Racing Home

General Info

Race Team

Race Results

Application

Toggenburg Race Report
February 9, 2003

He stepped out of the side door of the main lodge. The bright sunlight reflecting off the slope briefly blinded him. He adjusted his greasy and frayed baseball cap to shade his eyes. He exhaled deeply forming a small white cloud that dissipated quickly. He appreciated the fresh air. Scanning the ski hill he quickly located the race course way off to the left. He could only see a small bit of the finish area. He strained to hear the race announcer over the noise of the double chair and the chaotic rumble from inside the lodge. There it is, "now on course racer 54, finishing time for 53 is, and in the starting gate." He couldn't make it all out but it brought a smile to his face all the same. He had been a racer once, back in the day. Although he had given up racing after two years, as a J3 he stilled loved skiing, couldn't get enough of it. Most of his friends had taken up snowboarding but he stuck with skiing. Which is why he was where he was. Racing had not only honed his skiing skills but had given him a jones for the best equipment and good equipment meant serious cash. He admired how aerodynamic the new helmets had become, how short and shaped were the skis, and how every kid now had a race suit. Many went without the suits when he raced. His mom had wanted to get him a black and white cow suit but he wanted the Spyder. The big black spider on the back and the web on the shoulder were cool. His younger brother now wore that same suit to race. He still skied on his old red-checkered Atomics he had used in his last year of racing. They now were his "rock" skis. He rubbed his forearms to get rid of the goose bumps. He hadn't grabbed a jacket because he knew he couldn't be out long. A small knot of racers skated passed, chatting loudly to each other, on their way over to the triple. It reminded him of his own pack of race rats. He had made some good friends racing and wondered where they were. He glanced at his watch, time was up, and his break was over. He reached for the door to go back into the lodge and back to work as a short order cook at Toggenburg.

Toggenburg is best described as a fairly good restaurant and bar with an entry-level ski hill attached. Recognizing there was little they could do about the cruel mesa-like topography, the management had long ago decided to focus mainly on dining. They cater mostly to parents watching their kids ski, pseudo-skiers and snowmobilers. The fifth week of the Central New York Ski Council took the Cazenovia Ski Racing's elite travel team to Toggenburg for a slalom race. The tight gates and flatter terrain would be a challenge for Cazenovia's racers. They are mostly young and slight of build so it is difficult for them to maintain speed. It also had rained and thawed during the week setting up rock hard boilerplate ice on the course.

Cazenovia's Tenacious Tiny Tiger, Kaitlyn Button, battling both poor course conditions and the flu managed to claw her way into 12th place in the Female J5 division. For the J5 men, Barclay "Bode Miller" Talbot just missed another top ten finishing in 11th place. "For me slalom is one of the more technically demanding races. It requires somewhat more restraint than I was prepared to give today. I just wanted to cut loose," commented Barclay after the race. James "Shaken Not Stirred" Smith recorded a top 20 run in his first flight but caught a tip on a gate during the second and never regained his natural rhythm finishing in 41st place.

In the Female J4 division, Courtney Button (the Picabo Street of Perryville) recorded her third top ten finish of the year with a 7th place. She seems like a sure bet for representing Cazenovia on the Central New York state team. The state team will be selected after the results of next week's race. "Her best skiing is still in front of her", noted coach Annie Lapham. "Her training regime should allow her performance to be near peak in the first week of March; just in time for the state championships". In the Men's J4, Billy "the Kid" Reed and Nate Smith battled each other all day long. They finished 34th and 35th respectively.

The last race of the regular season is next week at Song Mountain.