A racer catches some air at Colorado’s Vail Resort. Photo by M. Scott Smith.

Even on a beautiful, warm spring evening, many in the Washington, D.C. area continue to savor skiing. That is certainly the case of part-time racers, who abandon their humdrum existence to cruise down the local mountains as fast as they can. They were honored for their efforts at the annual banquet of the Washington Ski International (WSI), held on April 18, at the Tysons Corner Holiday Inn.

The WSI is the brain child of Sam Mantis. He labors hard to put together ski races - predominantly in the local areas, but with others scattered throughout the nation. Sam has been organizing races for 27 years, and shows no signs of stopping. Last year he organized 10 races, and if the weather had not been so cold, there would have been four more. Races are geared towards both skiers and boarders, and hundreds of enthusiasts participate.

In the WSI, skiing is truly a family affair, with racers as young as 10 and older than 70. In fact, the senior division looks so tempting, I may compete myself, if the classes remain small enough. I was pleased to see people I had skied with 30 years ago, still in shape, still enjoying skiing, parties, good food, friends and drinks!

At the WSI, there were winners listed in 22 separate age categories. In the interest of fairness, I will not list all of the individual names, since I don’t want to leave anyone out. But these were the ten winning ski clubs:

Columbia Race Team

B.S. Bombers

Fagowees

Zardoz/Renegades

Ski Club of Washington D.C.

Baltimore Ski Club

Flying Dutchman Ski Club

Mon Valley Ski Club

Wisp Resort

Pittsburgh Ski Club

I will make an exception and list some names - Chris Price won in the Men’s Overall Division, and Lisa Draper in the Woman’s. Two dynamite brothers are also doing brilliantly - they are 16 year old Andy Caron and his 13 year old brother, Tristan. Andy - hope that cast comes off soon, and you get a new Spiderman racing suit!

For a full report on all the events, please find my friend Bill Clapper’s Winter Sports column in the March 7, 2004 issue of the Washington Times.