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Show s- 3 f i Park City by Jim Murray Muaripay nnn jp(D)goti;g i When he started riding, Harding was president ? . I i 4 PageBl Thursday, March 24, 1983 - A) Tori Pillinger Jason Lawson Junior Olympics Park City skiers exce by David Hampshire up and finish," said Coach Marsh continued. "The kids Tori Pillinger u 16, capged ta Clifford. "But he missed who could ski well, and suits from members of the Park City Ski Team by winning the combined title as the best overall female skier at the 1983 Junior Olympics for the JI (16- and 17-year-old) age group. Although Pillinger "did not take first place in any individual races, she was awarded the combined title on the basis of her overall performance in downhill, slalom and giant slalom. The JI Junior Olympics, held last week in Big Mountain, Montana, Mon-tana, attracted the top talent from throughout the United States and Canada, i Pillinger recorded top-ten results at least once in each of the three disciplines, including a second in the giant slalom, eighth in slalom sla-lom and ninth in downhill. There were two races held in each discipline, with only one of each counting toward the combined title. Almost exactly a year ago, Pillinger won the Junior Olympic combined title for J1I (14- and 15-year-old) skiers in the western states. This year, Jason Lawson almost followed in her footsteps. foot-steps. Lawson, who has a reputation reputa-tion for being fast but erratic, found the groove in the JII Junior Olympics in Jackson Hole last week. Competing against the best skiers from the western states (including Colorado), Lawson finished second and fourth in the two downhills, then sixth and second in the two giant slaloms. With only the slalom to go, he was a favorite to take the combined com-bined title. 5" All he had to do was stand Lawson came back to win the final slalom. However, race officials were using only the first race in each discipline to determine the combined title, so Lawson missed out. "Jason was by far the best technical skier on the hill, did well." Not to be outdone by their older teammates, Park City's JIII (12- and 13-year-old) skiers were the talk of the Junior Olympics in Slide Mountain and Incline Village, Vil-lage, Nevada, which included in-cluded skiers from all the skiers from the Intermoun- attempt was made later, the jain Division finished 1-2-3-5 fogrolled in. in slalom for both men and " "It took us threehours to Included in those run 10 girls," Formichelli said. women. Included in results were Stephanie, Palmer Pal-mer (second), Jeremy Nobis (first), Bret Johnson (third), and Jere Calmes (fifth) . Palmer, 12, one of the smallest racers in the field, also turned an impressive time in giant slalom, finish- "The Intermountain Division was definitely the strongest division there. Everybody was shaking their heads and saying, 'Where did these kids come from?999 and he proved that," said Park City Coach Bob Marsh. Park City's Nicki Koch also shone in Jackson, in spite of a hyperextended knee suffered suf-fered in downhill training. Her credentials included a third in slalom, fifth in downhill and sixth in giant slalom. Clifford said the races were plagued by erratic weather. During one race, he said, it was snowing at the top of the course and raining at the bottom. "Most of the time (during the 10-day event) it was either snowing or raining. I think we had one clear day, and that was a day off." When the weather suddenly sudden-ly turned cold in the middle of the series, grooming turned the Jackson course into a condition which Marsh described as "death cookies." cook-ies." "Conditions for the giant slalom were as tough as I've seen for that age group," western regions except Colorado. Colo-rado. "The Intermountain Division Divi-sion was definitely the strongest division, there," said Coach Patti Formichelli. Formi-chelli. "Everybody was shaking their heads and saying, 'Where did these kids come from?' "The first day was incredible. in-credible. We knocked everybody's every-body's socks off." On the first day of racing, ing sixth. "For her size and her age, everybody's heads were turning," Formichelli said. In the men's giant slalom, Jere Calmes finished fifth, Bret Johnson was 10th and Jeremy Nobis 16th. The JIII Junior Olympics were scheduled to start with a pair of downhill races. However, a heavy snowfall closed Slide Mountain for three days. When a second Finally, the decision was made to scratch the downhill completely. "Within about 20 minutes after the decision was made, it cleared up." Park City's Tyler Tebbs posted the fastest time in the first day of downhill training, train-ing, but did not finish either the slalom or giant slalom. Formichelli said the skiers from the Intermountain