Patience! Cost control starts with a culture shift off the fast track
The cost of ski racing. Mention this topic in conversation with past ski racers and you get a lot of sighs … a throw-up-your-hands reaction, and an assertion that none of us could have pursued the sport with any real vigor at today’s expense. And then because we did pursue it, and because none of us can help ourselves from wanting others to be able to comes thoughtful analysis, suggestions, and potential solutions.
In the face of the arms race so many youth sports face, one suggested remedy for ski racing is regulations: limiting the use of suits, the number of skis and race starts at various stages; limiting equipment design, à la NASCAR, and training seasons, à la the NFL.
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Challenge Aspen athlete Danielle Coulter and guide Zander Higbie race on the giant slalom course at Snowmass during NASTAR national championships on April 6, 2021. Kaya Williams/The Aspen Times
After taking a run Tuesday on the giant slalom course at Snowmass, Challenge Aspen athlete and alpine racer Chris Guay made a keen observation: “It’s not too often that you have professionals cheering you on.”
But that’s exactly the case at this week’s National Standard Racing (NASTAR) national championships, 41-year-old Guay said.
Along with a sizeable crew of Challenge Aspen staffers ringing cowbells at the finish line, Guay said he also felt support from U.S. Ski Team members Laurenne Ross and Paula Moltzan, who were on the course as pacesetters Tuesday morning.
Dave Camara/Courtesy photo
“Everybody has an opportunity to win” at the National Standard Racing (NASTAR) alpine racing championships Monday through Friday at Snowmass, according to organization director Bill Madsen.
And when Madsen says “everybody,” he means it: The largest grassroots alpine racing program in the world uses a points-based system that allows competitors of all ages and abilities to compare their scores apples-to-apples and compete on the same courses for the same prizes. More than 450 participants from across the country are registered to compete.
BREAK OUT THE CALCULATORS
Racers qualify for the national championships by earning a medal on one run on any NASTAR course on one or more race days this season.
Katharina Liensberger ended Austria s six-year wait for a women s World Cup slalom victory on Saturday, doing so by overtaking American Mikaela Shiffrin.