Monthly Archives: February 2014

Our last practice

Alas, the season is drawing to an end. This Saturday will be the last practice of the season. We will be having our annual Pizza/Pot Luck party after practice and will present awards to each racer. We are finalizing some hill space for a parent/child dual GS and we will follow up with the outcome.

The P.A. will provide the pizzas and we ask the family’s to bring some other items with the following suggestion;

Children Last Names Starting with
A-G: Drinks
H-P: Salad/Fruit/Alternative dish
R-W: Desserts/Snacks

Additional cups/utensils would be helpful. We will need some help moving the trophies from the office and setting them lodge. Please see Steve Adams if you can help for a few minutes before the party.

I would like to thank Claire Johnson, PA Treasurer, for all the efforts with the T-shirts and decals. It was a long day last weekend.

I would also like to Charles Gagnon for his efforts the PA Interclub Rep and helping to manage Catamount’s IC Race.

I have sent out an email regarding the jacket order. Please keep within the deadline.

I will not be able to attend on Saturday, first time in seven years, as I will be with Emily at the U14 championships. Next year my son will be joining Interclub so I will be around more of the I/C races.

Peter Chudy
Catamount Ski Team Parents Association

Tri-State U14 Championships

Gang,

The following U14 athletes have qualified for the U14 Championship event this weekend at Blandford (SL, Saturday) and Berkshire East (GS, Sunday). Please register today by midnight on www.AlpineReg.com if you wish to compete.

U14 Girls:
Maya Simkowitz
Annika Carlson
Emily Chudy
Marie DiVecchio
Grace Howard
Eleonor Andersson
Lauren Edwards

U14 Boys:
Vincent Van der Linden
Ethan Mullen

In addition, the following boys have pre-qualified for the Piche Cup event at Gunstock, NH. Registration information will be getting sent out later today when available.

U12 Boys:
Achille Sarachek
Sam Devorsetz

Congrats to EVERYONE, even those who didn’t qualify for post season. This was one of our strongest years EVER for the U12-14 age group, and it’s been a blast so far seeing everyone ski so well. Let’s keep up the good work. Details on plans for this weekend (for those at Catamount, and more specifics for those at Championships) will be e-mailed later today. Please also find attached the U14 Championships race flyer as well as the final standings for the U12-14 age group.

Cheers,

-Stefan

Big Weekend

Hey Gang,

Don’t let this rain confuse you, we still have a big weekend coming up. Attached is the final standings for our U16’s, those of you who qualified for U16 Championships have already been notified. Great job to ALL our U16’s, this has been one of our best showings in that age group to date. U16’s who are not attending championships are still welcome to come and train with the U12-14’s at Catamount.

The U12-14’s will be training SL all day Saturday, and we have our last regular season race at Butternut (SL) on Sunday. If you are a U16 who will not be at championships and would like to train on Sunday, please let me know and we will make sure to arrange for some form of training should interest exist. Bruce & Mark also plan on doing some evening training on Friday, weather permitting. Please shoot either them or myself an e-mail if you would like to attend so we can get a better grasp on the numbers.

In addition to the U16’s final standings, I have also attached the race flyers for the U12, U14 & U16 championship events. I’ve gotten some questions regarding the U12 Championship event, similar to last year, we will not be using this event for any further race qualification. Qualification for Gunstock / Piche Cup will be done for U12’s using the regular season results.

See some of you this weekend, and to those headed to the post-season, congrats and good luck!
Cheers,

Stef

U16 2014 Standings Final

Butternut Results

ButternutGreetings,

Catamount’s IC race team entered 87 racers in last weekends combined SL/Skills Quest event. The total left us a few shy of our record setting attendance achieved @ the Catamount GS race. On average, we continue to register close to an equal number of girls (41) and boys (46). Of the total boys competing in the single run SL segment, 14 (30%) secured a top five ranking. Nine additional comrades (total 23) joined the ranks to expand top 10 numbers to 50% of total. Out of 7 divisional first place finishes, Catamount boys are credited with capturing 5 or approximately 70% of the pinnacle slots. On the other side of the ledger, eight (8) girls or 20 % of total negotiated the challenging course and earned a top 5 result. Expanding achievements to register top 10 results, we find that 18 (44%) of total girls earned times to qualify for this ranking. In spite of an array of DSQ/DNFs that plagued some of the previous weeks fist place finishers, one Catamount girl reached the pinnacle spot on the podium. Sixty seven or 77% of our racers successfully completed the demanding course. The completion rate is down somewhat from the earlier two races. Arbitrarily splitting our racers into two groups, U9 and younger and U10 and older, an almost equal number of DSQ/DNF surface. The younger racers totaled 9 miscues, whereas the older totaled 11. Looking at these numbers it is probably safe to generalize that the older racers forced tactical errors, whereas the younger group misjudged entry and exit segments while negotiating the three “combination” gates. In time, as we all know, our younger racers will develop stronger course identification skills. Our older racers (veterans) do not lack the desire to ski fast. Over time “tactical” strengths will evolve along with the ability to recognize where tactical adjustments are required in order to increase their chance to complete a course set. The coaching staff will continue to strive to assist our racers improve their tactical decision making development. Just a reminder, no races are scheduled for the immediate weekend. One additional SL race remains @ Otis and the final race, either a GS or “Kombi”, is set for the first weekend in March.
Regards,
John Greaser

Weekend Schedule

Hey Gang,

Another snowy week for us, seems as though ol’ Man Winter is making up for being mostly asleep the last 4-5 years. This weekend is going to be all about slalom, hopefully the olympic Super Combined gave you all some inspiration this week.

