Eastern Cups start tomorrow

After this weekend’s college carnival at Smugglers’ Notch, men’s Eastern Cups will are Main Street bound.

Sunday and Monday, men will race two slaloms at Stowe and women will compete at Smuggs.
Because of the carnival, many top-level racers will make starts at Stowe and several of our own athletes will also race.

Conditions on the hill are the best they've been. We blew snow at the beginning of the week, groomed it out and it's set up nicely. Perfect for racing. Today is a gorgeous blue-bird day - you should come up and check it out.

Spectators can easily reach the race finish by parking in the Big Spruce lot and taking a short walk to the venue. Races both days will begin at 9:30 a.m.

The two-day series is the second set of starts this season at the Eastern Cup level.

Among the starters for MMSC at Stowe will be Ryan Cochran-Siegle, Bobby Farrell, Jim Ryan, Chris Hopkins, Mark Grunde, Brad Farrell, Travis Kuster, Ben DeFlavio, Dustin Martin and Taylor Wunsch.

Cochran-Siegle, a second-year J2, was fifth in a December Eastern Cup slalom at Sunday River, and recently placed second in an FIS super-G at Okemo. Bobby Farrell was fourth in a recent Eastern Cup giant slalom, and MMSC coach Scott Moriarty said Farrell has been coming on strong in slalom. Taylor Wunsch had back-to-back top 30 finishes at Nor Am slaloms in Sunday River, Maine, two weeks ago.

“The whole group is skiing well. We have a couple of guys who should be in the mix and some dark horses as well,” coach Scott Moriarty said.

As for college skiers who will race, keep an eye on UVM’s David Donaldson, Erik Gilbert and Kevin Drury, all top finishers in last week’s opening college carnival slalom at Whiteface. UVM coach Billy Reichelt said the whole “Cat crew” will start Sunday’s race.