Dear Parents,

As is the tradition at Catamount Interclub for the last few years, on Saturday, we will once again do a friendly themed dual parent/coach race on Bob Cat. The theme this year is the 80’s!! Bring on the prints, one piece suits, flashy colors and big hair! We will also do our group photo at the bottom of Catamount at 9:00am. The day will end with our awards and pizza/potluck party. The PA will provide the pizza and we would like families to bring drinks, snacks, and desserts to share.

Although our training will end at Bousquet on Sunday, we hope to see many of you and your kids at Catamount free skiing in March and again next year! Thank you for all your support and for doing what parents do best! It was another great year!

Your IC coaches

T-Shirts – I will need some people to help hand out the remaining t-shirts on Saturday at lunch time. I will be at U14 Championships.

Peter — peterchudy@mac.com

The official season is quickly coming to a close.

T-Shirts will start be available starting this weekend. I will need some help sorting and handing them out.

Interclub season end awards party will be on Saturday Feb 28th following practice. Each racer will get a participation trophy. The PA will provide pizza and we encourage families to bring items to share such as drinks, snacks, desserts. No alcohol as the NY State Troopers like to walk through the Taconic Lodge to ensure we do not violate state law.

I received the check for the cancelled race team jacket order on Friday and will begin mailing out refund checks this week.

The big weekend is here, We will be giving out race bibs at tomorrows practice so we can reduce the numbers at registration. Timing to be posted.

We will work hard to get the race started early and finished early. The Blandford race went off very well. Registration volunteers need to show up btwn 6:30-6:45 for a 7AM registration.

Morning Gate Keepers should be at the timing shack at the bottom of the course at 8:45.

I will send out a list of volunteers through a separate email, as well as, gatekeeping information. We will look to have another short gatekeeping background meeting tomorrow for those who could not attend last week.

Please thank our parent volunteers for helping us host this race.

This weekend will be complex with away races and Sunday’s interclub GS race.

On Saturday we need fencing help from available parents. Please be ready at 8:30 on Ally Cat.

All Tristate racers training at Catamount this Sunday, please make a special effort to arrive early since the mountain is hosting the Interclub GS. The Taconic lodge will be a very crowded, so the sooner we can suit up and get out of the lodge, the better. We will be training SL on Lower Alley Cat, so once again, we will be asking that you help bring equipment to the pump house, including gates, fencing, drills, etc. Parents who can help with fencing would be appreciated.

Also we are looking for 3 or 4 forerunners for the interclub GS on Sunday, no chin bars nor shin guards. SL skis should be ok since these gates will be set for little guys.

Thanks in advance – Coach Doug

We still need a lot more volunteers for the Catamount Interclub Race on Feb 1st. Hosting a race depends on this. Please contact me at peterchudy@mac.com

Thanks, Peter

Jackets – Spyder offered a 20% discount but could not confirm a ship date or any status. After getting some parent input, I asked for the order to be cancelled as some kids may never get much or any use from the jackets. Spyder agreed and will refund our money. We will look for an alternative. I will provide refunds once we get the money from Spyder.

Interclub Race — Head Coach John Greaser will have a meeting with Parents at 11:30 on Saturday to go over the race.

Mike Stevens’ email for tuning services is blackdiamondtuningcenter@gmail.com No “ski”

Garrett Gagne, a former Tri-State Ski racer, died in a tragic accident over New Years. Garrett raced at Berkshire East and was a repeat Mass State HS Champion. He was also a stand out lacrosse player and won repeated Scholastic Athlete awards. As a senior at St Lawrence University, he was a leader of their lacrosse team, as well as, an outstanding student.

Garrett’s father Chris has been a leader in the Tri-State organization, serving as a board member and race starter at Berkshire East.

Our thoughts are with Garrett’s family, team mates, and our friends Berkshire East who do so much for our sport. The Parents Association will honor Garrett’s achievements and memory with a donation to the Garrett M. Gagne Memorial Fund.

For more on Garrett please go to: http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/hartfordcourant/obituary.aspx?n=garrett-mather-gagn&pid=173723179