SKI TRACKS
RACE TRAINING CENTER NEWSLETTER
Volume 5, Number 2
FEB 2002
GREETINGS from the DIRECTOR
The new year has brought an abundance of new snow!
In the
last two weeks we've had vans filled with our athletes travelling
all over. Kent Towlerton took a group to Big
Mountain, Montana where Gretchen Glaser placed 3rd in two SG’s,
while others had good point races. Fred Shick
and Ryan Gage went to the J3 Qualifier at Schweitzer,
The
weekends of January 19th and 26th were an example of winter sports at
*
*Many
volunteers who were out there in stormy cold weather.
*The
Alpine and Nordic race crews.
On behalf
of the MBSEF board and myself, thank you for the world
class job.
Ben Husaby's Cross Country PNSA group did well in the Junior
Olympic qualifier. Trent Lowe had a 3rd and 1st; Zoe
Roy had a double win followed closely by Blake Fowles
on both days. Impressively, most of our Cross Country racers had qualifying
times for the JO’s.
What is
next in February? We have the Sunnyside Pursuit, the Sun Cup, and the
Cannonball Chili Challenge at Mt. Bachelor and a lot more athletes traveling to
Qualifying races; and, of course, a sunny February.
See you skiing!
Russ Read,
Chairman of the Board
Photo
hoto
EDUCATION FOUNDATION
(Dylan Howe navigating the
"
SECOND SESSION
REGISTRATION
It's time to sign your child
up for the 2nd session of Alpine Mitey Mites and the Snowboard Development
program! Both programs start the weekend
of February 9-10.
All we need is for parents to
call or come in to the MBSEF office and tell us the desired training day
(Saturday or Sunday) for your child.
Credit card payments may be made by VISA or MasterCard.
Registration is requested as soon as possible so the coaches will have an accurate and complete roster at the start of the session.
UPCOMING EVENTS
Feb 9-10
Sunnyside Pursuit
Feb 19-25 39th
Annual Sun Cup
Feb 24 Cannonball Chili Challenge
Mar 9 Par Fore the Course
Mar 17-24
JI/JII Junior Olympics
Mar 29-30 Mini World Cup Finals
Blake Fowles, Age 15, making tracks on the
Nordic trails
(By Inge Scheve)
Blake, who has skied since she was very young – starting with the Bend Kids Ski League – began making tracks with MBSEF six years ago when she joined the youth program.
"I just love being out there,” Blake says. “I love the feeling of going as fast as I can and feeling that I’m going somewhere.”
Although Blake has raced for the last five years, she says
this is the first season where she feels she has ample competition from others
in the MBSEF program – such as Zoe Roy and Katey Kelley.
At MBSEF, Blake feels that she is getting proper preparation
to pursue her goal: Making the Junior Olympics team. Then, down the road she
hopes to land a scholarship so she can ski in college, she says.
“The coaching we get from Ben [Husaby] is really good
experience,” Blake says, who adds that one of the best parts about racing is
meeting new people at every race she goes to.
The Junior Olympics will take place in
For his athletes with JO aspirations, head coach Husaby has created a peaking program designed to qualify his skiers at the JO Qualifying races and then fine-tune their skills and shape leading into the big races at McCall.
“I’m learning how to hurt during races,” Blake says. “And I feel that I am really growing as an athlete.”
But while Blake says she is becoming a better racer, she thinks she needs to learn more about how to train and how to design her own peaking plan. “I like physiology and learning about my body and how I can train.”
But while skiing means the world to the Bend High sophomore, Blake is also an avid soccer player who as a midfielder helped the Lady Lava Bears to a 12 - 3 season before strapping on the boards for the winter. Between school-work, ski practice, waxing skis and preparing for races, Blake also finds time to listen to music and chill with her friends.
Those who want to please Blake’s taste buds should look up anything Italian. Blake, who says she doesn’t cook, adores pasta dishes of all sorts, and spaghetti is her favorite. The next idea might be to get Blake a cookbook – at some point she’ll need to prepare her own grub!
Nordic Program
Uniforms For
*New MBSEF Nordic Hats: Blue Swix
hats with Nordic logo- $20.
*MBSEF 2 piece lycra
racing
suits -$110. Sizes: M, L, X-L.
*Blue/white training jackets-$85.