U12-16’s will all be on Catamount Saturday. U16’s are away at their last race of the regular season at Blandford on Sunday. U12-14’s will be at Catamount again on Sunday – same deal as Saturday, SL on Catamount.

Monday we will have limited half-day training with Doug. If there are any changes to this plan, I will let you all know. If you are at Catamount Sunday, feel free to check with Doug at the end of the day for a more direct update.

I know I had promised you all a standings report for the U12-14’s, but after beginning the process, I don’t have per-run results available for some races so I won’t be able to calculate things properly. I will send out a separate e-mail with more post-season information later today for interested parties. Just keep up the good work, we’ve had strong results thus far, and I wholly expect more strong results to come.
Cheers,

Stef

Catamount Race Summary

catamountresults

Greetings,

Well we almost eclipsed the century mark for Catamount race attendance. By my count we sent 94 racers out of the gate to compete in the Catamount home GS race. Out of a possible 188 total runs (94 x 2) our racers completed 93% of their runs. This number falls well within the “very acceptable” range when considering the degree of challenge a course set should present for club racers. Out of the 46 girls competing, seven skied to a top 5 finish, and 19 or 41 % secured a top 10 finish. The boys managed 15 top 5 (31%), and 24 (50%) earned top 10 recognition. When girls and boys top 10 finishes are combined (43), the result indicates that 46% of our racers skied fast enough to earn this recognition. Racers comprised a total of 14 classes (U8-U15); 7 classes for girls and an equal number for boys. Disregarding ties, a total of 14 first place finishes were possible for the Catamount race. Eleven catamount racers earned this mark. Another way to view this achievement is that 78% of the possible first place rankings went to Catamount racers. A number of the age groups had a banner day as well. In particular, the U12G entered 5 competitors and all five achieved a top 10 finish; six U12B entered the race and 5 scored top 10 recognition; eight boys comprised the U13 class and 5 raced to a top 10 finish, the 2 U15G and 3 U15B raced to a top 5 finish. I began this report with the total number of racers that finished the course. If 173 attempts were completed without a fault, that leaves 15 attempts that resulted in either a DSQ or DNF. What I find of interest with this number is that all but 2 racers attempted a second run. I believe one of our racers or perhaps both incured an injury that impeded their return. The underlying message here I believe is one of a desire to improve (resiliency) regardless of an outcome. This attitude is contageous in the sense that the racers who got back in the start gate are role models for everyone. The achievements that our racers earn week-to-week by no means should be ignored, but behaviors such as this deserve special recognition. Saturday we will be focusing on SL training for Sunday’s SL race @ Butternut.

Regards,

John

Weekend Schedule

Hey Gang,

The plan for the weekend is as follows:

Saturday
U16 — Lower Alley Cat GS Training (w/ U18) — Be ready to load quad and assist with setting at 8:30a.
U12-14 — Catamount SL Training — Load double at 8:30a and begin cycling around doing SL free-runs until course is set.

Sunday
U16 (Qualified 2nd Year’s) — GS @ Jiminy Peak (U18 Event, arrive 7:15 – 7:30).
U16 (All Racers) — GS @ Bousquet (Arrive 7:15 – 7:30, registration is upstairs in lodge).
U12-14 — SL @ Blandford (Arrive 7:15 – 7:30, registration is in lower lodge on the left as you walk into the area).

I know a few of you have had questions regarding championships and likelihood of placement. While we can’t guarantee anything at this point, I am working on a spreadsheet today and should have some rough guesstimates available later today or tomorrow. Obviously this weekend will change things a bit and give an even better perspective. As always with championships and post-season, remember, the primary goal of all our racers should be to improve and become the best racers they can be – NOT simply concern themselves with making it to the post-season. It’s a nice icing on the cake, and certainly acknowledges those who have really excelled this season, but is by no means the be-all end-all measure of success.

See you all tomorrow!
Cheers,

Stef

Thank You

I would like to thank everyone for their efforts on putting on a successful ski race yesterday. Enough already with the rain, it absolutely poured during the race at Berkshire East and I heard it was not any better at Catamount. Everyone who got their early, stayed late, did extra shifts, and hung tough in the rain you really made a difference.

We should give a special thanks to Charles for stepping up again to keep an overall eye on the day’s needs and Tara and Megan for taking the leadership on registrations.

And of course let us not forget coaches, course crew and ski patrol for all they did for the race and every weekend.

It is really fortunate that the kids get a home race. (and this year the super bowl was not even that super)

Peter Chudy

Catamount Ski Team PA