the NASTAR races...

Alex had noticed NASTAR racing signs up at most of the places that they've gone skiing this year and wanted to know what it was all about. We looked it up and it looked like fun! It's a recreational downhill ski racing program. The resorts offer the race at a certain time every week, you show up, pay for as many runs as you would like to do and go for it! Medals are awarded based on your time in relation to the pacesetter that day (I can't explain it... look here for more detailed info). All different skill levels and ages participate so it's fun to watch and the kids really enjoyed participating in it!

Not much to say about the photos... just the kids doing their runs...


Hard to see... but a smile after finishing her first run...
Clara wiped out about halfway through her second run. I thought she would be done after that... but she got up, dusted herself off and finished the course (and then went on to do four more runs).

They got better the more runs they did...



They didn't qualify for any medals their first couple of runs, then finally...
Alex qualified for Bronze!!
and did "the robot" to celebrate :-)

Clara followed right behind him with a bronze on her next run as well. Out of Alex's 7 runs and Clara's 6, they each qualified for bronze twice. In the end, they got these cool little "medals" (pins actually), that said NASTAR, the resort name and what level the qualified for. Fun stuff... and something they definitely want to do again next ski season!

Here's a little video of their first runs. They were both fairly tentative the first time down, they had never had to navigate gates before, but they did great!