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Show 1 my,:: k U . ftr .- I ' 4K-I 1 I ' ' ' 'm ' - 1 ' . . .. " - --.lfas- .. - ..... --'f- " hi Mf;&& Head on and f Upside of Clifford Funk. At left Funk, competing in the men's cross country class, prepares to photos by Randy Hanskat shoulder a gate on Pick V shovel. Then by in a flash. Funk powers towards the finish line of Monday's season-opening tow n race. Town Race series eliminates handicap for telemark turns by Randy tlanskat Most of you probably know that the World Cup opened a couple weeks ago in Europe. However, far . more important to local ski race fanatics is not what happens on the Wold Cup circuit, but what happens on the Town Race circuit. Well, for those of you who would rather read about the likes of Nina Portwood and Joan Skinner than Tamara McKinney and Cindy Nelson, read on the first Town Race was held Monday. One down, six to go. According to Kathryn Hadfield of the Park City Ski Area Race Department, 167 racers turned out in the brilliant sun which dawned Monday after the weekend's huge storm. The boost in the race fee, from $5 last year to $7, didn't seem to keep many away. In fact, Hadfield said this year's turnout for the opening race was only 10 less than last year's opener. Cross country, C class, and B class racers, expecting to start their race from the lowly dogleg on Clementine, Clemen-tine, were greeted with a pleasant surprise as they made their way off of the Three Kings chair. This year those racers get to start from the top of Clementine's next-door neighbor, Pick 'n' Shovel, and buzz to a finish line all the way at the bottom. Otherwise, the course was the same as in years past. And, as you could expect, many familiar names were in the winning positions. Monday's race was only an individual affair no team points were kept. For the ladies, cross country style, it was Kay Kucera whipping home to first place in a time of 41.95 seconds. Joan Skinner was second at 42.45. On the guys' side there was a tie between two ever-present top notch racers. Brad Makoff and Carl Dollhausen. Both came in at 39.55. A note of discontent rang through the cross country ranks, however, as this year telemark turns are not receiving the time handicap that they have in past years. That puts x-c racers who don't ski parallel turns at a time disadvantage. In the past parallel turns have been penalized by adding time on at the end of the run. Makoff said he thought it would discourage a lot of people from racing. "There are a lot of people who do 'teles' who don't even want to do parallel turns," he said. Makoff said he telemarked on his first run, but found himself out of first place, so on his second run paralleled, and ended up tying for first. The C women were under the command of newcomer Nina Port-wood. Port-wood. Portwood cruised through in 43.15 to win by over a second. Steve Wexler performed the same feat on the men's side. Renee Vanos mashed the B class women by over a second at 42.29. The B men were a closer affair, between Wolf Walsh and Rob Karz. W alsh narrowly beat out Karz with a time of 37.41 to 37.74. The A women had a new name in the top spot Tove Skogheim. Skogheim took the group with a time of 74.06, ahead of regular Iris Gericke at 75.52. For the guys Rob Roetman was top dog. The newcomer of the day, however, was in the Veteran class. There the top speedster was none other than Bob Marsh, director of the Park City Ski Team. Marsh's time of 68.88 far outpaced Dave Peets in second at 71.74. In fact, Marsh's blazing time would've won the A class, and would've been fourth in the Pros. For the Vet women it was Janie Fausold wiping out the crowd by over a second. Finally, in the Pro class it was two of Marsh's pupils who tore it up: Russ Shay and Duane Hendrickson. Hendrickson won with a time of 67.05, while Shay was a half second back at 67.56. Trina Saunders nabbed the women's crown in 72.56. She was followed by Kim Vletas, another Park City Ski Team instructor, in at 73.19. The next Town Race will be for keeps, all of you team players. That race, on Monday, Jan. 21, will count on the team yearly rankings. Following that race will be another on Jan. 28. |