Division Di-vision supported each other during the series. "This team turned out to be a real team. These kids really got together... Our division is so strong right now that they're developing each other." She said that some of the Park City skiers who didn't qualify for the Intermountain Intermoun-tain team could have made the top 15 at the Junior Olympics. "We are a small division, and our quota for this race was smaller. That's what's amazing." For more results, please turn to the Scoreboard section. Training is underway for local soccer teams Hockey! The calendar mav sav it's SDrine. but don't let it fool you. The hockey season is just starting that is, if you play for the Park City Silver Kings. The Silver Kings, who have been holding practices since before Christmas, will kick off their abbreviated season schedule next Monday with a game against Snowbird. It is set to begin at 9 p.m. at the Cottonwood Ice Arena, 7530 South 2700 East, just south and west of the mouth of Little Cottonwood Canyon. "I guess we're ready," said Silver King spokesman Greg McWhinney. "We scrimmaged them (Snowbird) " once this year and it was pretty tight. But they had a lot of imports." McWhinney said Monday's game is the first of a planned three-game series against Snowbird. There will be a $l admission fee to help pay the cost of ice time. It may still be winter in Park City but it is spring in Salt Lake, which means that Park City athletes who hope to compete with their Salt Lake counterparts better start spring training. The call is already out to fill the rosters for the Park City soccer teams. The first game will be played April 2 and, despite the snow, both the men's and women's teams have been practicing at the Memorial Building. According to Mike Walker who has been coordinating the early season organization of the men's team, "We have enough guys to start with a full roster of 18 players." Later in the season, he hopes there will be enough interest to form a second team. Annie Bowman reports that the women have been working under the auspices of two excellent coaches from Salt Lake. But, she says, there are still spaces open on the team. "We need more piayeib. n ineie are any other women who are interested in-terested get your name on the roster." Both teams practice on Sunday evenings. Bowman says new players are welcome to show up for practice at 7 p.m. at the Memorial Building or may fall her at the Recreation Department for more information. infor-mation. Any men who are interested in-terested should call Mike Walker ' (649-1348) or Rip Griffith (649-9073). John Longden is the only guy I ever knew in my life who looked older 20 years ago. But that's nothing. Johnny looked 80 when he was 50. Johnny worried a lot. Now that he's nearing 80, he looks 50. Not that he necessarily feels it. John, who has been known to shrug off broken bones and noses, and who once won a horse race with a broken neck, has, however, great respect for bugs and viruses. The only time he goes out in the draft is when the flag is up and, (he day we lunched, even though it was dry where we sat, sheets of rain swept the race track and John Longden ate with his raincoat on. Johnny only half nibbled on his omelet, but he displayed greater interest when the ice cream was brought. "Put a little lit-tle chocolate syrup on it," he suggested. The whole story of racing is in the seamed face of John Eric Longden. It's hard to believe, but when he began riding, Warren G. Harding was President, Dempsey was champion, Babe Ruth was just getting started, star-ted, movies were silent, and cars had cranks. Born in England, Johnny began work in the coal mines of Alberta, Canada, where he remembers that, at the age of 11, he could "shovel 10 tons a day." He weighed 90 pounds at the time. John was born on Feb. 14, 1910, give or take a decade, which is to say a lot of people think he got the day and century right but the year is suspect. John has other things to do besides argue. When John started riding, he had to handle two horses at a time, standing up. From that day, no matter how fractious or ill-tempered his mount, Longden is unimpressed. "There's only one of them, isn't there?" he'd contend. Also, you could sit down. In Longden s day, riders didn't even wear goggles. Starting gates were optional. Patrol judges and seeing-eye cameras didn't skulk at every turn, and a race was part-rumble, part-fistfight. Longden won the first race he ever rode in and 6,031 more before he hung up his tack. It was estimated he was riding the great-great-great-great-grandchildren of his original mounts by the time he quit, and he himself was a grandfather several times over. Nobody ever got a horse out of a gate the way John Longden did. He learned the art under a stern trainer in the