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alpinezone Nastar on line racing.

Vortex

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Billski has some ideas on how to get us all to race in multiple locations under the Az and Nastar flag. Pop in with ideas and go for it. Thankx billSki

He will be the Coordiator for these races. Please support him and register. :beer:
 

NYDrew

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someone just make a group under nastar.com and we all join. (a bit of sarcasm with the simplicity, but that is how you do it)

I volunteer to set it up with gregs permission.
 

Greg

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billski has already thought this out quite a bit. I'm sure he'll chime in soon with his thoughts.
 

billski

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Hi folks,

We just established a "virtual" ski team, for those of us who would like to race (or try it) but just can't commit to a multi-week or same-resort schedule.

The team is NASTAR-organized and is open to EVERYONE regardless of ability. NASTAR has been around a long time. In the last couple years, NASTAR really got their act together and is very well run, though they could use more publicity. Here are the details:

1. You don't have to qualify, prepay or make any minimum commitments.
2. You race on any day and time that is convenient for you.
3. All ages and abilities can join.
4. Alpine, Tele and Boarders are all welcome.
5. You can race as many or as few days as you want.
6. The more you improve the more points you contribute to the team.
7. You pay only for the races you run.
8. You are measured against others of like age and sex.

How to join:
Pre-register for free at www.nastar.com

Add yourself to the "ALPINE ZONE VIRTUAL TEAM" Family /Friends Team.

Tweak: For those who can't join the family/friends team (because you already belong to another family/friends team), try adding a CLUB TEAM under your profile. Select "Alpine Zone Virtual Club Team" [Club teams have up to 15 members.] Hint: it's preferable to join the Family/Friends which has only 6 members on a team. Your team only gets ranked against other teams when you get to those magic numbers- it's easier to get to 6 than 15!]




Make a note of your racer ID number and bring it with you to the race.

Find a place to race:
Many, but not all resorts offer NASTAR. This list http://www.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=wheretorace shows you the resorts, dates, times and trail name where the races are scheduled. I always check in advance of a trip to see if that particular resort will have NASTAR race the day I am there.

How to Race:
Just show up at the top of the course with your registration number (they can lookup by your name, but it is slower). If your friends didn’t pre-register on the web, that’s OK, they just fill out a form at the top of the course. If you can’t find the course it ask someone in the ski school.

Each resort charges slightly different fees for racing. The range tends to be $3-5 for 1 run, $5-7 for 2 runs, or $10-15 for unlimited runs on a given day. You usually pay this at the starting gate (rarely, but sometimes you advance pay in the lodge)

My suggestion is to take 2 runs. The first run just gets you familiar with the course; the second run lets you focus a little bit. Anything more than that is gravy, but your skiing group might have had enough.

If you’ve never raced before, my advice is not to worry about your time, just concentrate on turning around the gates and making it to the bottom. Don’t worry how wide your turn is, if you have to stop, or if you fall. That’s all OK! You should have seen my 5-year old the first time; she skied so wide she was in the other course! But she made it, and that got her hooked.

It’s quite cool. They have electronic timing, you break a wand (just like in the Olympics) and off you go. It is setup as two side-by-side “courses”; Each course is as series of about 15 “gates” which you alternate turning around. The course is almost always held on the lower section of an intermediate trail and takes an average (not great) skier about 30-40 seconds to go through. .2 people can race side-by side, which makes it more competitive, but you don’t have to. In the end, it’s really your own time that matters, since each racer is on their individual timer. I let my daughters go first, so they get to the finish line before me.

Scoring
Each run is recorded in the NASTAR computer. Your best run determines if you get a “medal” (actually a pin). You get a medal based on your “handicap”. That is, how close you come to the time of the pacesetter, who always runs the course first and establishes a benchmark. Depending on your age, sex and equipment, you will “medal” if you are within certain percentage ranges (called “handicapping”). Older skiers are often coveted by their teammates, because they have more generous medal margins, meaning they contribute more points than a younger skier with the same time. There are always multiple gold, silver and bronze medals awarded. Read about handicapping here http://www.nastar.com/index.jsp?pagename=rules#handicap

After the race, you either pickup your medal at the finish gate or inside at the school desk, depending on the particular resort’s custom.

Depending on your time and handicap, you will contribute points to the team. It’s fun to compare your team against another. Your team will receive a ranking and so will you individually. You can see all the scores of everyone on www.nastar.com You will receive a ranking by resort, by state and nationally. If you are lucky (and I was *lucky*) you might even get invited to the nationals for your age and sex. I like the rankings by age and sex, because that way you are not competing against a 17 year old hotshot.


