As 60-degree heat was melting the snow in Rochester, Webster skier Pete Mallery headed to Vermont to race in the Eastern Cup. On Saturday, Jan. 12, the New England Nordic Ski Association’s (NENSA) hosted it’s opening weekend in Craftsbury, Vt., with the Mountain Top Eastern Cup Sprint Race where hundreds of top skiers converged to compete.
The Rochester area does not host many sprint races, so it was a great chance to see how Mallery would stack up against the Eastern Juniors. When competing in sprint races, skiers need to qualify in one big race in order to move on to further races or heats. If skiers place well enough, they continue to advance until the final heat which determines an overall Sprint Champion.
Mallery finished 10th in the qualifying race for his age group, giving an outstanding performance and showing himself certainly worthy of advancing in the Sprint series. He continued to ski well, progressing through several heats. Mallery advanced to the final Eastern Cup Spring Championship round, where he found himself up against a past Section 5 skier Kevin Hoose from HF-L, now skiing for Bowdoin College.
As the skiers approached the final stretch towards the finish line, Mallery held the lead. Hoose and others closed in as if they were going to pass. Mallery, however, poured out an all out sprint to the finish holding Hoose the others off. It’s always exciting to see Webster skiers in the limelight, but to have a skier win a significant race beyond our area is a real distinction.
As 60-degree heat was melting the snow in Rochester, Webster skier Pete Mallery headed to Vermont to race in the Eastern Cup. On Saturday, Jan. 12, the New England Nordic Ski Association’s (NENSA) hosted it’s opening weekend in Craftsbury, Vt., with the Mountain Top Eastern Cup Sprint Race where hundreds of top skiers converged to compete.
The Rochester area does not host many sprint races, so it was a great chance to see how Mallery would stack up against the Eastern Juniors. When competing in sprint races, skiers need to qualify in one big race in order to move on to further races or heats. If skiers place well enough, they continue to advance until the final heat which determines an overall Sprint Champion.
Mallery finished 10th in the qualifying race for his age group, giving an outstanding performance and showing himself certainly worthy of advancing in the Sprint series. He continued to ski well, progressing through several heats. Mallery advanced to the final Eastern Cup Spring Championship round, where he found himself up against a past Section 5 skier Kevin Hoose from HF-L, now skiing for Bowdoin College.
As the skiers approached the final stretch towards the finish line, Mallery held the lead. Hoose and others closed in as if they were going to pass. Mallery, however, poured out an all out sprint to the finish holding Hoose the others off. It’s always exciting to see Webster skiers in the limelight, but to have a skier win a significant race beyond our area is a real distinction.
