By Sandy Kiyomura
Did you know that as a member of the Nisei Ski Club, you could participate in BAC (Bay Area Council of Ski and Snowboard clubs) League races? The Nisei Ski Club can form its own team. There are races throughout the season at various resorts. Even if you don’t race, you can watch and get discounted (about 50%) lift tickets on race days.
Many people think you have to be a strong skier to race. That is not true (even I can race). You will race against people at a similar level, and there are 10 levels of skiers. Levels 1-4 are Advanced, 5-7 are Intermediates, and 8-10 are Novice. Within each level, racers are further divided by gender and age. There are juniors (under 18), adults are 19-49, Vets are 50-64 and if you’re 65 or over, you are a “Super Vet”.
There are three types of races: GS (giant slalom), Slalom and Super G. You may find that you do better at one type of race than another. I seem to be better at Slalom than GS. One will get points for placing in his/her category. These points are totaled for each club. In addition, there’s another category of “points per racer”. So if a team only has 2 racers and they always place first in their class, they can be at the top of that category.
On your first race, you will race as a Novice/Rookie. They will then determine your level by your time. Once you are placed in a level, you can move up to the next level by getting two strikes. A strike is determined as a certain percentage over the pace-setter’s time.
If you would like to try a race, look up the schedule at: https://sites.google.com/site/openleagueracing/. It is fun and you will meet people from other clubs. Ask you friends to join you and Nisei can form its own club. I would love to race for Nisei.
