DECEMBER 10, 2009 ISSUE
Cure Your Case of the Winter Mondays
Sugar Mountain Adult Race League Gears Up for 5th Season
Team Banner Elk Café (both of the restaurant’s teams) pose for a picture during the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League’s closing party in 2009. Photo by Ken Ketchie
Do you know the secret?
The snow doctors of the High Country hold a secret that cures all case-of-the-Mondays ailments. For the past five years, these doctors have cured the Mondays during the most challenging of times—the dark, dreary and cold High Country winters—and now, it’s time for you to step up and eradicate the pesky nature of the start of the work week by taking part in the 5th annual Sugar Mountain Adult Race League (SMARL).
Described as a “beer league,” SMARL has evolved into the social event of every winter, as it brings together familiar faces of the local ski industry with locals of all snowsport skill levels and ages. Participants must be aged 21 or above, but that’s about it—skiers and snowboarders, from beginner to advanced, regularly race beside Olympians every Monday during SMARL.
“It’s a bunch of fun,” said Bill Leonard, owner of Ski Country Sports and league organizer. “The atmosphere and seeing everyone out there together is just amazing. [The league] is designed to bring together recreational skiers and snowboarders for weekly competition and camaraderie, and it works.”
Get the Cure
SMARL is a series of six races held every Monday night beginning January 11, 2010, and ending February 15, 2010. Skiers and snowboarders can both participate, and participants are encouraged to form teams that contain between six and eight members—the top four racers each night count toward the team total. Teams will be formed for those who do not have a team or team sponsor.
Participation is limited to 100 racers, and league spots are held on a first-come, first-serve basis. SMARL has sold out each of its four previous seasons, according to Leonard. The entry fee for all six races is $40 per person, which includes a party after the last race. Participants, if not season pass holders to Sugar Mountain Resort, will also be responsible for purchasing a discounted lift ticket—$17—on each race night.
Each racer must register by filling out a waiver and application and submitting it to: Ski Country Sports, Monday Night Race League, PO Box 1175, Banner Elk, NC 28604. Applications and waivers are available at Ski Country Sports, located on Highway 184 across from the entrance to Sugar Mountain Resort. For more information, call Ski Country Sports at 828-898-9786.
Sugar Mountain Resort’s Gunther Jochl poses with his seemingly permanent mantelpiece, the High Country Cup, which goes to the annual winner of the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League. Photo by Ken Ketchie How the Treatment Works
For each race, a Sugar Mountain race team coach will set a modified giant slalom course for intermediate abilities. Courses will be open for inspection between 6:10 and 6:30 p.m. and, during that time, racers may slide-slip the course but not ski through any gates. Competition will begin promptly at 6:30 p.m. each Monday night.
The running order will be by team and will alternate each week. Each racer will be assigned a bib number that they will keep for the entire season, and each racer will take two runs down the course each Monday night. Preregistered racers can pick up their bibs on Monday, January 11, 2010, from 5:30 to 6:00 p.m. in the third floor lounge of Sugar Mountain Resort.
Scoring will be based on a handicap system, with a Sugar Mountain race team coach acting as the “0” time, or pacesetter. Each competitor will receive a handicap based on his or her age and sex, and will receive either five points for a Platinum time, four points for a Gold time, three points for a Silver time, two points for a Bronze time or one point for participation. Team scores and individual times will be tallied and posted each night in Sugar Mountain Resort’s Last Run Lounge, and a weekly rundown of the series will appear in High Country Press.
At the end of the six-race series, the team that accumulates the most points takes home the famous High Country Cup, which, for the majority of the league’s history, has resided at Sugar Mountain Resort thanks to a talented (and dare we say stacked) team.
This year, Sugar will have to work hard to stake their claim to the cup, as teams from Ski Country Sports, Banner Elk Café and The Bayou Smokehouse also have their eye on the prize and a proven affinity for attracting snowsport talent.
Let the fifth coming of SMARL begin!
Ski Country Sports, Sugar Mountain Resort, Michelob Ultra and High Country Press sponsor SMARL.
For more information, call 828-898-9786.
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