While most people in the north were outdoors enjoying the uncommonly warm weather or indoors watching the Chargers upset the Steelers on Sunday afternoon, the Dartmouth ski team hit the slopes.
Although the warm temperatures and lack of natural snow made the Dartmouth Skiway slushy, the team persevered on the salted artificial snow and came out on top in the international FIS/UNI race.
With 110 competitors, the race was an important one, both for the skiers and for the coaches who organized the event. It was the first collegiate race outside its yearly Carnival that Dartmouth has hosted.
"Today's race, despite our doubts of being able to race at all in this weather, was very successful," said Peter Dodge, the men's alpine coach and the event's organizer. "If all goes according to schedule next year, we will definitely be doing this again. I was very pleased with the way things went."
The race began at 9:30 a.m. and Thomas trail was surrounded by spectators awaiting the chance to see some of the world's best college-level skiers swooshing down the hill.
The women started off the race and, as predicted by the coaches, Jesse James '95 and Laura Turner '98 were the fastest of the Dartmouth skiers, and, as it turned out, the fastest of all the participants in the women's event.
James, the women's alpine captain, took first place in the race, with a time of 45.18 seconds in her first run and 43.56 in the second.
Turner, who spent last year competing in races across North America and Europe, came in second place with a first run time of 44.51 and a second run time of 44.95.
Turner said she was very happy she and James out-skied the 40 other women competitors, including those from longtime rival, the University of Vermont, whose best skier, Gibson Lafountain, finished third.
"It's great to see a teammate win and then come in a close second," Turner said. "It was a good race between the two of us and I think in training, we'll continue to push each other to always do well."
The Dartmouth men were equally successful in their race, with men's alpine Captain Andy Martin '96 placing first and Ben Robinson '97, last year's eighth place finisher at the NCAAs, coming in a close second.
Martin finished his first run with a time of 42.55 and his second with a time of 51.78. Robinson outed the third place finisher, Brandon Lawrence of UVM, with a times of 44.47 and 51.63.
The race was a very successful one for the Dartmouth skiers and should prove to be a great source of motivation as the team travels to Sugarbush, Vt. next weekend for the Johnson State College Carnival.
