The Middlebury GS this weekend was a ripping three runs down the face of Allen! The field was left to ski on fast, hard packed conditions after torrential rains in VT all week left the hill with many terrain changes and challenges.
Women
MIT graduate student Alex Andrews took the overall win for the women combining three ripping fast runs! Class 2 entrants Daria Zamolodchikov and Essex high school ski coach Lisa Marien were left skiing for second place, with Daria taking the early lead but Lisa earning the win after two electric runs to end the day! Canadian sweetheart Cynthia Audet turned on the after burners for her second and third runs to try to steal third from Daria, but was just edged out by a few tenths to finish fourth. Jackie Levy consistently improved each run to take fifth. Noreen Knortz took sixth place and more interestingly took her husband to the woodshed for the marital win! El Presidente Nadine Price, Cindy Berlack and Barb Settel were in a three way race for seventh. Nadine took an early lead and was able to hold on, while Cindy’s aggressive skiing, reminiscent of her 3rd place finish in the NCAA Carnival while at Middlebury, helped her edge out Barb on run two for eighth, with Barb finishing ninth. Patti Lane and Barb Brumbaugh went toe to toe to lay claim to the final spot in the women’s top ten, with Patti winning the first frame and Barb digging deep to complete the comeback.
Men
The overall men’s title was a battle across all ages, where attrition forced the Class I slalom winner from the previous day, Timothy Northrup, and Farm Tough fast guy, Aaron Donnan, to fail to cross the finish line on run one. Both men laid down great second and third runs, where Timothy proved he’s a force to be reckoned with decisively winning run 3! Delaware’s own Chris Knortz took the first run over Ben Green, who chipped away at the Knortz family Class 1 representative on runs two and three to come up short by four hundredths!! Manhattenite Andy Barnett took the early lead and held on against nationally ranked water skier Terence Fogarty for third, while Terence fended off perennial master racer pound for pound entrant Mark George by three hundredths to take forth with George in fifth. The ageless speed demon Pepi Neubauer showed he can still crush it after a fourth and fifth place in the first two runs; however, he was unable to edge out Mark and Terence finishing sixth. Doug Carpenter skied fast all day, and ended up in seventh, edging out the Sunapee GS race winner Peter Fuller and Okemo’s David Harris, who tied down to the hundredth for eighth. Chasing them all day was Andrea Occhi who took 10th after a screaming first run, sneaking by the nimble, St. Lawrence alum, Mark Sertl, who returned to Middlebury for the first time since his carnival skiing days. Others vying for the top ten included the battle of the doctors, Alex Gadbois and Mike Fuller!
Other notable class battles were many, but none more so than class twelve men! Alphonse Sevigny took the early lead with a dashing first run. But in the second run Paul Rich took advantage of a bobble by Al and skied past George MacNeil who had taken an early lead. Coming down to the third run Paul Rich left nothing on the hill to take the win in class and edge out George, while Al took third. Meanwhile, newcomer Bernard Pistilli showed he can bend em’ laying down a fast upper section on his second run but to be undone on the pitch by a tricky transition gate. Also to note, there was some tight racing in class 10! Car racing extraordinaire John Lussier took the win, but was chased each run by Steve Foley & Guillaume De Paoli! Ted Bidwell and Ken Lozeau didn’t give in easily either, with each battling for fourth. Look out Ted, Ken won a pair or Head GS skis from Artech at the social and is sure to come back for revenge in the next GS! Also worth noting is the battle in class eight where Eric Cutting squeaked by Hans Truckenbrod after the two battled hard in the first two runs, only to be split by tenths in the end! Last of the class battles was Duncan Cullman and Pierre Paquette in class nine. The two were bidding for third, where Duncan, citing a mid-week training session at Loon, edged out Pierre.
The yard sale of the day award went to Greg Gill, whose double heel ejection on run 2 earned him a face first trip through a panel into a barrel roll down the steeps, only to climb to his feet and leap up hands raised. Gill would go on to post a solid third run. People may question master racers sanity, but they sure can’t question their toughness!
And that rounds out the Middlebury GS races this weekend! Check out Stratton and Bromley this coming weekend for more racing!!