Sizes: M, L, X-L.
There are just a few left.
All are quality products with a
great color scheme/design.
For any of these items,
call
Ben at 388-0002.
A Coaches Journal of a Successful Weekend (Part
One)
(By Ben Husaby)
7:
The show starts with a few
good-natured ribs about how much stuff a person actually needs to survive a
sixty–two hour foray into the great unknown, known as the
As I open the door to MBSEF 2,
“The Nordic Nomad”, smells from 100 training sessions and myriad road trips
leap through the opening. Kirk Harr bounces up top and starts shucking orders. Under his breath we can hear him mumbling
something about load shift. Kirk has
ordained himself “Chief Loader and burger chef” this season, and for that, we
are grateful. Katey
Kelley, Kira Folden, and Tom
Segal are busily working on the seating chart.
For those of you who have not had the pleasure of being involved in an
adolescent road trip, there are two very important things that must be
addressed before the vehicle can leave the lot.
First, where is everyone going to sit, and second; is the CD/tape
adaptor hooked up to the portable CD player?
It is about this time that
Blake Fowles and David Kurtz arrive. Seating for David is never a problem. With a piece of half eaten toast dangling
from his mouth he climbs through the back door and into the darkest, smelliest
part of the van (excluding the drivers seat) the back
seat. I suspect he will be fast asleep
before attendant (me) can go through the safety instructions of the F-350 Econoline van. As for
Blake, mornings have always been a challenge.
All good road trip leaders
have a battle cry. My college coach,
Alan Ashley, used to drop his shades down off his forehead, bang his fist on
the dash and yell, "hit it" at the top of his lungs. For the
As I drop the van into drive,
my blood begins settling into a relaxed flow.
(Stay tuned for Part
Two)
This is a continuation from December's Ski Tracks issue
of Kevin's E-Mail excerpts sent home.
Kevin shares his personal experience with the
On the Road with the US
(By Kevin Francis)
Most early season November races were
cancelled in
There’s not a lot of snow up here either, but it’s
fun to be racing with MBSEF and Western Region guys and have
Sunday River/Sugarloaf
The snow is different colors around here; it’s
dark and speckled in places and see through. Yesterday in the 2nd run of slalom
they stopped after 12 racers finished with trashed edges. Officials found a
giant lurking granite boulder right under the surface in one turn. It’s so cold
they poured water on it to cover, but it just exposed it more. They reset and
started the 2nd run over. There’s not much snow, so they’re setting super tight
turny courses on a short hill. I felt like I was
crawling across the flats.
Bend OREGON December 22-29
Skiing at Mt. Bachelor is so much fun; it’s obvious I’ve been in way too
many race courses!
Mautern & Turnau
We trained full length GS with a bunch of
Austrians, then hiked up to an old castle in the afternoon. The castle was
really cool, all broken down, and was up on a rock
cliff, so it would be easy to defend. They took fire hoses to the snow over the
last two days and then groomed it with their stellar European grooming skills
to come up with the bumpiest hardest snow I have ever been on. We decided that
if a
Kranska Gora
SLOVENJA Europa Cup GS January 7-8, 14
My first 2 Europa Cup
races and it’s like I’m starting over again with bib 85 of 91. They had a World
Cup race 2 weeks ago and to elevate the start they built a 20' scaffolding and
blew snow all over it for a good fast start. To qualify for a second run in EC
races, we have to finish 60th or better. The first day I only got one run, but
day two I finished 48th, 3rd on the Development Team, but not skiing like I
should. We had a couple days off between races so we went to the casinos with
all the coaches and a bunch of Canadians. The dealers speak English so we all
played cards, socialized and had some fun. I lost 5,000 Tolars
($20) in Blackjack. That hurt, especially because I’m broke and my ATM card
doesn’t work here.
Tarvisio
I skied Super G on my
DH skis because my SGs are still slow. There’s a
T-bar right outside our hotel so I can wax & scrape, take a few quick runs
and wax & scrape, ski, wax & scrape, ski, wax & scrape, so maybe
they’ll be fast by the next SG race.
Ravascletto
I finally got the
cold that’s going around so I’m going to sleep.
