza Phillips won the Class 1 Women (18-29) with a combined time of 2:24.49, Kelly Manley in second with 2:36.99, and Hannah Knudsen in third.
Class 8 Females put on quite a show with Sharon Way taking first with a combined time of 2:34.75, followed by fan favorite Carol Tomassetti in second with 2:50.90, and Marti Brueckner in third.
Sunday’s Slalom race was even more of an icy track than Saturday’s GS.
Matt Dodge blistered the course with runs of 45.44 and 45.80 for a combined 1:31.35, followed by Giacomo Migliori with a second of 1:35.33. Becka Padgett took the title for the Women with a combined 1:45.03, with Alexandra Mitchell in second at 1:46.10.
Sharon Way claimed her second victory of the weekend for Class 8 Females with a combined time of 2:10.96, followed by Marti Brueckner in second with 2:34.53, and Jane Moller in third.
Men’s Class 12 (80-84) saw Paul Rogers and Roy Scovill trade positions from Saturday’s race. With the closest margin of the day at an 0.83 difference, Rogers’ 2:17.49 just edged out Scovill’s 2:18.32, with Guillaume De Paoli again in third, his second time of the weekend.
Men’s Class 8 (60-64) was the largest group of competitors on Sunday with Greg Sarkis capturing first with a combined time of 1:42.66. Mark Sertl finished second with a 1:46.66 and Derek Griggs in third.
The gumption of the day goes to Matthew Manzella. As the only racer representing Class 3 Men (35-39) he hiked back up around the gate he missed to claim the age group victory with a time of 2:59.87, the slowest racer on the hill with a gold medal in hand.
