Mountain Sports Team back in action

Alpine racers open season, Southwest Series this weekend

Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team (CBMST) J2 alpine racers Mick Osmundson and Cole Byron hit the road last week to open the 2009-2010 race season.

Osmundson, a second-year J2 racer, was invited to a five-day speed camp in Beaver Creek last week to train on the notorious Birds of Prey course.
“Forty of the top juniors in the nation are there,” says Crested Butte Mountain Sports Team director and head alpine coach Drew Cesati. “The boys just charge down the hill for five days.”
He came straight off the speed camp and jumped into giant slalom and slalom Surefoot Elite FIS races in Winter Park Saturday and Sunday, December 12-13. The races attract the top alpine racers from the Rocky Central Division as well as several college athletes.
Osmundson posted a 22nd-place finish in the GS on Saturday and a 23rd-place finish in the slalom on Sunday. Both results improved Osmundson’s FIS ranking, a positive step in the early stages of the season.
“They were good results and he was right up in there in his peer group,” says Cesati.
Byron had his first experience at the J2 level racing in the Millennium Bank FIS junior race in Vail last weekend. The J2 level is a new world for Byron, with longer more challenging courses and stronger competition.
Byron breached the top 50 in both of his GS races setting a solid foundation for the rest of the season at the new level.
“It’s a big step,” says Cesati. “This was his first crack at FIS racing and he definitely made some improvements in his skiing that weekend.”
The CBMST will kick off the 2009-2010 Southwest Series, a skiing and snowboard competition series, this Saturday and Sunday, December 19-20 on Buckley/Westwall. The opening weekend will be GS and slalom snowboard races with two on Saturday and two on Sunday starting at 10 a.m.
Seventeen local CBMST athletes will compete in a field of over 30 riders from throughout the southwest and look to open the season on fire.
The series continues at Crested Butte Mountain Resort all winter long with several more events on tap.
“It will continue to grow in numbers as we move into the park and pipe events,” says Cesati. “Our series is growing.”