Kitzbuhl
We drove into Kitzbuhl just in time to see the WORLD CUP HAHNENKAMM DH
and it was a huge giant party. We paid 19 Euro to stand in the crowd where we
could see the side hill into the last jump, scoreboard, Jumbotron
and finish. We had to move away from a Swiss guy that had two HUGE cowbells on
a yoke he wore around his shoulders. Every time a Swiss racer came down he’d
swing back and forth and the really deep loud bells would hurt our ears. When
an Austrian finished, the crowd roared and fireworks and red smoke bombs went
off. It was wild! After the race we had a bratwurst and left because it was
getting nuts to walk through town and we had a long drive ahead.
St Moritz SWITZERLAND Europa Cup DH/SG January
21-26
First day and we will only have one training run because bad weather is
expected, but it is the coolest funnest course I’ve
ever been on. It’s like Cliffhanger on steroids; way bigger, steeper and more
jumps. Second day fogged out. Third day they ran forerunners and the first
racer pulled out after almost hitting a fence he couldn’t see. Race cancelled.
Geoff Stephenson was supposed to be racing, but got hurt rodeling,
a primitive form of luge. You can steer somewhat, but
it goes really fast past wood fences you usually hit. I think there’s a lot of
Schnapps involved. Fourth day low clouds, race cancelled. I’ve been over here a
month racing, traveling and training and I’m getting tired. Fifth day we
finally got a DH race off and it was sunny. Number 42 won the race so it was a
good opportunity. I thought I had a pretty good run with a few mistakes and
came down 3 seconds out. Not great, but not bad. I’m sorry they had to cancel
the other DH and SG; I’m really excited about the course. We have 2 FIS SG's tomorrow, then home. I’m drinking lots of water,
spinning on the bike and getting rest; but every day I’m getting more tired. I
think it’s time to come home.
But Kevin will not be home long as
he has
just made the World Junior Team, and he will be forerunning the
Olympic DH, combined DH, and the SG.
He will be leaving for
Congratulations, Kevin!
We're very proud of you!
G.I. Joe's Mini World Cup News
(By Brad Jacobson, MWC Head Coach)
The first
GI Joe’s MWC GS race
was held Sunday, January 13th on a bright and sunny day, for the
first time in memory. We saw some
amazing skiing and outstanding performances.
The GI Joe’s MWC last qualifier race for the Buddy Werner Championships
will be held on February 7. After this
race, the top 10 boy finishers and top 10 girl finishers qualify for the races
to be held at Mission Ridge in
The GI
Joe’s MWC athletes have been invited to attend the
A big
'Thank You' goes to all of the parents who helped out with the GI Joe’s MWC
races. Thanks to you our races run
quickly and smoothly. Also, special
thanks go to Gary and Ronda Sneva for
providing the delicious sack lunches to race volunteers and coaches.
The GI
Joe’s MWC program has had some extremely generous donations from a handful of
parents, totaling over $7000. This money
has allowed the MWC program to purchase 6 new radios, two video cameras, a
small TV, 6 new coach’s uniforms, Buddy Werner Team Coats, and various tools
for setting courses. It is so awesome to
receive these donations; it helps our program immensely and translates to
better quality coaching and overall program quality for all of our
athletes.
Thank you to:
Rod Ray & Bend Research
Gary and Ronda Sneva
Glenn and Marie Hackbarth
Rob Ross and Janey
Purvis
And Several Anonymous Donors
See you on the
hill!
Mini World Cup Program Family
Work Deposit
Remember
to turn in your completed Family Work Deposit Work Sheet showing your volunteer
hours, to Julie at MBSEF, in order to get credit for your Work Deposit submitted
at the beginning of the season. Please turn in the work sheet by
but should read Work Date in the 1st column, Function in the 2nd column
and Training/Race/Event
Name in the 3rd column).
Thank you for all your help!
Events
Director News
(By Linda Snyder)
The 26th Anniversary
U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle Logo Winner
This year’s U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle logo contest had
25 fantastic entries. The winner is Lee
Zeman, a graphic designer at
New Member Benefit
We have had an official airline sponsor and an official
food bar, now we have the “Official Burrito”.
Gene Fitzsimmons at the Taco Stand is offering a 25% discount to
all MBSEF members who can flash that membership card. Try the Mole…yummm!!!
