The 2024 Piche’s Invitational was at Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, NH on March 12-17, 2024. JFBB qualifiers for the race were u12’s Mackenzie and Jack. They joined 22 other u12 racers from PARA to make up the Pennsylvania State Team. The Piche’s Invitational also includes State Teams from New York, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, New Jersey, Virginia, and West Virginia.
The first two days consisted of training, a day set specifically for GS and a day spent for SL. The team was fortunate to have Coach Bill from JFBB and Coach Kevin from Camelback to assist on training days. The racers were all able to get in multiple training runs and began to establish a bond and form friendships with their fellow PARA racers that would end up being a major theme of the weekend .
Friday- Dual Slalom Team Event
The first day of racing is a fun team event, although Mother Nature did not cooperate, it poured the entire event and produced very difficult snow conditions. However, that didn’t stop our PARA racers from having an awesome time. Their amazing team spirit, their chanting in the rain, and their cheering for each other was admired by many.
The way the event works is racers are split into a team Red or team Black for each state and then they run a dual paneled slalom course for a qualifying time. They take the top two girls and top two boys times from each team to create their seeded place for a 16 elimination bracket. Para Black (Mackenzie’s team) and Para Red (Jack’s team) were seeded 11th and 12th respectively. Huge shout out to Jack for being a beast, after slipping on course and busting his lip open and tweaking his back, he continued to charge hard and didn’t let the mishap (or blood) phase him.
In the first round PARA Red was up against 5th seed, Vermont Red, and PARA Black versed 6th seed, Maine Red. Each PARA racer then tried to beat their opponent and score a point for their team. The team with the most points advanced to the next round. Unfortunately, both PARA teams were knocked out in the first round. PARA Red lost 7-3, PARA Black had a closer match and lost 6-5. Keep in mind, that many of the racers on the northern state teams race for ski academies and are often on the hill 6 to 7 days a week. Our PARA athletes did a phenomenal job, and each race was pure tenths of seconds difference. However, the coaches and racers were somewhat content with their elimination so they could get out of the rain and warm up. They were absolutely soaked!
Saturday -GS
The schedule changed slightly due to the weather and GS became the first individual event. The course was icy and caused many skiers to DNF. There were a few delays due to crashes. Both Jack and Mackenzie held their own and produced very respectable finishes. After the first run, Mackenzie was in 54 out of 90 girls, and Jack was in 48th out of 98 boys. Run two, Mackenzie came in 43rd, placing her 49th overall. Jack had an incredible run and came in 35th, landing him in 39th overall. Both proved resilient and overcame the challenging course.
Sunday -St. Patrick’s Day Slalom
Rain moved in overnight and stuck around for inspection. But thankfully a leprechaun must have found his gold, because it cleared out in time for the first run.
Mackenzie flew through the course and was on par for a top 20 time, but also flew past the flush right at the end, she was forced to hike and added 17 seconds to her time. She came in 83rd.
The boys had a seperate yet very challenging course, 11 had a dnf or dsq. Jack, still sore from the slip on Friday, was able to complete the difficult course with no problem and placed 57th.
Run two, both Mackenzie and Jack showed their grit and determination. They both knew they had to lay it down and had nothing to lose. Mackenzie’s efforts moved her up to a 39th place run and 68th overall. Jack skied fantastic in another challenging course that knocked out 10 competitors, He placed 58th and moved up to 51st overall.
When asked what their favorite memory of the entire experience was,
Mackenzie said, “My favorite memory of the weekend was chanting PARA with my teammates and getting louder as we went.”
Jack stated that his favorite part “was meeting other kids from the other mountains and the team chants!“
Special thanks goes out to the Camelback team for including Mackenzie and Jack in all of their apres ski fun! Also, to the Reckner family for hosting Jack and his parents. The Reckner’s are a former JFBB (Logan) family that moved to NH two years ago. Also, thanks to Megan (Blue), Charles (SevenSprings), Bill (JFBB), and Kevin (Camelback) for coaching the PARA group. They did an excellent job keeping the group’s spirits up in the pouring rain, made sure each racer had a good inspection, checked dins and boots, gave great advice and key things to focus on. Megan and Kevin also helped referee the event as well. The coaches received many compliments about our team’s enthusiasm and sportsmanship and that is the best compliment of all!
Congratulations Mackenzie and Jack on a fantastic season, we are so proud of you!
Thanks to Jerry J’s mom for the article.