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Show Features Local Sporting Events High School Results Recreation r t Park Record Thursday, March 19, 1987 Page B7 Quote of (he week: "Para-skiing sounds like scuba-rodeo. One day you ride the bronco and the next day you try and spear a marlin." See story below Larry Bagley Winter Briefs Rotary to sponsor track meet The Park City Rotary announc-ed announc-ed Tuesday it will be sponsoring a Park City High School track invitational in-vitational set for Saturday, May 2, on the high school's new track for 1A and 2A schools. Currently Cur-rently 31 schools are preparing to compete in the invitational. ParkWest annual furniture race ParkWest Ski Resort will be holding their 2nd annual furniture fur-niture race this Saturday at 12 noon, near the base of the resort. Cost per each team (maximum of four persons per team) is $15. Call 649-5400 for more information. informa-tion. Ski competition at Park City The Park City Ski Area in conjunction con-junction with the Park City Ski Team will host the 13-and-under divisional championships on Friday, Fri-day, Saturday and Sunday, March 20 through 22 on PayDay and Clementine runs. First national , telemark race The first National Telemark Championship race to be held in Aspen, March 26-29, will produce the first U.S. Telemark Ski Team. Over 250 racers from the United States, Canada, Norway, Sweden and Japan will compete against one another for the championship. cham-pionship. For registration information infor-mation contact: Patti Pack, Race Administrator, Box 841, Edwards, Ed-wards, CO 81632, 303-926-2034. Deadline March 20. ParkWest hosts snowboard ing ParkWest Ski Resort will be sponsoring the Utah Snowboar-ding Snowboar-ding Championships on March 21 and 22 for interested competitors. On Saturday, competition will include in-clude a giant slalom snowboar-ding snowboar-ding race. Sunday's action will include in-clude half -pipe freestyle competition. competi-tion. Call 649-5400. Bicycle trip slide show Matt Dewaal, Utah native and two-time winner of the Park City Bike and Tie event along with wife Jolene, will be presenting a slide show on his 106-day around-the-world bicycle trip taken with partner Jay Aldous on Friday, March 20, at 7:30 p.m. The show will take place in the Rec. Bldg., located next to the library. P.C. handicap assoc. meeting The Park City Handicapped and Sports Association will be holding a meeting, Thursday, March 26 at 7 p.m. at the Rec. Bldg. located near the library. For more information call 649-3991. Notes.... The world's first rope tow was invented by Alex Foster and installed in-stalled at Shawbridge, Quebec, in 1932. It was powered by a Dodge automobile, jacked up on blocks, with a rope looped around a wheel rim. In 1934, Clinton Gilbert hitched a continuous length of rope of the rear wheel of his Model T Ford and hauls four skiers up a hill near Woodstock, Vermont. The folks around Woodstock claimed they had the first operating rope tow in North America. A competitor tfw tCne 4m it's not what you'd call your every-day type of sport. Heck, how often is it you get to watch or participate for that matter in a contest involving in-volving skydiving and skiing back-to-back? Yes, we are talking about jumping out of a helicopter 3,000 feet above the base of a ski resort on one day and meandering through a NASTAR-style course the next 'day. ; A para-ski contest. . .get it? Although para-skiing may not soundlike sound-like your average sporting endeavor, if you lived in Bavaria during the late '60s and early '70s, the sport was used as a rescue technique in areas of heavy snowfall when helicopters weren't as widely available. - . - 11" by JENNIFER MADGIC Skis and parachutes intermingle in ParkWest para-ski contest Said Larry Bagley, President of the U.S. Parachuting Association and organizer of the ParkWest Para-Ski Para-Ski Contest, the idea caught on and it wasn't long before the nordic countries coun-tries decided to make an event of it. And for the past four years, ParkWest Ski Resort has sported para-skiing with the annual Pepsi Para-Ski Meet one of three such events held annually in the United States. Watching the March 14 and 15 competition at ParkWest, it was not difficult to see the alliance between old and new as some 40-odd com petitors took turns waiting for the 'copter to make another sweep in their direction. Bundled up in an odd array of outfits, out-fits, complete with altitude-reading gadgets attached to people along with strange-looking padded helmets and goggles, four competitors com-petitors were allowed per helicopter delivery 3,000 feet above the base of ParkWest Ski Resort. Each competitor was allowed three jumps throughout the day, which were totalled in relation to the distance they were able to successfully suc-cessfully hit a target about the size 7v J XJ 2&T I 6 i. C X V J C ) of a poker chip. According to Bagley, competitors may choose where exactly they want the helicopter to drop them off, as long as it is 3,000 feet from the ground. Bagley said that before competing in his contest, competitors must have jumped at least 100 jumps before. He said the average skydiver jumps approximately 250 times a year. Hopefully, for most, the 250 jumps will spell out accuracy when it comes to finding that poker chip in competition. Jumpers are measured in centimeters how far away they land from the target any further than five meters out is counted as five meters. Just to give you a clue how good some of these divers are, a small handful were able to hit the target right on the money for a 0.00 