Beaver Creek, CO, April 4, 2001--National pacesetter and spokesperson Picabo Street, along with fellow Olympians AJ Kitt, Tommy Moe and Chad Fleischer, crowned over 70 skiers with gold medals and national champion titles at the2001 Charles Schwab Nastar National Championships, held March 31-April 1 at Beaver Creek Resort.
The event hosted over 650 skiers from throughout the country. Competing in several categories, national finalistsparticipated in two intense days of ski racing for the prestigious gold medal and the title of national champion.
"The Charles Schwab Nastar National Championships is a great opportunity for recreational skiers to showcase theirskills and talents in a very competitive environment," said Street, a 1998 Olympic gold medalist. "Nastar introduced meto competitive ski racing."
Charles Schwab Nastar National Championship participants qualified either via season-long resort rankings or throughone of four regional championships where racers earned an automatic qualification by finishing in the top three in theirrespective age categories at the events.
National Pacesetter Street, along with Kitt, Moe and Fleischer, served as honorary pacesetters for the two days ofcompetition. Racers made two runs per day, with the best handicap time each day averaged together to provide officialresults after the second day of competition.
"Charles Schwab Nastar is a great way to get recreational skiers involved in a fun, competitive ski racing program," saidFleischer, current U.S. Ski Team member and 2000 Nastar official pacesetter. "The National Championships is the SuperBowl of recreational skiing."
Nastar (National Standard Race) is the world's largest recreational ski program, with nearly 4.5 million participantssince 1968. A partnership with SKI Magazine and the U.S. Ski Team, sponsors of Charles Schwab Nastar include ChevyTrucks, Yahoo! Sports Outdoors, Canon, Atomic, Marker, Briko, Tecnica, Goode, Toko, Bolle, Volkl and Boeri. Originallyfounded by SKI Magazine, the 32 year-old program has been one of the most successful grass roots programs of its kind,reaching over 80,000 skiers annually at approximately 100 of America's top resorts. Through the use of a handicapsystem similar to golf, skiers of all ages and abilities can compete with one another throughout the season, regardlessof when and where they race.
