Mount Sunapee SL/GS

Sunday was another day to get up early and head to the slopes. At least we could sleep in a bit since she didn't have to check in quite so early and Mount Sunapee is a bit closer than Stratton. I have to say the NH Series people are super nice; she really enjoys racing there even if it's only this one race a year. Actually when she checked in the director asked if she was Whitney and said that he knows his usual racers and didn't recognize her so put her together with her name. When they were talking later in the start area he did remember he coming last year.

Her original plan when we were talking about her race schedule was to just race giant slalom. She was planning on just racing boardercross and giant slalom at USCSA Nationals. Since then USCSA has added slalom to their events list so to qualify she had to race in a slalom event. This one worked out nicely, although Maine Mountain has one coming up on a weekend she has free later this month so she may give it another go.

There were only 20 racers on Sunday which meant for a short day, even with two races to run. They run GS first then reset the gates for slalom. For both races each competitor gets two timed runs and best combined time wins in the age group. As usual (I hate that I have to keep saying that) Whitney had no competition so she won both races. It was a super fun day though. This was her fourth time racing GS and she did well; could have been a bit closer to the gates but it was fine. She was pleased with how she did. I think she was a bit nervous about slalom. She's had quite a bit of practice this season on ski gates but this was the first time she raced slalom at an event (and ski gates are different than snowboard gates). She was actually excited about it, along with the nerves; she figured she had nothing to lose - she was the only open class racer so she just had to get down the hill and not miss a gate. Her first run went well and she was really happy with how she did. Her second run went even better and she shaved about a second off of her time. The excitement on her face when she realized it was awesome! Needless to say she was super excited about how she did.

At the finish after her second slalom run

After awards we went back to my sister-in-law's house for snacks and the Super Bowl. Whitney was disappointed that her team didn't win. In the morning we both had to hit the road - she had to get back to school for meetings and I had a long drive home. We couldn't leave without making a stop at Burdick's Chocolatier for hot chocolate (for her), coffee, and croissants. They make great hot chocolate and it's not too far out of the way for us to make a quick stop.

Up next - boardercross races at Massanutten. She's flying home on Friday and can't wait to race on her home mountain.