score. The leading man in the para part of the competition, Tony Fugit was able to take all his three attempts to an overall three-jump record of 0.06 centimeters. The female winner, Lynda Forney, jumped 1.54 centimeters cen-timeters away from the target as a result of her three attempts. However, Forney and Fugit were not the overall winners on day two of competition as the ski part of the competition got the best of them. While Fugit turned in a combined time of 2:05.95, setting him seventh in the skiing aspect and 8th overall in the contest, Forney dropped to third overall as a result of a fifth place finish in the ski event. The same was true for the skiers of the contest. Chris Tobler easily captured the number one spot in the men's skiing division with an overall time of 1:47.83. He was only able to hang on to a seventh place parachuting position. For the women, Michelle Cashman skied the course with the best time, 1:59.79, but was unable to keep the momentum going during the parachuting aspect in which she dropped to third place and second overall. Bagley added that the para-ski event is one of the only sky-diving events that spectators can watch. Other events include formations in the air. Bagley said these are dif-ficul dif-ficul to watch. "The aircraft drops them off about 16,000 feet from the ground and the men start forming formations way up there," said Bagley. "By the time they come down into a decent viewing view-ing area, the formation has already broken up. It's hard for you as a spectator to see what's going on." Bagley said the para-ski competition competi-tion is different. Spectators do get a chance to witness the action of the sky divers because the competition depends on their landing. "Everything this guy does above Neal P3lunt the ground may dazzle the crowd and may look really fun and daring and all, but this is where the competition com-petition goes on. This is where the action is," said Bagley, pointing to the small, orange-colored disk, adding ad-ding that an electronical scoring pad is used to accurately indicate where each competitor first touches ground. Bagley said there are very few reasons for a re-jump to be allowed. In national competitions re-jumps are more common to allow for shifting shif-ting wind conditions once a diver has left an aircraft. Said Bagley, "If you get out of an aircraft at the wrong point and don't make it back to the target.. .that's your problem." He added that they try to stay as close to international competition rules as possible so American competitors com-petitors can meet the standards of other para-skiers around the world: - Is para-skiing the start of a new trend in strange sport combinations? combina-tions? "Para-skiing sounds like scuba-rodeo. scuba-rodeo. One day you ride the bronco and the next day you try to spear a marlin. But what's nice about para-skiing para-skiing is the spectator can go skiing for two days in a row and watch all the competition in two extremely different forms of competition," said Bagley. "Para-ski is just something that has to be explained." Scott Stewart awaits the next helicopter ride up above the slopes of ParkWest in the Fourth Annual Para-Ski Competition Competi-tion held in town last Saturday and Sunday. Although Stewart placed fifth overall in the ski race, he placed last in the parachuting contest. Your first skydive attempt doesn't have to be solo You say you're a little hestitant about jumping out the plane with a parachute tied to your back? Well, fret no more because according ac-cording to Larry Bagley, president presi-dent of the U.S. Parachute Association and owner of the Utah Sky Ranch in Salt Lake City, Ci-ty, there's a new method of learning learn-ing how to parachute that's liable to sweep the skies with new recruits. Traditionally, if you wanted to become a skydiver your first couple cou-ple of departures from the air would be conducted in the control of a static line that was attached to the plane and your chute. The line would drop with you until you reached the desired height for opening your chute. Tied to your ripcord, the line would automatically tug and pull your parachute open. According to Bagley, although this method was and still is widely wide-ly used, there is another method he feels is safer. "From 1984 to 1986 we made about 300 student static-line jumps with about 14 injuries resulting," said Bagley. "From March of '86 to March of '87 in a one-year period we've made close to 300 tandem jumps with zero injuries." Tandem jumping means exactly exact-ly what it implies: jumping with two.. .two people that is. "This system doesn't cheat you out of anything," said Bagley. "You jump out of the airplane at 8,000 feet, you fall for 30 seconds at a rate of 100 to 150 miles an hour with all the air rushing past your body. You're not cheated at all by having someone with 20 years experience and 3,700 jumps on your back. In fact, when the parachute opens you might say, "I'm glad you're here! " Bagley said tandem jumping has become a viable way for individuals in-dividuals interested in sky diving to actually experience it in a safer environment. "Most students that get killed in this sport get killed on their first or second jump. We've felt like this technique has changed the death and accident rate of students in America," said Bagley, explaining the arrival to earth is similar to "stepping off a chair." "I make two of these jumps with you before I allow you to go out and try it by yourself," said Bagley. "We see far fewer injuries in-juries and a safety record that continues throughout the years." |