Olympic Athletes to Race at Burke this Weekend

[Masskier]

Taken from the Burke Blast

"Olympic Athletes to Race This Weekend!

We're pretty excited for the weekend. On Sunday and Monday, March 14-15, Olympic athletes from the USA, Canada and beyond will be racing down The Dippers at speeds reaching 70+mph! This will be the most prestigious race to be held in Vermont in 30 years and we are proud to be hosting it at Burke Mountain!

Among the big names lined up to race is freestyle superstar and holder of 10 X-Games medals, Jon Olsson, who now is participating in both freestyle and racing events with aspirations of racing in the 2014 Olympics.

Come check it out! Lift tickets for Sunday and Monday are just $25! "

 

[Masskier]

For Immediate Release
East Burke, VT –

Burke Mountain to host Vermont’s biggest ski race in 30 years

Burke Mountain, with assistance from Burke Mountain Academy and the USSA will host the 2010 NorAm finals on March 14th and 15th. This will be the most prestigious race to be held in Vermont in 30 years. NorAm racing is one level below the premiere FIS World Cup, with racers reaching speeds of 70+ mph. The Canadian National Team and US National Team will be competing along with qualifying European racers on Super G and Super G Combined.

Live Slalom race video will be shown Saturday and Sunday by New England Sports Network (NSN ) www.nsnsports.net.

The NorAm finals will draw Olympic athletes from both the US and Canadian teams. Also included in the field is freestyle superstar and holder of 10 X-Games medals, Jon Olsson, who now is participating in both freestyle and racing events with aspirations of racing in the 2014 Olympics.

A photo and autograph session is scheduled for Sunday March 14th at 3:30pm in the Mid Burke Cafeteria.

$25 Full-Day lift tickets are available Sunday and Monday at any ticket window in hopes that many skiers and riders will come out in support of this impressive event.

This race is a prelude to a full month of high level racing at Burke Mountain with the Master’s Finals on March 19-21 and the Eastern Cup Finals on March 25-26, 2010.

Race information and special NorAm $25/day ticket pricing will be available at www.skiburke.com or by calling 888.BURKEVT.

 

[Masskier]

Is anyone going up to watch the super G?

 

[Masskier]

Sunday results

NorAm Finals: Brandenburg and Ross open with a bang
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BURKE, VT - NorAm Cup Finals kicked off Sunday in Burke, VT, with the men’s super G and super combined and women's super G and the U.S. put its stamp on it right out of the gate.

Still smoking from his 10th-place finish in the Olympic super-combined race in Whistler, Will Brandenburg landed his fourth NorAm victory of the season in the super-combined. His combined time destroyed the field. He finished in 1 minute, 53.88 seconds, more than a second and a half ahead of second-place finisher Chris Frank (1:55.45). Tech specialist Tim Jitloff was right on Frank's heels in 1:55.47 and the rest of the top seven was packed like sardines. Fourth place Dustin Cook from Canada finished in 1:55.55, followed by Olympian Tommy Ford in 1:55.56, Canada's Paul Stutz (whose slalom time - 43.05 seconds - beat Brandenburg's by 0.81 seconds) was sixth in 1:55.66 and his countryman Philip Brown one hundredth back in seventh.

See full men's super-combined results here.

With howling winds speeding up the course, race officials decided to re-set the super G portion of the race. The re-set pushed the start back two and a half hours, forcing competitors to wait.

“The course set was pretty fast with the tail wind, we were flying to far off the first jump,” Brandenburg said. “We actually had to reset the whole course and re-inspect and didn’t start running the super G until 12 p.m.. It was pretty cool how hard the people at Burke worked to get the race off today.”

In the super G, which counted as a separate event, Canadian Jan Hudec came through with the win in 1:09.95, but Brandenburg was extremely close in 1:10.02.

“My super G skiing has been pretty solid throughout the year and things went well in that today and then my slalom is cliquing,” Brandenburg said. “I was pretty nervous for the super combined slalom because I knew I could do good things if I put a run together, so it made the anticipation and waiting a little tough but it was fun.”

Brandenburg’s super combined win clinched him the NorAm super combined title and moved him into the lead in the NorAm Cup overall standings. He is ahead by 40 points with three races to go.

Cook came through for third in 1:10.42. Joe Swensson narrowly missed the podium in 1:10.44 while Nolan Kasper, Frank and Travis Ganong finished fifth, sixth and seventh, respectively.

See full men's super G results here.

Meanwhile, on the women's side, proving that she is truly a force on the North American circuit, Laurenne Ross landed her ninth victory of the season, firing down the super G course in 1 minute, 13.11 seconds, scooting by Olympian Alice McKennis, fresh off World Cup Finals in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, by just 0.07 seconds.

The Burke super G was a tight race all around Sunday with Canadian Marie-Michele Gagnon taking third in 1:13.38, beating Chelsea Marshall to the podium by a tenth of a second.

Katie Hitchcock was next in line in fifth with a time of 1:13.71, barely scraping by Olympic tech racer Megan McJames by 0.02 seconds.

Full women's super G results are here.

The men will race the super G at Burke on Monday as women do another super G and super combined, then the Finals head to Waterville Valley, NH for the tech events.

Photos (GEPA) Brandenburg reacts to his Olympic performance in Whistler. Ross flies off a jump in World Cup downhill training earlier this month in Crans Montana, Switzerland.

 

[from_the_NEK]

I caught the last two men Super G'ers at the start gate Sunday afternoon. It was really windy at the top. Gusting up to 60 mph. Luckily it was a side/tail wind.
While they reset teh course for the women went a made a couple of runs and then set up to watch the womens Super G. I hiked up a bit above the pavillion in between two of the jumps. The ladys were really moving.

Coming down the upper Toll Road crossing Headwall (above the Pavillion):

The jump at the pavillion was the tough one as several tried to take it too straight and missed the next blind gate (they couldn't see it until after they were in the air).

From below the jump at the Pavillion:

Racing action above the last jump:

The last jump was set up pretty straight with a big air. Unfortunately, the tall double netting did not lend well for pictures. So I had to make the most of my 15x zoom to catch shots of racers in the air off of the Pavillion Jump above me.
It was definitely fun to watch. Too bad I couldn't stay longer. Watching the guys warm up for the slalom was really impressive too.

 

[Masskier]

Thanks for posting the pics, nice shots

 

[Glenn]

Cool pics! Thank you for sharing.