On January 7th and 8th, three of the older Polar Bears travelled to Gore Mountain to compete in the J1/J2 Slalom events.
Polar Bear racer West Tickner tackles the course at Gore
West Tickner is a second year J2, while Corey Down and Hunter Lawrence are first year J2’s.
Not only do the J2’s race against each other, but also against the older J1’s which also can include college ski teams.
On Saturday, West Tickner placed 3rd in J2’s and took 20th in combined age groups out of a field of 79 racers.
Corey Down placed 25th and 52nd in combined age group and Hunter Lawrence placed 28th in J2’s and 55th in combined.
Both Corey and Hunter had “to climb” back up to a gate after slipping, but in order to get an overall score both runs must be completed.
On Sunday, West placed 4th in J2’s and took 16th in combined age gro
ups. Corey placed 19th in J2’s and 34th in combined.
Hunter placed 19th in J2’s and 34th in combined.
Madeline Mahoney, a Polar Bear who currently lives and trains with the Northwood’s School in Lake Placid, was also at the race.
Experiencing some difficulty on the first and second runs on Saturday, Madeline placed 17th in J2’s and 34th in combined age groups.
On Sunday, Madeline took 2nd Place in J2’s and 6th Place in combined age groups.
Also racing the same weekend, but at a different location (Waterville Valley in NH) was local Austin Down.
Austin is living and training with the National Sports Academy in Lake Placid this winter term and is competing at some FIS races, which draw yet even a tougher group of racers.
Austin had an outstanding showing at the race which draws elite skiers from Canada and across the east coast by placing 51st in his first run and 21st in the second run for a combined overall place of 28th in a field of 140 racers.
The next day Austin placed 15th overall.
