John Pierce – Ramapo's top racer and professional USSA-certified race coach
Racing
Ramapo Mountain Ski Club normally has an active racing program, with one or two events a week for much of the ski season.
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This has been a big program for Ramapo, usually with something going on just about every week of the ski season. If you want to be included in any future updates, send your e-mail address to Stu.
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Racing Chair: Stu Bassell
President's Race and RMSC Annual Race Weekend
Questions: Stu Bassell sbassell@verizon.net (617) 894-0679
​PREVIOUS YEARS RESULTS 2022 2023 2025​
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Overview
This is two events in one: the New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council President's Race and RMSC's annual race for club standings and championship. It is open to all Ramapo skier and boarder members and their non-member guests, both adults and juniors.​​​​
The Stanley Sharaga Memorial President's Race
Named after Stan Sharaga who brought this race from relative obscurity and developed it into the popular event that it is today. Stan died at an early age. This is the last race of the year and draws the most clubs and participants of all the Council races. Scheduled at Hunter Mountain this year on March 15, 2025, it is an easy NASTAR race; you get two runs through the course. The competition is between clubs of the Ski Conference and is a fun event. You will know why you jointed a ski club if you attend. Scoring is based on where you stand in your own ability class, so novice racers can score just as many points as the top experts. The club that shows up with the most people with the broadest range of ability will score the best.
The event also counts as Ramapo’s annual Race Weekend, which establishes our own club champions, parent-child champions, and winners of Ramapo’s different age and ability divisions.
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President’s Race Scoring
Each racer gets two runs: one on the blue course and one on the red course. Points are then assigned based on the racers age and time. Given equal times, an older racer will get more points than a younger racer with the identical time. Based on the point score, each racer is then placed into one of three groups: A, B, C, with A for the highest scoring one-third of the racers, B for the middle third, and C for the slowest third. The top racer in each group receives 30 points, and each successive racer behind the winner for that class gets one point less. The top three point getters for the women and the top four for the men are then counted for the team score. The team with the most participation, not the fastest racers, typically wins – that is the purpose of the scoring. Ramapo typically has the second-most number of racers, and we have typically taken second place. So, let’s get out there and take first this season.
Juniors have a separate competition. They are grouped within different age groups, separate for boys and girls. With great fan fair, the top three finishers in each group are awarded medals at the after-race party.
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RMSC Annual Race Weekend Race
Moved from Sugarbush where it has been run for many years, this event is now run in concert with the President's Race. Two runs are offered, but you only need to finish only one to qualify for a medal or trophy, except for club champion where both runs must be finished. We take the times from the President's Race and apply them to the different RMSC racing classes, which are:
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Adults are put into one of three race groups (A, B, or C) depending on their ability – separate groups for men and women.
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Men age 65 to 74 years old instead compete in Ramapo's prestigious Dinosaur Class. Women of that vintage are Dinosettes.
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Ramapo even has a class for racers 75 and over: Trilobites and Trilobettes! Definitely more prestigious than the youngster Dinosaurs and Dinosettes. Last season, we had four trilobites and two trilobettes in competition.
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Juniors are separated boys and girls.
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There is a Three Generation Cup (grandparent, parent, grandchild). Only one need be a Ramapo member.
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Husband-wife (actually “Couples” as listed in the club roster)
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Parent-junior teams.
Medals and trophies are presented at the annual club picnic later in the year.
Training and Instruction
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Weekly Training With John Pierce
John, a member of Ramapo and one of the top racers in the east (that's his picture at the top of the page), has in previous years run sessions at Mountain Creek's South Peak on Monday evenings and at Mt. Peter on Wednesday evenings. Very proficient juniors have attended, but you should check with John first.
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Hunter Mountain Mid-week training.
Last year this program ran weekly on Mondays for 9 weeks at 10 AM.
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Ramapo Improvement Weekend.
The Improvement Weekend runs each year with an opportunity to g et helpful hints and tips from other club members. Click here for details.
Race Camps
Ramapo members have previously attended the week-long December race camps at Killington and Mt. Tremblant, as well as Mt. Hood in the summer and day clinics elsewhere in the northeast. These camps have been the best means for picking up your skiing and racing ability.
