Newtown’s Winterset Ski Club Takes Bronze At Mt Snow Carnival

More than 50 Winterset Ski Club members represented their team in this year’s On Snow Carnival at Mt Snow, Vermont, March 5, 6, and 7.

 The team’s ages ranged from 5-year-old Courtney Leonard to “70-something” Mark Marquez, with participants of all ages contributing to Newtown’s Winterset team’s third-place finish. Even club members who didn’t ski were able to participate in an event which included a variety of activities.

The On-Snow Carnival takes place at different ski mountains each year, and is planned by the Connecticut Ski Council for its member clubs. This year, Winterset competed against 16 other Connecticut teams, and missed placing second by only one point.

Winterset is a Newtown-based ski club, founded in 1970 to promote skiing — downhill and cross country — and now encourages snowboarding as well. The club offers many trips every year, including weekend events and weeklong and day trips.

Winterset’s best finish at the On Snow Carnival was earned by the youngest racers, called Junior A’s and Junior B’s.  Gold medal times for the A’s were recorded by 6-year-old Tim Bovaird and 8-year-old Meghan Leonard. Not far behind were siblings Zachary and Courtney Leonard.

Junior B’s took the gold as well behind the combined times of Kevin and Erin Bamback. Warren Griffiths and Eden Sourby also had strong finishes.

Snowboarders Ross Brier and Chris DelSole, Erin Bamback and Samantha Dinnan had strong performances with the latter of the two participants earning the first- and second-fastest snowboarding times among females on the mountain.

Newtown Winterset tends to do well in the volleyball competition, and this year was no exception as Newtown’s team earned silver. Ross and Clay Brier, Warren and Paul Griffiths, Bob Bovaird, Erin Bamback, Lauren Stern and Kimberly Nash played to double overtime in their last set, losing first place by one point. It was an outstanding and exciting second-place finish for Newtown’s team.

A beautiful Sunday morning set the stage for the Ski Rally — an on-mountain scavenger hunt. Cheryl Gartner, Glenn Hardy (both non-skiers) and Una Nash manned the question and answer table and sent out teams of skiers who fanned out onto the mountain to find answers about the ski area. The Newtown squad earned the silver in this event.

Winterset’s Team racers combined the four best times from Paul Chabot, Chas Perry, Chris Del Sole and Clay Brier for a third-place finish. Chabot had the fastest time on the slope among participants from all of the Connecticut teams.

Women’s Races featured Sterling Ski Club affiliate Maryanna Selenko, running second-fastest and Meghan O’Toole finishing sixth-fastest overall. It was the three combined times of O’Toole, Selenko, and newcomer Andrea Gartner, that gave the women’s team the Bronze. Cindy Bamback also raced with the Women’s team.

An interesting event at the Carnival is the Fun Race. Winterset took third place in this unusual race that, this year, featured snowball throwing, a three-legged race in ski boots, and pulling a skier up a hill on a snow tube.

Winterset’s Tug of War team took third place in only two pulls. This event is just like a typical tug-of-war — except the teams are in ski boots, putting a somewhat unusual twist on an old favorite.

The best five times combined of Mark Krasnickas, Mike O’Toole, Kevin Bamback, Nickie O’Toole, and Mark Marquez put Winterset in fourth place in the Club Race. Also running were Ross Brier on his snowboard, and Paul Griffiths, Mark Ragette, Martin Schneider, Jeff Leider, and Barbara Dahm.

Winterset usually fields a very small cross country team, but this year, team captain Scott Brier had plenty of company on the trails. The team took sixth place with the combined times of Paul Griffiths and Petra Dinnan. They were joined by fellow team members Mark Marquez, Erin Bamback, Cindy Bamback, and Peggy Bovaird on the 3.1-mile course.

In the Super G/Downhill event, Paul Chabot turned in the third fastest time of all the racers on this special Friday event. Also running the race — and not far behind — were Chas Perry (first place in his division) and Mark Marquez (second place in his division).

Winterset will celebrate the Bronze finish and hand out awards at the annual Pizza and Awards Night on May 15 at the Botsford Firehouse.

To learn more about Newtown’s Winterset Ski Club, visit the club’s website at www.win tersetskiclub.org. or email: wintersetskiclub@hotmail.com.