Race Reports

While everyone else in the Seattle area was getting ready for the Seahawks' second run at a Superbowl game last weekend, ski racers and their families headed up to Steven's Pass for a great Northwest Cup GS.  The race went off fairly smoothly, so most people were able to watch the game on Sunday also!  Our racers showed the strength and depth of the CMAC program with 4-5 kids in the top 15 on both the boys' and girls' sides both days!  Our excellent ski race program shines through when you watch a race like this one.  Great skiing across the board!

On Saturday, congratulations go out to Alex, Jordy, Talia, Tess and Sydney who placed 4th, 5th, 6th, 7th, and 11th respectively!  The rest of the girls finished as follows:  Makaela (16), Megan (28), Sarah (31), Hailey (35), Sierra (36), Abby (43), and Piper (56).   For the boys, we had Andrew, Christian, Ty and Tristan L. in the top fifteen, placing 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 12th!  Great job!  We also had Reed at 17th, Corbin 21st, Will F. 37th, Andy 39th, Conner N. 48th, Jack 54th, Max L. 55th, Justin 56th, Wyatt 59th, Thomas 60th, Sebastian 62nd, Blake 65th, Liam 66th, and Carson 71st. 
We all wish the best to Peter Moe-Lang, who went down in a toboggan after a big fall on Saturday.  Peter, we hope to see you on the mountain soon!

On Sunday, CMAC girls who finished on the first page were Jordy (5th), Sydney (6th), Tess (9th), and Sadie (13th).  Following close behind, we saw Megan finish 16th, Hailey 24th, Sierra 25th, Talia 27th, Makaela 30th, and Piper 50th.  CMAC's own Andrew Osborne won the race on Sunday!  Also finishing in the top seed for boys, CMAC had Ty at 8th, Corbin at 13th, and Tristan L. at 14th.  The rest of the boys finished as follows: Devon (21), Will F. (32), Andy (36), Tristan T. (40), Conner N. (43), Jack (44), Justin (47), Blake (49), Sebastian (51), Max L. (52), Wyatt (53), and Liam (55). 

It's really amazing how many great racers we have as a team, and it's fun to watch the development of skills at all levels of this sport.  Whether the athlete is winning or racing in their first Northwest Cup ever, the excitement abounds; we as parents and coaches support every one of you kids!!!   Keep up all the hard work!

A small contingent of CMAC U8-U12 racers (Ella Golik, Ruby Stamnes, Gabriel Caccia, Lucas Broussard, Winthrop Flaggart, Tanner Stines, Oliver Loeser, Ahad Ather, Ethan Golik and Lewis White) made their way to Mission Ridge last weekend for what turned out to be an outstanding race with a field of almost 250 PNSA racers. The conditions were perfect for two GS races on rock hard snow. CMAC was well represented at awards with several podium and top 10 finishes. Most importantly the CMAC racers had fun racing and made great progress with their GS technique and tuck turns into the finish. 

Special thanks to coaches John Phillips and Tom Loeser for doing a fabulous job preparing the racers for each start.

While the date may have been pushed out a week and snow conditions on the mountain thin, the sun and spirits of athletes, coaches, volunteers and parents were high, which made the Warm-up Slalom a great success.  Being a parent spectator, it was impossible to tell those new to racing and those with a few seasons under their race-suits as all the athletes had jitters at the starting gate - a condition a few gummy bears doled out by coaches and parents instantly cured. In good form, the racers cheered on their team mates regardless of their age bracket, gender or varied ability; veteran parents helped the rookie parents find a good place to watch their racer, give a tip about lunch or info on course inspection protocol. 

Once the courses were set and inspected, the race was on.  The kids did a fantastic job showing off their skills in-spite of the conditions; the parents, most of whom were as nervous as their racer, did their best cheering, waving and cow-bell jingling.  At the finish, most athletes had smiles, a few had tears but all had a chance to run the course and get the race season (finally) underway!   The volunteers were expert and the coaches prepared, all of which made for a flawless first race.  Thank-you all!

For a sport that has both team and individual dynamics, this group of U8, U10 and U12 families and coaches should be lauded for the time and support they dedicate to making all of our kids successful athletes.  I was proud to watch our kids respect and appreciate fair-play and teamwork regardless of adversity- whether it was perhaps a fall, missed gate or a team-mate edging out another by hundredths of a second- most of the racers and parents congratulated the others with kind words and encouragement. 

Finally, following a weekend full of racing, after the gates were taken down and the timing equipment put away, we reached the awards ceremony Sunday afternoon exhausted, excited and very proud.  The athletes received their medals heroically and, most importantly, graciously.  We owe another nod to all coaches, volunteers, sponsors and parents for a fun race, great kids and a strong club.  Thank you CMAC!

