[FWM News] 2010 Season Wrapup

[Far West Masters news]

The 2010 Far West Masters season wrapped up on April 15-18 with a fun 
race series held in wonderful spring conditions at Mammoth.  The season 
finale banquet brought racers, family, and friends together for the 
last time this season before we all scatter to summer pursuits.

The general membership meeting was also held, with Mark Mirviss elected 
as president to take over from outgoing president Marietta Frinell, who 
deserves everyone's thanks for stepping up the past two years to fill 
this critical position.  To build on the topics brought up at the 
general meeting, we've opened a Suggestion Box on the web site to 
facilitate raising issues and making suggestions to improve our masters 
racing program.

Mammoth Season Finale
---------------------

Mammoth put on a wonderful event for our season finale, featuring 
spectacular spring weather for the final three days of racing in the 
2010 season. After a surprise late-season storm brought nearly 2 feet 
of snow on Monday, forcing cancellation of the downhills, the weather 
went back to full-on spring with warm 40/50 temps, sun, light winds, 
and great skiing all over the mountain. Many racers headed for the top 
as soon as racing wound up each day and raved about the free skiing!

Thursday opened the series with 2 SG races from Hair Jump at the base 
of Cornice Bowl onto World Cup and lower St. Anton. Great racing and 
lots of smiles all around! Friday's GS started by Chair 23 and followed 
the lower St. Anton course, the first time we've raced there, and 
presented some interesting new challlenges with the different race 
terrain from our usual venue on Fascination. The final day of SL racing 
was another incredible spring day, with two runs of challenging course 
sets complemented by the need to cool down, hydrate, and apply 
sunscreen! Once again, the Mammoth Race Department worked hard every 
day to prepare and maintain the race courses and their efforts to stay 
ahead of the softening snow each day were appreciated by all 
competitors.

Saturday night a good crowd gathered for the season banquet, with 
season age class and leader bibs for next season announced. Special 
recognition awards went to Kelly Akins as rookie of the year and Don 
Merritt for most improved racer. Defending leader bib holder Kurt 
Belden reclaimed his #1 bib for another year, while Deb Lewis edged out 
Julie Rolfe on the women's side with a tight race whose outcome was 
only settled in the final SL race of the season. Outgoing Far West 
Masters president Marietta Frinell also gave out several appreciation 
awards to recognize some of the people who contribute so much to making 
our race events come together, with a special thank-you to Mike Kennedy 
who along with Elizabeth show up to handle race registration and keep 
us in line with USSA requirements.

Race Results: http://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2010/results
Final Season standings: 
http://farwestmasters.org/raceinfo/2010/standings

Season Awards: 
http://farwestmasters.org/reports/results/2010/FWM2010-SeasonAwards.pdf

General Meeting and Elections
-----------------------------

Our 2010 General Membership meeting was held of Thursday Apr. 15 at 
Mammoth following the SG races. This was our annual open meeting for 
all members where everyone is invited to raise issues and make 
suggestions. The primary topic that came up for discussion involved 
logistics of the Open class; several good ideas were brought up and the 
board intends to consider all these factors over the summer as part of 
planning next season's competition schedule.

The meeting also provided the forum for electing officers for 2-year 
positions on the board, with the president, secretary, treasurer, and 
officials positions due for re-election this year. Nominees Mark 
Mirviss (President) along with incumbents Sandy Hogan (secretary), Mark 
Smallhouse (treasurer), and Don Smith (officials) were elected by 
acclamation.

Meeting minutes: 
http://farwestmasters.org/docs/board/FWMBoard-Minutes-20100415-GeneralMeeting.pdf

FWM Suggestion Box
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If you have an idea for improving Far West Masters or suggestions about 
how we could do things differently to make our racing better and more 
appealing, take advantage of our new Suggestion Box and send an email 
message to suggestionbox at farwestmasters.org to share your ideas.

Please sign your message with your (real) name so ideas can be properly 
credited and we can follow up on your input. You'll receive an 
acknowledgement message when your suggestion has been recorded by the 
system. All suggestions are reviewed by Far West officers and we will 
do our best to respond and incorporate good ideas into our program.

Learn more: http://farwestmasters.org/communication#suggestionbox