Searchmont
Each year one of our weekends takes place at Searchmont. Here is the announcement about the 2010 weekend, with prices and schedules.
Here is last year's page with information about the Searchmont weekend. It will be updated in the next few days.
SEARCHMONT SKI RUNNERS HONORED
On November 12, 2008, Searchmont Ski Runners (SSR) was selected as Club of the Year by Alpine Canada. The nomination was brought forward by Alpine Ontario. Nancy Esson, President of Alpine Ontario and Mike Richter, Marketing and Partnership Development Manager, congratulated SSR on their achievement shortly thereafter the official letter was received. This prestigious award was a surprise but was a well deserved recognition for the extraordinary efforts by the SSR volunteers, officials, coaches and athletes.
Those of us from the MACC appreciate their efforts and know the high level of experise that they bring to running our races. The race fee that we pay is a major source of their funding and supports youth ski racing in the Searchmont, Ontario area
New for 2010: Single-Pole Slalom
Jan 19, 2010. Starting with the 2010 season, MACC will set some single-pole slalom courses as allowed by FIS, USSA, and MHSAA (Michigan high-school racing). A single pole slalom is set the same as our traditional double-pole slalom, except most of the outside poles are not set.
When are Single Pole Gates Used?
Course setters are instructed to eliminate outside poles for all gates in slalom except the following:
- First and last gates on the course.
- All combinations (flushes & hairpins).
- All through and delay gates.
What Does It Mean to "Miss a Gate?"
When outside gates are in, then the racer's ski tips and both feet must pass between the imaginary line connecting the turning pole and outside pole. The racers may cross this line in either direction. If a racer misses the gate, he or she must climb to cross the line, and then continue properly through the rest of the course.
Where there is no outside pole, both feet and ski tips must have passed the turning pole on the same side, following the natural race line of the slalom. (The natural race line is an imaginary line from turning pole to turning pole, which the racer has to cross to ski around the poles on the intended side.)
If a racer does not pass on the correct side of the single turning pole, then he/she has missed the gate. To correct this, the racer has to climb back up and pass above and around the missed pole from either direction. After going around the pole, the racer should continue properly through the rest of the course.
This PDF file from FIS shows the concepts and the steps necessary to avoid a DQ if the racer misses a gate: Click here for pictures.
Cary Adgate Goes to Hall of Fame
PARK CITY, UT (April 4, 2009) – Four legendary skiing athletes were
inducted Saturday into the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Hall of Fame in ceremonies
at Deer Valley Resort in Park City. Olympic freestyle medalists Liz McIntyre
(Granby, CO) and Nelson Carmichael (Steamboat Springs, CO), along with ski
mountaineering legend Bill Briggs (Jackson Hole, WY) and two-time alpine
Olympian Cary Adgate (Boyne Falls, MI) were honored as members
of the Hall of Fame's class of 2008.
"Recognition by the Hall of Fame is a great personal honor for each
of these four athletes who have made outstanding contributions to their sport," said
U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association President and CEO Bill Marolt.
Adgate was a Midwesterner who made his first race turns on Boyne Mountain
in Michigan. In 1971 he won the U.S. Junior National Championship at age
17. He joined the U.S. Ski Team in 1973 and in that year won the Can-Am Overall
Championship, the Can-Am GS Championship and the Roch Cup downhill/overall
championship. He earned the U.S. Alpine Championship title in slalom or combined
six times, and was a member of the U.S. Olympic team in 1976 and '80.
Adgate turned to professional skiing in 1981, competing in Bob Beattie's
World Pro Skiing Tour. He became the only skier to win back-to-back races
in his pro debut, going on to win 25 professional victories and the 1984
U.S. Pro Championships.
In 2005 he won three U.S. Masters Championship events and was named Ski Racing
Magazine's 2005 Master Racer of the Year. He currently is Boyne USA Resorts'
Snowsports Ambassador and mentors several racing programs.
The induction was held at Deer Valley Resort's Silver Lake Lodge and according
to Hall of Fame President and CEO Tom West, a formal enshrinement ceremony
will be held in September at the U. S. Ski Hall of Fame in Ishpeming, MI.
