Park City woman takes title in NASTAR race

Park City's Wina Sturgeon is a national champion.

The longtime outdoors writer from Park City captured the women's alpine title in the NASTAR championships recently at Winter Park, Colo., where her time of 39.31, when coupled with her age-ranking handicap, was good enough to win the overall title.

"I beat nine other women to win my division, then had an exceptionally good run in the (race of champions)," Sturgeon said. "In a state of shock, I remained on the top podium step throughout the whole race, while second- and third-place winners kept changing. I didn't believe I had won until they began holding up the medals."

NASTAR, short for National Standard Racing, calls itself the largest recreational ski and snowboard competition in the world. With amateur skiers across the country racing at local resorts, they earn chances to race in the national championships.

The NASTAR Handicap System allows racers to use a system to measure their progress throughout the season and gives racers of all ages and abilities a means to compare their race results to other competitors across the country, regardless of when and where they race.

Using pacesetters such as Olympians Steve Nyman, Phil Mahre and AJ Kitt, participants have target times to race against, and their handicap is used to determine an overall time.

Sturgeon's handicap of 50.590 was enough to help her overcome several faster times and win the top honor.

"The highest I ever got before was age-group champion when the event was held in Park City, and I was near the bottom in the (race of champions)," Sturgeon said.

Though Sturgeon is the national champion, the three truly fastest racers hardly skied away empty-handed.

"I was the fastest only in handicapped 'adjusted' time. The actual fastest (race of champions) male and female racers don't get the honor of the title, but they get something better: They win a fully paid week in Chile to train with the U. S. ski team during the team's pre-season race camp, along with a ski team uniform," Sturgeon said. "Winning the title has actually inspired me, though I'm a little embarrassed to admit it. Next year, I'm going to the (nationals) in the best shape possible, and I'm aiming to win that trip to Chile."

e-mail: jeborn@desnews.com