The Winterset Ski Club held its annual Pizza, Awards & Election Night on April 28 at the Dodgingtown Firehouse to celebrate the 2005-06 season.

Receiving awards for their individual performances during Monday Night Racing at Mount Southington (eight nights of Giant Slalom racing running from December through February) included Angie Taylor (first place); Jeanette Cebry, Ham Brosious and Chaz Perry (second place); Caitlyn Victory, Barbara Bachman, Tony Aruftijevas and Andy Lapati (third place); Nicole Anastas, Anne Krane, Mark Krasnickas, Peter Gorczynski and Paul Chabot (fourth place); Neil Johnson and Brenda Murray (fifth place); and Bob Mouchantat (seventh place).

The club came in fourth place overall for the season at Mount Southington. Meanwhile, Perry also finished first at the State Slalom Race at Mount Southington as Murray came in second and Gorczynski came in third. And Lapati grabbed a second-place finish at the Mountain Dew Eastern Finals at Loon Mountain.

At the On-Snow Carnival at Sugarbush, Vermont, in March (featuring features slalom, giant slalom, snowboarding, downhill and cross country races) the club took third overall out of 12 teams with a first-place finish in the Ski Rally, second in volleyball (played in ski boots) and Tug of War, and third in the Fun Race. Receiving individual gold medals were Andrew Cebry, Melissa Fitzsimons and Matt Taylor while Michael Fitzsimons earned a silver medal.

Susan Brier and Krasnickas ran the trip for Winterset.

Also during the winter, Matt Wheeler, Peter Johannsen and Matt Taylor earned a first-place finish at the State Snowboarding Race and at the State Downhill Race Meghan O’Toole, Angie Taylor and Chaz Perry took first while Steve Gilmore took second and Maria Burke, Brian Burke, Mike O’Toole and Steve Taylor took third.

At the State Cross Country Race, Andrea Johannsen earned a first-place finish while Scott Brier took third. Overall (winner of the most points in each age category for all races), first-place winners include Melissa Fitzsimons, Andrea Johannsen, Sarah Martin, Angie Taylor, Pete Johannsen and Perry. Second-place finishers included Matt Wheeler and Matt Taylor while third-place finishers included O’Toole, Andrew Cebry and Jeanette Cebry.

One of the key components of the Pizza, Award & Election Night is the election of new officers and Bob Attanasio was named president for the 2006-07 season, taking over for past president Nicole Anastas. Other officers include Peter Giarratano (vice president), Petra Dinnan (secretary), Brenda Murray (membership), John Fitzgerald (bulk buy), Dennis Garone and Jeff Bliven (newsletter), Mark Krasnickas (racing), Jennie Perry (social chair), Tom Donnelly (day bus trips), Chris Lincoln and Judy Loose (publicity), Linda Vitrella (web/email), Angie Taylor and Denise Kane (merchandise), Mike Vanasse and Chaz Perry (CSC delegates).

The club is always open to new members and new ideas. Visit www.wintersetskiclub.org on the web for more information. Anyone interested in joining or helping out can send an email to info@wintersetskiclub.org and anyone interested in participating on Winterset’s Monday Night Racing team can contact Mike Krasnickas through the club at www.wintersetskiclub.org.

Winter Recap

This was not a great winter (snow-wise) but it was a great winter for Winterset Ski Club members, nevertheless. The club enjoyed some successful trips this year, many of them not even involving snow.

Winterset started out with something new in September, a Whitewater Rafting trip on the Hudson River, and the club is already signing up to do this trip again this year. The annual October Dude Ranch Weekend was held October 28-30 at the Rocking Horse Range in Highland, New York participants chose between horseback riding, climbing walls, the indoor heated pool, paddle boats on the lake, and dozens of other activities (another trip in 2006 is planned)

The first ski trip was to Cannon Mountain, in New Hampshire, on January 27-29, and some 50 people traveled up by bus and stayed at the Woodward’s Resort. In February, another bus headed for Stratton Mountain with 47 Wintersetters, who enjoyed two days of skiing.

The On-Snow Carnival was held at Sugarbush Mountain in Vermont and the weekend consisted of many competitions … including downhill racing, cross country skiing, Junior racing, snowboard racing, a volleyball tournament (in ski boots, of course), and a tug of war tournament against other CSC clubs. Winterset came in third place overall out of 12 teams.

The club’s weeklong trip this year was in March to Heavenly Mountain on the California/Nevada border. More than 50 members flew from Bradley Airport to Reno, where a bus took them to South Lake Tahoe. The club is proposing two weeklong trips for the 2007 season and is considering Utah, Italy and Austria as possible destinations.

The club also sponsors single day bus trips. This season’s day bus trips were to Okemo, Mount Snow and Stratton. Winterset also held a race clinic and participated in Monday night racing competitions at Mount Southington in Connecticut. The club came in fourth place overall this year in the Monday Night Racing season against many other Connecticut ski clubs.

Winterset Ski Club opens each season with a September picnic, and holds other social events such as a potluck dinner, holiday party, a raffle/kick-off event; a bi-annual dinner dance. Plus, the club provides the opportunity to purchase tickets for most of the popular ski areas at greatly reduced prices through the Club’s bulk buy ticket purchase program.

Winterset Ski Club is a growing non-profit organization whose objective is to provide its diverse membership with a variety of trips and functions in order to keep the exhilarating sports of skiing and boarding available and affordable to everyone. Membership is only $40/year for a single membership with $5 for each additional member of the household.

Anyone interested in more information can visit the club’s web site at www.wintersetskiclub.org or email the club at info@wintersetskiclub.org.