Karbon is requiring the order by end of day tomorrow Thursday, April 9th.

Please get your orders in through the link provided on the previous email or go to the Team website.

Sorry for the rush

Peter

We have an opportunity to order team jackets for next fall but we have to have the order in by April 10th. The jacket would be produced by Karbon. The quality would be similar or better to the Spyder Jacket. It would have the team logo.

Please respond to me ASAP if you are interested at peterchudy@mac.com
We need to see if there is enough interest and then set up an order process.

The season has wrapped up but Catamount still has a lot of snow. We had a lot of participation in post-season races with some details provided below. These events involved our racers going to FIS level hills and competing against ski academy racers who are full time athletes. I would like to congratulate all our racers on the outstanding efforts this season.

I would also like to thank all of our coaches, volunteers, and parents who lended a much need hand. The race program at Catamount is enhanced by all these efforts. We are lucky to have coaches who spend entire weekends teaching and motivating our child athletes over the season. All the parent efforts to enhance the experience and supporting our interclub race helps to create a strong ski racing community at Catamount.

We had a productive discussion with Catamount’s management and are proceeding with some projects.

• We will be looking at the homologation process to run a Slalom race (limited potential for GS) on Ally Cat as part of Tri-State. This would be a big project, as timing and safety requirements are demanding at the Tri-State Level. We may be looking for local sponsorship for such items as new bibs.
• The mountain suggested we may wish to hold a ski swap in the fall at Catamount and has offered some support. This would require us to come up with a team of volunteers, but this would be a big benefit to the area ski community and us.
• We will look to have a USSA Level 100 Coaching Clinic session at Catamount once again next year.
• We will purchase some 60” slalom gates, which are a foot shorter than the standard gates. These are much easier to block for our younger racers and will serve as a training tool for the transition from Interclub to Tri-State.
• I am looking for support on finding a new supplier/process for team jackets. Spyder’s lack of communication and avoidance of requests for information regarding their failure to produce an entire line of product has required us to find a new solution. Given the wide range of sizing requirements we have, Jacket orders often require a long lead-time.

I will be providing some updates over the next few months. We need volunteers to take many of these projects to the finish line.

Coach Sonia Tatlock has taken many pictures and you can find them on the following website.

https://picasaweb.google.com/bebecanuck/Catamount201415?authkey=Gv1sRgCJG8hqOh5uzarwE

Post Season Race Achievements

U18
Top ten regular season standings went to Allegra Colman (3), Lauren Carver (6), Elizabeth Cunningham (9). Meghan Diamond and Kelly Mcpartland joined the girls in qualifying for the U18 Eastern Finals at Gore. Allegra won the slalom race and finished 10th in GS. Elizabeth Cunningham joined in with a top 10 (7) in Slalom.

U16
Shiau-Tau Ciecierska finished the season in first place, and was joined in the top 10 by Sydney Murner (8). On the boy’s side, top 10 regular season results had Sevrin Sarachek (6), Tony Guzzi (8), Griffin Sarachek (9) and Tyler Coenraads (10).

Shiau-Tau and Sevrin went on to compete at the U16 Eastern Championships at Whiteface.

Sydney, Tony, Griffin, and Tyler went on to compete at U16 Eastern Finals at Sunday River and were joined by Tony Kasper. Griffin captured 6th in slalom, Tony Guzzi 9th in Super-G, Sydney 10th and Tyler 11th in GS.

U14
The regular season ended with Annika Carlson in 2nd, Emily Chudy and Marie DiVecchio tied for 3rd. Marie took 1st at Tri-State Championships and Emily 5th. They both went on to Eastern Championships at Stowe.

U12
Sage Siegel finished 8th at Tri-State Championships. Sage was joined by Winfred Mann, Henry DiVecchio, and Alex Bradley at the Piche Invitational at Gunstock.

I apologize for any errors or omissions in pulling this together from multiple sources.

Peter Chudy
Head of Catamount
Race Team Parents Association

Just a reminder we have our awards party after practice tomorrow There will also be the Parent Child dual race and don’t forget the 80’s theme. Hey florescent wayfarers are back in. There will be Pizza but please bring Drinks, desserts, apps or other items to share.

We will need help setting up the trophies. There are still a lot of t-shirts and it would be great if we could get some help at lunch to hand them out.

I will be at the U14 Championships but may make it back in time, otherwise I will see everyone at Sunday’s race.

