Skiers brave cold temps at season’s first alpine event

FORT KENT — Temperatures hovered around zero while students from six northern Maine high schools competed in an afternoon of alpine ski racing at Lonesome Pine Trails in Fort Kent on Saturday, December 17.
Fort Kent Community High School hosted the event, which wrapped up as the National Weather Service issued a winter weather advisory for northern Maine, due to impending ice and snow accumulation.
Boys and girls teams from Fort Kent, Greenville High School, Presque Isle High School, Caribou High School, and Central Aroostook High School of Mars Hill competed in two slalom events during the morning and afternoon. One student from Wisdom High School, Nate Chamberland, also raced.
“It was cold — it was definitely cold. The snow was good; it was nice powder. It was a little bit icy on the second run,” Anthony Mason, a junior representing Greenville, said of the course.
Mason’s teammate, Parker Richards said the weather conditions at Lonesome Pine Trails were ripe for racing on Saturday.
“It was just about perfect,” he said. “It was fast, especially during the second run.”
Fort Kent athletes filled the top seven positions in the boys’ morning slalom. Drew Madore completed the course with a two-run combined time of 1:33.35 for first place in that race, less than half a second ahead of Bryce Madore who finished with 1:33.68. Austin Plourde (1:34.36), Ian Levesque (1:36.26) and David Roy (1:36.27) rounded out the top five.
John Saucier of Presque Isle was the highest ranked boy from outside the Valley in the morning race, finishing in 8th with 1:41.73.
Bryce Madore took first in the afternoon race, with a combined time of 1:32.88. Just behind him was Nick Bartlett of Presque Isle, racing at 1:33.12. Fort Kent’s Drew Madore slipped down to third position in this race, finishing at 1:34.26. Lane Grass of Central Aroostook High School (1:35.10) and Jon Haley of Fort Kent (1:35.67) rounded out the top five.
On the girls’ side, 2016 Maine State Champion Shelby Cowin of Greenville skied her way to the top of the leaderboard in both races. Cowin was the fastest racer of the day, with times of 1:29.51 in both the morning and afternoon races. Fort Kent’s Alisha Guimond took second in the morning race with a time of 1:35.98, followed by her teammates Olivia Martin (1:39.87), Sylvie Guimond (1:47.43), and Kailee Guimond (1:53.13).
In the girls’ afternoon race, second place went to Olivia Martin (1:39.63). The rest of the top five included Fort Kent teammates Riley Sibley (1:42.05), Sylvie Guimond (1:50.55) and Lexi Lovley (1:51.03).
Fort Kent ranked first in all four team standings. The boys took home a total score of 10 in the morning race, followed by Greenville and Presque Isle who tied for second with 58.
The Fort Kent boys’ afternoon score was 15. Presque Isle (45) and Central Aroostook (60) finished out the top three.
The Fort Kent girls scored 15 in the morning slalom, and 18 in the afternoon. Greenville took second in both races, scoring 41 and 51 as the day progressed. In both races Presque Isle took third place (63 and 61).
Lonesome Pine Trails Manager Mike Voisine said the ski resort saw an additional 120 people come through the lodge as a result of the race. Voisine performed a multitude of duties throughout the day, including manning the kitchen fryers to satisfy a seemingly infinite demand for chicken fingers, which Voisine said are the Lonesome Pine Canteen’s best selling food item.
“We always welcome races; its great for the ticket sales and food sales,” Voisine said. “It helps the club out.”

St. John Valley Times photo Jessica Potila
HITTING THE SLOPES IN AROOSTOOK COUNTY — 2016 State Champion Shelby Cowin of Greenville posted the fastest times of the day during an alpine ski event in Fort Kent on Saturday.