The Morning report
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Local racer Ara Papazian had the fastest time of the day on Saturday and Sunday in the Far West Masters Dave McCoy 100th. Photos courtesy: Sue Morning. -
Zach Lambert was right on the heels of Papazian, taking second both days. -
Don Merritt racing in the Men’s 75-79 class at the Far West Masters program Dec. 5-6.
The Far West Masters program welcomes racers 18-80 years old and of all levels, from beginners to former Olympians, U.S. Team Members, and everyone in between. Last week many of the Masters gathered in Mammoth for a weeklong race camp. Then, on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 5-6, nearly 70 Master racers competed in the 2016 season opening races, “the Dave McCoy 100th.”
The competition saw many locals finish in the medals for one or both of the giant slaloms.
Top three local finishers: Women Class 10 (70-74) Marcie Pettigrew 1, 1; Women Class 8 (60-64) Lors Spicher 1, 1; Joyce Yamamoto 3, 2; Women Class 7 (55-59) Mary Feddis 1, 1; Women Class 6 (50-54) Joyce Hsieh 1, 1; Women Open Class Deb Lewis (W08) 3, 3; Women Class 5 (45-49) Nora Urdi 1, 1; Caroline McGlashan 2, 2.
Men Class 11 (75-79) Don Merritt 2, 3; Jim Dugan 3, 1; Men Class 9 (65-69) Ronald Tanzman 1, 1; Men Class 8 (60-64) Donald Shafe 1, 1; Men Open Class Ara Papazian (M05) 1, 1; Zach Lambert (M03) 2, 2; and Pierre Jeangirard (M08) 3, 3.
In addition to racing, the Far West Masters have a Scholarship Program. Over the weekend they announced that they had made awards of $30,000 to local Far West Athletes this week, including 18 athletes from Mammoth. Those athletes include: Bruno Amon-Franceschi, Eva Yguico, Erik Eisen, Sheldon French, Theodore Jaffrey, Connor Staley, Sydney Snelbaker, Lachlan Anderson, Trevor Buongiorno, Duncan Reid, Katherine brown, Elisabeth Heit, Maureen Lebel, Jimmy Wehsener, Max Ziontz, Maia Bickert, Natalie Riffel, and Scotty Lebel.
This is the 24th year of the program and it has given out $850,000 to Far West athletes over that time.