Peter

peterchudy@mac.com

Although our numbers (52 combined racers) did not match our total attendance @ ther Catamount home race, the spirit and enthusiasm racers took to the Otis SL course was highly contagious. An almost equal number of boys (27) and girls (24) searched for the optimal tactics to gain an advantage as they negotiated back -to-back multiple combination courses.

Seventeen Catamount racers earned a trip to the podium (33% of total); nine girls and 8 boys. Close on the heels of our top 5 finishers were 6 additional Cat racers who earned top 10 honors (4 girls and 2 boys). Catamount racers secured 8 first place honors out of a possible 13. This accomplishment amounts to 62% out of 100%. Five boys and 3 girls set down sizzling times to achieve this feat. Bouncing back from a DNF at the butternut SL, Nico Capalo smoked the boy’s competition with the fasted combined time for the day.

Over the years the US Alpine Ski Team has brought to the world stage, in any given year, 2 to 3 racers of notoriety. In recent times 3 racers that garner our attention are Ligety, Miller and Vonn. But you know what, the US Team cannot boast a “Fab Five.” Yes, the U of Michigan and more recently UCONN women’s B ball teams have have attempted to enamor us. However, none of these teams can lay a finger on our own Fab Five U11 girls. Winifred Mann, Delphine Cohen, Clare Howard, Morgan Weinberg and the most recent addition,Laurentia Bentivolglio, have claimed the top five positions in their division week after week.

Most of us by now have read emails or listened in on discussions regarding the upcoming Piche Invitational. Qualifying for one of the 2 female delegates from our IC league is Winifred Mann. Throughout the course of the season Wini has demonstrated through her consistent effort and times that she deserves the # one female qualifier position. Equally deserving is Delphine Cohen who earned the second delegate recognition. Unfortunately, she is confronted with a conflict of schedule and will not be able to attend. Clare Howard has advanced to the girls alternate position. Way to Go Girls!

Lastly, congratulations to every Catamount team member for going the distance and giving your best effort this past weekend. With one remaining race, Bousquet, let’s set our sights on increasing our attendance and thoroughly enjoy the finale. We look forwrd to the returning presence of our U8s.

Regards,

John Greaser

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.

For the second year in a row, Catamount IC racers eclipsed the century mark (101) for participants at the Catamount home race. Initially, it appeared we were in for a long day as the medical response for a fallen racer seemed to take an exceedingly long time to address. However, after this minor interruption, the race resumed without additional interruption as the two runs were completed in relatively short duration. A thank you is in order for the Catamount support team including, timing officials, course setting crew and statisticians for their part in optimizing the almost fault-free operation. Koodos to parent volunteers for your contributions to the event’s success.

The total number of Catamount participants included 47 girls and 54 boys. Our 9 year old girls registered 15 racers. This number accounted for the most catamount racers in any class. They represented over half of the participants in this class. They were followed by eleven year old boys with a total of 13 competitors. From a result perspective, Catamount racers earned top 5 honors in 13 out fourteen listed classes. In nine of these divisions, Catamount sent multiple recipients to the podium. Our boys achieved 15 top 5 awards, whereas IC girls secured 12 top five positions. Stretching finishes out to top 10 honors the numbers look like this; 25 girls (53% of total) and 27 boys (50% of total) qualified for this recognition. The Jets and Patriots can’t boast this type of balance. For that matter, the Austrian and Swiss teams can’t either.

Although our U8 girls and boys began the season with a tentative start at Blandford, they announced their arrival with an explanation mark at the Catamount race. They are a force to be reckoned with. Our girls in this division recorded two top 5s and five top 10 finishes. Virtually our entire contingent in this division deserve recognition for thier stellar performance and rise in skill development. The same observation holds true for our youngest boys. Two members raced to a top 5 finish and 4 additional compadres made the top 10 list (nearly 50% of total).

Never before in the recorded annals of Western Mass IC racing has a sweep of the podium occured by any one team. Hold on there bronco Billy. We can now confidently claim that an exception has occured. Our 11 year old girls have changed the course of history. This Catamount contingent finished 1-5. Our first and fifth finishers were separated by a mere 2 seconds. Here is an example of how persistence and a dedicated work ethic can lead to rewarding outcomes. This solid group of racers has demonstrated continual upward momentum in aspects of tactics intelligence and skill development over the course of the past 5 years.

Lastly in the rewards department, Catamount racers earned five first place divisional finishes (36%) out of a total of 14 divisions. Recognition for fastest boy on the mountain was achieved by Catamount’s U14 Adam Hess. Congratulations to all Catamount racers for giving your best effort in a highly competitive race.

Regards,
John Greaser

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