Northwest named "Sleepy" Armstrong who schooled his boys in the starting gate with the understanding under-standing that the rider who was last out got the job of mucking the stalls all day. Sleepy had a stable of the fastest post boys in America by the time he got through and Johnny was the fastest of the fast. "Longden could get a three-legged horse out ahead of a dog," a rival trainer once marveled. He revolutionized the art of racing to an extent. Prior to John Longden, it was considered con-sidered the mark of a class horse, and a class rider, to take back after the start of a race and come on in the final stages. Longden saw no reason why a horse who got out of the post two lengths ahead of everyone else should dawdle down the backstretch. "A length at the start is as good as a length at the finish," he would argue with Longden. It was. He evolved a peculiar riding style which saw him sit up on the neck of the horse with a curious rocking motion which seemed to be in rhythm with the stride of the horse. Competitors were awed. 'You can get to him you can't get by him," rival Ray York once conceded. The press saluted his peculiar style of riding with a nickname. Johnny Longden became "the Pumper." When Johnny rode his Kentucky Derby winner in 1943, that race was popularly believed to belong to the come-from-behind horses, the Whirlaways, Twenty grands, Cavalcades, the late rushers. It was considered con-sidered to win sissy to win on the head end Longden, who was as stubborn as an Alaskan winter, was having none of that. "Count Fleet was the best horse I ever rode. He may have been the best horse anyone ever rode." John Longden saw no reason, just because it was the Derby, to take back on a horse that was lengths better than anyone in the field, if not in history. Count Fleet won as he pleased. And never tasted a flying clod. Longden himself seldom finished with a mouthful of mud. The strategy was to serve succeeding years of riders at the Derby. Swaps won it wire-to-wire. So did Hoop Jr., Jet Pilot, Hill Gail. The riding style was particularly suited to California when Longden moved there where the tracks were seldom tiring and where speed held up. Not surprisingly, Longden is a superior trainer. Or maybe surprisingly, since great hitters seldom make great managers, or great halfbacks, great coaches. Men of great prowess have difficulty understanding those of lesser skills, those who have to work for their success, a protege "Just go up there and hit a home run" or "Why don't you just make a touchdown?" But, Longden, too, had to work for his fame. He stopped growing just short of five feet, probably because that's as high as the mine shafts went. He gypsied around the country sleeping on running boards or buck-boards buck-boards or hauling his racing stock behind him tied to a surrey. Longden knows every horse isn't Count Fleet. He knows every jockey isn't Johnny Longden. Longden remembers he went around in his early days trailing behind the great trainer, "Sunny Jim" Fitzsimmons, soaking up the lore of racing, and something clicked in John when a boy came to him in Seattle one day and said. "Mr. Longden, I'd like to be a rider." "Come see me when you get older," Longden told the 11-year-old. And promptly forgot it. A few years later, a young man presented himself at Longden 's tack room at the barn in Arcadia. "Are you going to keep your promise?" he asked John Longden. Longden always keeps his promises. That's why young Joe Steiner, who slept in that Longden stable, and rode a bicycle to school, is now one of the promising young riders on the Santa Anita circuit with 19 wins to his credit this meeting. Joey has a lot going for him. he only has to ride one horse at a time. Purses are in the millions and the "jockey's room" no longer consists of a running board of a car and a fresh pail of water to shower under. Joe, still an apprentice, may finish up 6,000 wins shy of his mentor's record. But Longden is uncharacteristically optimistic. "He listens," he explains. Around the racetrack, if you don't listen to John Longden, you're in the wrong business. (c ) 1983, Los Angeles Times mi Stein Eriksen lodge HEALTH SPA Now offering a special program "For Your Health" April 15 to May 15 Includes: yoga, energy dance, swimming, showers, jacuzzi, sauna, outdoor heated pool, exercise room with mirrors and ballet bar, exercise bicycle, and massage CLASS SCHEDULE: YOGA: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 8:00 - 9:00 a.m. Tuesday, Thursday 6:30 - 7:30 p.m. ENERGY DANCE: Monday, Wednesday, Friday 9:15 - 10:15 a.m. We offer many different program options with different numbers of classes, massages and use of the spa facilities For more information, call 649-3700. Instructor and coordinator, Lauryn Maloney r |