More Background
www.nastar.com has all the rules, you can read if you feel like. If you don’t feel like reading, just show up and do it. NASTAR is as serious as you want it to be. In most ways, it’s just you against yourself. I am always trying to get a better “handicap”, that is, my percentage off from the pacesetter.

I am really BIG on NASTAR, having been doing it for more than 25 years now. I’m not that great a racer, but I really get a kick out of it. I even have my daughters (16, 14, 9 YO) doing it. It has really improved my free skiing skills. It also gives us some Monday bragging rights. It’s fun to see my daughter get a gold with a time 50% slower than mine. It really helps build confidence for your friends/family (&yourself) and helps instill some excitement for you as a group.
 

riverc0il

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thanks for putting that together billski! i had wanted to participate but the drive down to pat's peak mid-week just wasn't worth it for me. i will likely join up next season when i am fully recovered, i won't be able to afford a high speed crash or gate bashing when i get back at it in march. the ski areas that offer NASTAR is fairly limited and not locations i usually ski at unfortunately. it always made NO sense to me that more ski areas did not get involved with NASTAR. i would think these places would want to do anything to increase skier visits and let skiers have more fun when they are there. most ski areas likely feel that NASTAR is not profitable, but i would think in the long run it could at least pay for itself and only improves the experience of the ski area.

If you’ve never raced before, my advice is not to worry about your time, just concentrate on turning around the gates and making it to the bottom. Don’t worry how wide your turn is, if you have to stop, or if you fall. That’s all OK! You should have seen my 5-year old the first time; she skied so wide she was in the other course! But she made it, and that got her hooked.
sound advice! also, there are a few of us on AZ with racing background that would be more than willing to offer advice either in a public forum or on the hill. having raced in high school and college, i can vouch for the fact that racing is one of the best ways to improve your technique. it is the same technique as you need to recreational ski, just more intense.
 

roark

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Rats, can't be on 2 family/friends teams. Could add a "club" team however...
 

billski

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highpeaksdrifter said:
I just signed up. I've raced NASTAR for a few years, but never even realized there was such a thing as a virtual team. Very cool. :D

Hey highpeaksdrifter, thanks for joining the team. You gots dem good points, mon!

I really blew it at Crotched. It was setup on a fairly gentle pitch (pacesetter 20 secs), which as many people know, make it more difficult to get a good time. Since it was C's first day, there was no timing scoreboard at the bottom. I thought I was going fast, but didn't find out till afterwards. 23s was good only a bronze! Uck. It dragged me down. Rankings use 2nd best time. Since that was my 2nd race, my rank stinks! Gotta get back onto a course again and recover! This is what makes it fun!
C'mon out and give it a try!
 

billski

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prodding

It seems sometimes that NASTAR is the Rodney Dangerfield of ski events.

While I'm not one to give a lot of racing tips, logistics and management are my forte' and here is one for you:

I've noticed that if you call and inquire about NASTAR, it then gets attention. When I inquired at Loon, the response was "Thanks for the Reminder". So I'll encourage a call to the Racing Director to ensure that it will be there for you....
 

billski

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CLUB TEAMS

For those who can't join the family/friends team (you already belong to another family/friends team), try adding a CLUB TEAM under your profile.

Select "Alpine Zone Virtual Club Team"

The only catch is we need a minimum of 15 memebers to be ranked, rather than 6 for family and friends. Then again, you can be in both and it costs nothing and takes away nothing from your other team memberships. It's kinda like double-counting, but it's all on the up and up.
 

billski

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1/10/06 Enrollment Update
Participation is growing, but we need more and there is always room for more!

Friends/Family AZ Virtual Team:
5 AZ's have signed up. With only 3 AZ's having raced, we are already ranked 499 out of 1441 teams! Current members are from NY, MA, CT.

AZ Virtual Club Team
7 AZ's have signed up. With four AZ's having posted scores, this team is ranked 298 out of 746 teams nationwide. Members from NH, NY, CT, MA. Go for it!!

Top 6 scores count for the F/F team, top 15 scores count for the club team.

Pick a team and signup - we need everyone! There is NO WAY you can drag us down - you can only make it go UP!
 

Vortex

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SkiDork said:
I signed up. I think the closest nastar to K is Okemo, right?

I remember you mentioning that if you were closer you would join us Dork. Well you kind of can know.
How's life? I don't go over to K much these days envelope full.
 

SkiDork

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Bob R said:
SkiDork said:
I signed up. I think the closest nastar to K is Okemo, right?

I remember you mentioning that if you were closer you would join us Dork. Well you kind of can know.
How's life? I don't go over to K much these days envelope full.

Life is good. Having fun most recently teaching some folks how to carve.

We'll see each other in the spring, no doubt. There's a whole boatload of people I never see during the regular season that I see a lot in the spring.
 
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