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Last year the Mid-Atlantic Race Camp (Hunter Mt.) was fully booked within 24 hours of opening of the on-line registration.
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Killington Race Camp has been running for decades Last year the Grand Slalom portion ran for five days followed by an optional two days of slalom.
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Stowe Race Camp (also known as the Comet Race Camp) is similar to Mid-Atlantic, it had two days of Grand Slalom and two of slalom.
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Wednesday Night Racing – the “Met” League
The Wednesday Night Race League of the New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council has been held at Mountain Creek's South Peak. For years past, the Met League venue was at Tuxedo Ridge, and before that at Hidden Valley.
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Unfortunately, there was no program for 2022/2023, although see below for the background.
Fingers crossed for future years.
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Ramapo races against other clubs in the New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council. For each race, the team scoring consists of the three fastest men and two fastest women. The five best team scores for the first six races count for the season standings. Individual racers with at least three finishes get a standing for the season. The races include three giant slaloms, and three slaloms. Over the past six years, Ramapo's women's, and combined men's/women's teams both took first place and the men's team took first place for one year! We certainly had some outstanding racers, but the main reason we won is that we had a lot of participation – both seasoned and novice racers – see how the racers are scored to understand why participation by novices is important.
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Scoring is based on the following calculation. The fastest racer gets 1 point. All other racers get points calculated as a ratio of their times divided into the fastest racers time. So, if the fastest racer had a combined time (two runs each race, except for the super-G which is one run) of 60 seconds and another racer's combined time was 70 seconds, that other racer's score would be: 60/70 = 0.8571. Then, the three men and two women with the highest points from each club count for the team standings for that race. Ramapo's team includes expert and novice racers. You should be a competent skier, but expert ability is not required. For past races when the top folks did not show or fell, the team has been saved by having a novice make it through the course and getting us the third man's or second woman's time that we needed to have a complete team finish for the night. The reason is that a novice can easily score 0.5 points, and that score is a whole lot better than zero points.
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Helmets are strongly recommended. Show up with sharp edges on your skis. Nothing is more frustrating than skidding sideways through slick sections of a race course.
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In previous years races have started at 7:00 PM (they usually start later than this target), but you should show up early enough to sign up and have time to warm up and inspect the course. If you show up late, and the race is underway, just jump into line.
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The races have been open to all adult (age 19 and older) club members at a cost of $10 for the gate fee.
New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council Consolation Race
This is a big party with an easy race that Ramapo has won several times over the last decade. Held in the afternoon after the President’s Race (below). Rules and scoring are similar to those for the Wednesday Night Race League.
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Legacy Ski Club Race at Mad River Glen
This event was cancelled for the last couple of years, but returned in 2020.
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The State Race
The State Race has run with other clubs in the New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council at Pico Ski Area in Vermont. This is a competitive race, and over the last several years Ramapo has won the combined team trophy twice and came in third twice. The team consists of six men and five women. If there is sufficient interest, there can be a second B-team.
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Scheduled for February 10, 2024 (that’s one week later into the season than usual), held at Holiday Mountain near Monticello, NY, not at Pico Mountain this year.
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The event includes single-run slalom and giant slalom run on Saturday, and a party at the end of the day. Unlike the other Ski Council events, you must be pre-registered to enter this race.
PREVIOUS YEARS RESULTS 2018 2019 2020
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The Junior State Race
A race for junior members of the clubs in the New Jersey Ski and Snowboard Council, held at Pico Ski Area in Vermont . If your child wants to race, call or email Stu. You must be pre-registered to enter this race.
Mid Atlantic Masters
MAM runs several events at ski areas in the northeast, mostly in NY and PA. Although the races are more challenging than our other events, they include skiers of all ages (including juniors) and abilities.
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Check out the website at www.mamasters.org
· Hunter Jan 6th 2024 Slalom on Lower Broadway
· Hunter Jan 7th 2024 GS on Eisenhower
· Montage Jan 20th 2024 GS and Slalom in one day
· Bear Creek Jan 21st 2024 TBA on the discipline
· Stratton Jan 26, 27, 28 2024 Super-G, GS, and slalom
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Additional Events
The ski areas often schedule additional club races and some of the local and Vermont ski clubs set up additional events.