Sports Result: Alpine Women at Speed Week

Team Shreds Powder, Woodward Nabs Gold

by Kathryn Dawson

Three skiers from NSA’s women’s team piled into a NYSEF Sprinter and set out for Sugarloaf, Maine on Sunday for a series of TD Bank Eastern Cup races referred to as “Speed Week.” Annie King, Aylin Woodward, and Giorgia Nagle competed in two Downhills on Tuesday, and will race in one more Super-G before trekking back home through the snow.

“The first day was beyond cold,” Nagle commented, “typical Sugarloaf.” The next day was intended as another training day, but race administrators cringed at the idea of running the Downhill races during the oncoming snowstorm and pushed both races up to Tuesday.

“[It] turned out to be an epic good call,” Woodward added. The women shredded the fresh foot of powder all Thursday, while the men unsuccessfully attempted to coordinate a Super-G race.

 

Woodward, King, and Nagle at a similar series last year at Mont Sainte Anne, QC

Woodward sped across the finish and topped the podium twice in Downhill with winning times of 1:21.72 and 1:22.97. Nagle finished 18^th and 15^th, and King trailed slightly in 21^st and 27^th.

The women’s results earned them Eastern Cup points that can qualify them for various championships including JI/II Nationals and Eastern Championships. These points are different from FIS and USSA points, which rank every skier in any race, because they are specific to the TD Bank Eastern Cup Series and depend on placing, rather than time, like World Cup points.

Despite these impressive finishes, none of the NSA women scored FIS downhill points. Woodward already had the second lowest points in the race, and Nagle was a half second (two places) away from scoring in the first run.

If the snow abates and the girls have survived the week together in close quarters, they’ll drive back to NSA after their Super-G on Friday.