This series was originally scheduled to be a SG/SG, GS/GS over 4 days are was changed and reduced to a single Slalom and 2 GS race due to low snow coverage. The mountain did an amazing job moving the race over into the heart of the ski area where the snow was hard, fast and consistent.

After a training day in the fog on Saturday, the clouds lifted on Sunday for the Slalom. Approximately 45 Canadians from the BC and Alberta regional teams, as well the ski academies put on quite a clinic for the CMAC skis to see. Even in that great competition, Alex Oseland finished 16th and Jordy Harrison finished 19th. On the men’s side, Tyler Ellis finished 21st and Peter Moe-Lange finished 33rd.

The weather got even better for Monday’s GS race, and CMAC racers took advantage of the sun! Alex Oseland skied to another solid 16th, and Talia Toland finished 25th. On the men’s side, Peter Moe-Lange finished 16th and Tyler Ellis followed in 23rd.
Tuesday, the fog was Pea-Soup, but that didn’t seem to slow our CMAC racers much. Alex Oseland was 17th and Talia Toland skied to 26th. Peter Moe-Lange was the top skier from the PNSA in 7th place. Well done P-Moe!

Well, the U16’s got off to an excellent start to the season at Mt. Spokane. We arrived on Friday to train, and were greeted with the typical Spokane Fog. Not having John Ellis with us, we missed his infamous Fog Wax. I was hoping to find some Fog B Gone, but none available. Anyway , we also had some freezing rain over 4 inches of powder, leg breaker snow, but the racers and I were determined to train, so we took four runs of course prep and then managed 7 excellent training runs as the weather cleared!! I know Hailey doesn’t believe in creating good Karma, but all that hard worked paid off and we had a great GS race! Despite the recent difficult training situation at home, we managed some excellent SL training in Green Valley the previous weekend and the kids got up early on race days to get some extra laps on the warm up SL courses and it really helped.  We were well prepared for SL and it went really well.

Devon Toribio had an extraordinary weekend and won the GS and the Two SL races. Reed Lower shared the podium with Devon and came third in a SL.  

More Podiums came on the girls side every day. Sydney Janssen showed off her new improved skiing skills from all her hard work in the gym and extensive off season training with two 3rd place finishes in SL, followed closely by Sadie Kerslake   4th Hailey Holm 6th and 10th, Abby Orford, 9th and 11th, and our rookie Piper Okane is closing in on the top 20 with a 24th in the first SL. 

In the GS event Sadie came 5th,  Tess 7th,  Hailey 20th ,  Piper 37th and the host of boys with much improved skiing ,  again Devon 1st, Connor Niemann 16th,  Will 23, Max 26,  Wyatt 27, Sebastian 27, Justin 40 . Our ultra rookie Carson Homewood had  his second day in a true GS course and showed us some great skiing but failed to make a finish.  His determination will go a long way as he begins to learn this fun but brutally competitive sport. Connor Budd went down and suffered a concussion, but hopes to be back soon. He was feeling ok as he left for the weekend. Get well quickly Connor!

The other boys fared well as group in SL as well. Tristan 12th and 13th and Will 16th , 14th,  Max 18th , 30th,  Sebastian 19th, 19th,  consistent!!, Blake 22, Wyatt 23,24, Thomas 26, Justin 29, 28,  

A group of CMAC U14s racers as well as a couple U16s drove down to Mt Hood for the WinterStart Slalom race at Mt Hood Meadows.  The field was quite small, so MRT decided to combine the two days of racing into one day.  The race was held higher up on the mountain under mostly sunny skies and the snow conditions were perfect for racing.  

CMAC had a strong showing on the podium, including this sweep of the women's U14s in Race B.

Here are all of the top 10 finishes:

The NW Cup Series got off to a nice start this season at Mt. Bachelor Oregon at the beginning of the month. After being relocated from Mt. Hood, Bachelor had some great conditions, dry snow and the races went very well. This year the FIS team is racing with the U16 kids in all the NW Cup events, and it was great to give the U16’s an extra challenge prior to their qualifiers. Our Senior racer Christain Hanseler led the way in the boys placing 3rd and and 2nd, followed closely by U16 racer Devon Toribio in 4tha and 7th. Ty Ellis also cracked the top ten. On the girls side, Alex Oseland  had a 3rd and 7th ,  Jordy Harrison  8th and 10th, and 12th and 14th.  U16 racer Tess Baldwin pulled off a 13th place finish.

The balance of our program had a very nice warm up race to the season. All of the kids showing the progress from all their off-season training. It looks to be another fun season as CMAC will make a bid for the NW Cup title again this season. Go CMAC!!