Sunday, January 28, 2001 -- Harrisonburg, VA
MIROC Series BoarderX
Story and photos by Dana Harshberger

[Details] [Coverage] [Overall Results] [Pic Set 1] [Pic Set 2] [Pic Set 3]

In the gate

Old Man Winter was smiling his sunny face on Sunday, for the second race of the MIROC (Massanutten Intergalactic Race of Champions) series held at Massanutten Resort's Terrain Park. For a cool entry fee of $3 bucks, the competitors did their best to cleanly clear the gates, and get to the bottom of the park first. This is definitely easier said than done, as the Terrain Park at Massanutten is pretty much designed as an 'advanced riders only' venue. The course consisted of a short, straight shot with a bit of a bump at the beginning. Then took a bite out of people, with a slight turn going into a steep decent. A tricky gate was waiting at the bottom, and it had more than one person grabbing at the hard pack for some control. It was here that a number of crashes took place. After that gate were a few more shalom-like turns to the finish.

Low center of gravity helps

After getting in some practice cruising, the event began at around noon. Starting off the day was the women's' open category. After a bit of a battle, Erin Bloom, instructor at the Ski school, pulled it out over Carly Nunn of the Rental shop, and for third, was Amy Hastings. Following the ladies, were the Intermediate Men. Fearlessly facing the run was Aaron Graham (Ethan's little brother!), followed closely by Andrew Lisky and then Matt Paluto. The Expert Category then did their battle with the course. Joe Acker, Josh Taylor, and Graham Henshaw took the top three spots in this category. For the Rock Star end of it, VMI student Ethan Graham regained his reign on the series. Mr. Graham has had an iron grip on the Rock Star category for the last season and a half. Although being temporarily un-seated in the Dec 31st event, he seems to have found his line down the mountain once again!

Close racing on the slopes

Winners in their categories got some great loot from generous sponsors like Burton, M3, Forum, Ride, Scott Goggles, and Planet Earth. The winning RockStar gets a nice fist-full of cash! For those who didn't get a top 3 spot, a chance of at least walking away with something was given at the end of the prizes. More cool stuff was thrown at the crowd, and in a mad scramble, you could grab at your fancy. Kudos to Day Franzen, Snow Park Director, who in addition to running a "fun"tabulous series, in his free time can be seen out on the Cat, designing the park! The next event in the series will be held next Sunday, February 4th. Also not to be missed is the Southern Exposure event on the 11th, which will have a Big Air, Best Trick and Best Rail contest. Check out iPlay's schedule of events or go to www.massresort.com for more details.