MBSEF SUPPORTERS
We would like to thank those MBSEF members who have
generously donated funds for our programs, for new timing and video equipment,
and to all of you who sent in donations for the “Friends Fund” at the end of
the year. This year the campaign raised
$2416 to go towards scholarships. Thank
you so much for your support!
SPRING FUNDRAISERS
It’s time to mark your calendars and start thinking about
the upcoming spring fundraising events.
We hope to see everyone there, either participating or volunteering!
The Banff Festival of Mountain Films
The Festival will
be April 22 & 23 at the Pilot Butte Cinemas. Times to be announced at a
later date.
The 26th Anniversary U.S. Bank Pole Pedal Paddle
May 18th
Entry Forms will be available at the MBSEF office and all
Oregon U.S. Bank Branches by March 1. We
are always in need of extra volunteers so if you are not competing, please plan
on helping out and receive a
T-shirt!
U.S. Bank Kid’s Mini Pole Pedal Paddle May 19th
If you've never watched this event or helped in the past,
please join us this year. It's a very
fun event for kids to participate who are in kindergarten through fifth
grade. It's also so much fun to watch
this event. We’ll need volunteers to
help with registration and course set-up.
MBSEF's Annual Awards Banquet
- April 27
Yes, this year we will celebrate and acknowledge our
outstanding athletes and volunteers earlier in the year. Hopefully, more people will have a chance to
attend this special event. It will be
held Saturday evening, April 27, after the May Day events. Location to be announced later so stay tuned
and mark that calendar!
SNOWBOARD ATHLETE PROFILE
Highlighting: Chris Luzier
(By Dave Reynolds, Head Snowboard Coach)
“It’s FUN!” That’s
why Chris Luzier snowboards almost every day
no matter what the weather is like. At
age16, Chris is normally a junior at
Chris has been snowboarding for 6 years and has been a
member of the MBSEF snowboard family for the past 4 years. His favorite thing about the MBSEF program is
learning new tricks. For the past 3
years, Chris has been competing in both Slopestyle
and Halfpipe events.
Halfpipe is his favorite because he has had
better results. In fact, last year he
earned enough points to go to Nationals which was held in
His favorite color is blue. His favorite food is pizza. His favorite run on the mountain is the
In the future, Chris sees himself competing more and has
set goals to return to Nationals, be more consistent, and hopefully get
sponsored. Chris has the ability to do
anything he wants in snowboarding; it’s just a matter of time.
Thank you to Dan Rutherford and
to the
and new hooks and shelving!
Wish List
Two 25"-27" TV's with VHS
capability are needed (one for the
ITEMS FOR
Spyder Slalom Suit - $200. New 2002 U.S. Ski Team suit, Blue, fits 130 - 170 lbs., 5'6" - 5'10". Call
389-7352
Volkl P-40 Jr Race Skis 2000, 168cm, brand new (in wrapper) red & white, $170 or offer. Contact Jon Ohlson 509-493-1444 day, 509-493-3207 eves.
Brand New Skis For sale: K2 Patriot GT6 racing skis, 181 cm, with 1-year-old bindings, $500. Contact Allen at 318-8765.
Spyder DH suit - Mens Large, blue, white, red, great condition. $100. Spyder Stealth Pants - Size Medium, black, brand new. $30. Karbon Training Shorts - Size XL, good condition. $25. Contact Amy Hensley 312-9428
SKI
TRACKS
is the official newsletter publication of the Mt. Bachelor Ski Education
Foundation, a non-profit, tax-exempt 501(c)(3)
membership association.
SKI
TRACKS
is published four times per season (December, February, March, and April). Publications are available to current members
enrolled in an MBSEF program. Membership
year runs September through August.
Publisher: Russ Read
Editor:
Cindy Ferris
Asst.
Editor: Linda Snyder; Inge Scheve
Contributions
are always welcome! We appreciate
in-kind and financial contributions supporting our Foundation.
Please
have articles in by the last week of the month, for publication the following
month. We prefer articles on diskette in
a Microsoft Word program (please include a hard copy) or sent via E-Mail. Diskettes and photos will be returned after
newsletter is printed. Contact us at the
numbers/addresses provided below.
Office
#: (541) 388-0002
Fax
#: (541) 388-7848
E-Mail:
mbsef@mbsef.org
Home
Page: www.mbsef.org