MACC Changes for 2010
Jan 19, 2010. The company that sells us glasses for prizes messed up (again). This time, they sent too many prizes. So, the women's vet-A class and supervet-D classes were restored for the season.
Nov 4, 2009. The 2010 season will be run exactly like the 2009 season, except for improvements such as the ones described below.
Numbers and Classes
In case you haven't noticed, Michigan is in a recession right now, and our numbers are down about 20% from typical levels in the past few years. (See details in this report.) Last season we changed the daily schedule to run 4 races per day. As you see on our schedule page, we're keeping the same schedule for 2010.
In the past, vet and supervet classes were created to divide large groups to keep class sizes under 20. With our shrinking numbers, some of the classes had fewer than 5 racers showing up last year. Expect some of the vet classes to be merged with open classes if the numbers stay low. (Some classes were merged and then restored to make use of excess prizes that became available.)
15 years ago, a 52 year old MACC racer was "old." When there were a lot of these "old" guys, we'd make a class called supervet. Last year, a 52 year old racer was younger than the majority of our racers. We're finally adjusting, by changing the minimum age for supervet classes to 60. As it turns out, there are only a few men who are in a supervet class that will be under 60. If you are one of these men, and you will be 56 or older this season, and you were in your supervet class at the start of the 2009 season, then you can stay. (Ask your racer rep to make a formal request.)
Helmets
We require that you wear a helmet at the Super-G race. Starting this year, we strongly recommend helmets for all races. Some ski areas require all on-hill employees to wear helmets. Most racers use helmets; if you have friends who don't, then please try to talk some sense into them.
World Cup Tie-Breaker
World Cup Awards are given to the top three racers in each class.
Starting in 2010, in cases of ties, handicaps are used as tiebreakers. The sums of the slalom and giant slalom handicaps of the tied racers are summed and the higher award goes to the racer with lower handicap sum. The handicaps used for the tie breaking are the official averages that are posted for the end of the season on the web site.
Handicaps
In the past, we've calculated handicaps for all races but have not included the handicaps from the Sunday Cantor Cup race (dual slalom) in your slalom handicap average used for upgrade and downgrade qualifications. This year it's official: HC's calculated for the Cantor Cup won't be used in your slalom handicap average.
We're also announcing that HC calculated in the Super-G at Searchmont won't be used in your GS handicap average. Super-G is a fundamentally different event than GS. Since we only have one official SGS run per year, we can't really set up the same quality level we have for GS and SL calculations. We'll continue to calculate them for purposes of bragging rights, but will not include them for the GS handicap used for official upgrade-downgrade qualifications.
Team Points
Team awards are based on an average of daily team averages accumulated over the 11 races in a normal season prior to the Saturday night Mark II awards. In the past, world cup points for every attending racer were included in the daily team average. If a racer did not finish or disqualified, then a value of zero was included, dragging down the team average.
In nearly all other ski team point calculations (high school, Miller Lite finals, most NASTAR team leagues, etc.), points are taken for most racers on the team, but not all. For example, Michigan high school teams have 6 racers; results are taken only for the 4 best (the lowest 2 results are dropped). At the Miller Lite finals each March, teams have 7 racers; results are taken only for the 5 best (again, the lowest 2 are dropped).
Starting this year, we're using a similar method. Because our teams cover a wide range in size, going from about 5 up to 30, the number of racers dropped in scoring will be 1/3 or less. For example, if there are 6 racers, we use 4; if there are 7, we use 5; if there are 30, we use 20. Details are in the rules, which are being edited and reviewed.
The practical effects?
- Don't worry about the calculation details. The computer will do the work (after TDGIM Steve Coatney spends another 50 hours programming the details). Results will be posted after each weekend as in years past.
- There is a minimum turnout required, as in past years. You need at least 4 racers for a Boyne weekend race, and at least 3 racers for a Searchmont race or Friday Boyne race.
- If your team has more than the minimum, then some of you can crash and not hurt the team. Go for it!