Bill Jennings: Masters ski racing stokes competitive spirit
The schedule features races in the Masters National Speed Series – 19 events held in seven states – in which racers vie for points to be crowned the Masters National Speed Champion. The event draws such athletes as Lisa Densmore-Ballard, the national chair of the USSA Committee for Masters Racing in the U.S.
Densmore-Ballard, who is 54, raced on the U.S. Ski Team from 1976-79. She moved on to the Women’s Pro Ski Tour, a series of dual-format racing that was held at venues throughout North America. Densmore-Ballard has been racing on the Masters circuit since 1991. Today she’s charged with guiding the future direction of Masters skiing in this country.
“I’m traveling all the way from Red Lodge, Montana,” she said. “But its worth it because we’ll get three starts for super G, two of which count for the national title. We’ll also get GS and slalom and a half day of super G training.”
Zip Down on the backside of Schweitzer is the venue, for one day each of Super G, giant slalom and slalom. The super G will use the full 1,500 feet of vertical on Zip Down. According to SARS director Jamie Landwehr, the fastest skiers will be averaging 55 to 60 mph.
“The event draws athletes all the way from Colorado to Canada,” Landwehr said. “There’s a pretty broad level of abilities, from people in their early 20s to folks in their seventies. We’ll see former national team level athletes at a really high level who are still competing and folks that are totally new to competitive skiing.”
Densmore-Ballard likes to emphasize this democratic nature of the Masters skiing scene.
“I want to get a message out to people that skiing or ski racing is a life sport, just like tennis or golf,” she said. “Some people might start competing when they’re in grade school, some might wait until they’re in their 50s. It’s a big network of like-minded people that enjoy the outdoors and skiing.”
The camaraderie of Masters ski racing is one of the biggest draws for Don Walde, a 50-year old Post Falls resident and sales executive.
“When you compete against someone for decades, race to race, year to year, you develop great relationships,” Walde said. “You feel an incredible sense of community among people who never lose their competitive spirit regardless of their age. It’s also great if you’re 50 years old and you can still get into a tight speed suit and not feel too ridiculous.”
Walde noted that one of his longtime Masters racing buddies that will be among the distinguished older gentlemen in the field this weekend is Bob Swan, who competed for the Canadian Olympic team at Innsbruck, Austria in 1964 and Grenoble, France in 1968.
Walde is part of a large group of Masters skiers who stoke their competitive spirit at Schweitzer. SARS offers them coaching and the opportunity to run gates on the mountain four days a week. But he said participating for the enjoyment of the moment is more important than a serious commitment.
“That’s the nice thing about Masters racing,” Walde said. “You can really be just a ski enthusiast and show up on race day. How competitive you are depends on how big the field is. But I would say those that want to be contenders are regularly traveling to all the Masters races.”
Walde said if he didn’t have a job he would probably train four days a week. He makes do mixing training with recreational skiing, in between Masters events held every other weekend around the Pacific Northwest.
He expects the competitive spirit to be out in force this weekend, complete with the gamesmanship and psychological warfare that is part of any racing culture.
“It’s all in good fun,” he said. “But the trash talking gets a lot more significant at the end of the day over a few beers.”