An exhilarating weekend of spring skiing transpired when 10 JFBB athletes were invited to be part of Team PARA and journeyed north to Gunstock Mountain, in the lake’s region of Gilford, NH for the Francis Piches’ Invitational. The event invites various state teams from the East, with 180 U12 and 120 U14 skiers in the Team Parallel SL, GS, and SL races.
On Friday, the team parallel slalom event took place for both U12 and U14s. This thrilling event fostered immediate camaraderie for the racers and parents alike. The PA racers, who had been competitors all season, were now teammates and, of course, had the loudest cheering section thanks to cowbells and loud cups! Each state team was divided into a red and black team. Our JFBB racers were placed the following teams:
U12 PARA Red
Riley, Kellan, Grace, Andrei
U12 PARA Black
Cassidy, Shoda
U14 Para Red
Lucca
U14 Para Black
Mackenzie, Noah, Vera
After time trials our u12 PARA teams landed in 13th (Red) and 14th (Black) seeds and our u14 were ranked 7th (Black) and 9th (Red).
Once seeded the teams are placed into a bracket similar to March Madness, and the racers compete in a dual panel slalom course against each other in a co-ed competition. If the skier wins their dual, they earn a point for their team. The team with the most points advances.
In the u12 first round, PARA Red was eliminated by 4th seeded team New York Red (8-2) and PARA Black pulled off a huge upset, beating 3rd rank team Vermont Black. (6-4) The PARA black team advanced to quarter finals and then was eliminated in 8-2 loss by 6th seeded NY Black.
In the u14 competition, PARA Red defeated Connecticut Black, 4-2 and PARA Black defeated Connecticut Red, 7-2. Both advanced to the Quarter finals round, where PARA Red was eliminated by top seeded team NH Black 6-2. PARA Black tied the second seeded team, NH Red 4-4, but lost in the tie breaker. The tie breaker was determined by adding the top two fastest times from each team together and PARA was eliminated. Regardless, the PARA teams were thrilled with how they faired against academy racers.
Saturday was a bluebird day that saw warmer temps. Gunstock did a fabulous job maintaining both courses, using chemicals and salts to keep the courses hard and fast for the racers. The u12 racers competed slalom on Tiger race trail, while the u14 competed GS simultaneously on Cannonball trail. Out of the 90 u12 girls, after 2 runs Grace landed in an impressive 35th place, Riley in 37th, and Cassidy after a DQ in run 1, came back strong with 42nd place run 2. The boys had 91 racers competing. Shota finished in 24th, Kellan -37th and Andrei 60th.
The u14 girls had an excellent showing on the GS track with Mackenzie and Vera placing 14th and 16th respectively out of 59 girls. Lucca was steady and calm all weekend and landed in 35th place, Noah after slipping in run one, landed a 17th place second run putting him in 40th overall out of 62.
Saturday evening was a fun event at the Axe and Ale for Team PARA. The athletes and parents were able to come together for some friendly axe throwing competition, food, and laughter. Thanks to Zach W for organizing the great event.
The fog and mist rolled in Sunday am making the first run difficult to see for the girls. The u14’s competed SL, while the u12’s headed to the steeper Cannonball trail for GS. In SL, Mackenzie slipped at the top of run 1 and was in 31st, and after a strong run 2 moved up 7 spots to 24th. Vera had a beautiful 18th place run 1 but had to hike during run 2 and ended up 41st place. The fog had lifted in time for the boys start and Lucca continued his steady streak finishing 30th after two runs. Noah straddled a gate in run 1, but persevered and had a 22nd place run 2.
The u12’s girls had 6 clean runs with Cassidy, Riley and Grace finishing in 44th, 52nd, and 53rd respectively. Shoda was the top finisher for the boys in 44th place, Andrei came in 50th, and finally after losing his ski in run 1, the last cowbell and loud cup call of the season was rung for Kellan as he crossed the finish line with a 44th place second run.
The team wanted to wish Jack a speedy recovery as he was unable to participate this weekend due to a lingering back injury, his presence was definitely missed!
Congratulations to all of our athletes on a successful season, special thanks to coaches Andrew, Greg, Megan from Blue, Kevin and Joe from Camelback, Bruce from Roundtop, and Blair from WhiteTail for helping lead the PARA racers. We’d also like to thank Gunstock Mountain for putting on an incredible event that was well organized, professional, and smooth. Their village worked hard, and it showed!
Good luck to Seiji and David as they head to u14 Eastern Championships in Lake Placid, NY this weekend.
