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Locals take it on in Skiercross
by Marina Gisquet

Take motorcross racing, with its high kicking jumps and pad-clad athletes, combine it with snow, give the competitors skis and there you have it: Skiercross.

It's all the rage in extreme sports these days, and for the second year in a row, the excitement is stopping in Stowe.

On Saturday the U.S. Skiercross Series will descend on Stowe Mountain Resort for the third race of its season, and a daring bunch of men and women will battle it out for a sizable chunk of change on Spruce Peak.

Locals Rule 

A good portion of the field will be Stowe locals, who last year gave the pros a run for their money.

Local skiers Nelson Riley and Micheline Lemay, each made it to the finals, where thy raced though a treacherous course of turns, bumps and jumps with professionals who follow the tour around the United States in the quest for the $45,000 cash prize awarded to the overall tour winner.

A fistful of other skiers from the area also competed, which was a testament to the strong and aggressive pool of talent in Stowe.

The format in Skiercross is based on that of Motocross racing. After a start that resembles a horse race, competitors race four at a time through multiple elimination heats. Only the first advance. The course is set on a relatively steep run with huge bank turns, jumps and rhythm sections. Incidental contact between racers is permitted as racers cut in front of one another to make it to the finish line first.

With its survival-of-the-fittest style, risk of serious injury is high. When the sport made its debut several years ago at the X-Games, a handful of retired U.S. Ski Team and college ski racers decided to enter only to find themselves nursing dislocated shoulders, broken tailbones and blown-out knees for the remainder of the season.

The average enthusiast may think twice before entering, but local Adam Juzek, who races motorcross in the summer, has just signed up to compete, again, this year.

"I'm used to people lining up with other people. The danger is what makes it so exciting," Juzek said.

In last year's competition he made it to the elimination rounds before getting knocked out by several pros.

"It's really exhilarating, the hardest part is trying to be the first person to the first turn, that usually decides the race," he said.

The person in the pole position has an open course ahead, and from second place back, snow-spraying mayhem ensues.

Last year's fourth place women's finisher was Micheline Lemay, an MMSC coach whose competitive reputation is established weekly on the Stowe Ski Bum circuit. Lemay also has decided to compete again this year.

Lemay tried her hand at Skiercross several years ago in a local competition at Breckenridge, CO, where skiers mixed in with snowboarders in what Lemay said was a much less challenging course.

The decision to register last year stemmed from her love of skiing and competition, and not so much for the cash purse, which was much less for the women than for the men.

"I was a little naïve going into it last year, it was a lot more aggressive than I expected," said Lemay.

In one head Lemay was able to pass one of the pros by taking an inside line on the GS section of the course just before the big jump that lead to the finish.

"Then in the next heat, which was the finals, the girl ran over my skis right out of the start," Lemay said. "I probably would have done the same thing if I was her. The reality is that it's every woman for herself out there."

In terms of danger of the sport Lemay said she definitely weighs the risk of serious injury against missing out on work and the chance to ski the rest of the season.

"I think if it comes down to it, I'll back away if it seems like I could get seriously hurt, I'd like to do well, but it's not worth it to miss the rest of the season," Lemay said.

"But then there's your competitive edge…" she added.

Seasoned Hotshot

One of the more seasoned local skiers in the race last year was Dave Howard.

"I think I was the oldest person there," he said.

Howard, who is 45, had never competed in Skiercross before, but says he enjoys competitions with an edge. He takes part in the corporate race league at Bolton Valley and also races sailboats in his free time.

Howard said when he arrived at the mountain on the morning of the competition, he was apprehensive, but the sponsors and race organizers did a good job making athletes feel prepared and excited for the race.

"We got to practice on the course, and ski down it one at a time to establish the running order, which was great to build confidence, and the sponsors and the mountain did a spectacular job creating a fun atmosphere," Howard said.

"It is very difficult to pass people, if you are in the back of the pack you had to look for an opportune time to overtake someone," he said.

Howard qualified for the event and then made it into the round of fourteen, but was knocked out in a heat when he was lined up next to one of the pros, Corley Howard.

"That's another great aspect of the race, you get to race against the best guys."

One Stowe local, Nelson Riley, who now is on the Dartmouth College ski team, placed fourth overall last year, and became the poster child of dark horses.

"It was really exciting, he had a shot at winning," said Stowe Mountain Resort spokesman Jeff Wise.

According to Wise, Riley, who wore a helmet, a fleece jacket and ski pants and was physically much smaller than the pros, provided a humorous contrast to the other three in the final round who donned colorful outfits, full-faced helmets and motorcross-style padding.

But Riley's outfit had little to do with his skill as he charged out of the start, through the banked turns, whoop-dee-dos, and table-top jumps, where racers get close to 50 feet of air before crossing the finish line.

Making the Course

Wise said that a special team of course designers from Mountain Sports International arrived in Stowe Monday to begin working with a team from Stowe Mountain Resort constructing this year's course on West Slope at Spruce Peak.

The course will start further up the mountain than last year, where the Stowe Schuss is run, and this year's course will feature bigger turns.

Television coverage of the "Amstel Light Green Mountain Skiercross Classic" will be aired on OLN, NBC, Fox Sports and RSN, and national Skiercross champions Eric Archer, Corley Howard, and Christian Questad are among the pros that will roll into Stowe to challenge the best regional and local talent.