The 2011 Thank God For Snowmaking Race will be Wednesday, March 30. To register a racer, go to www.vara.org. Come on out and watch some of the fastest skiers in the U.S. take to the hill! (And bring a few extra dollars for the BBQ and snack bar.)

From the Burlington Free Press (2010):

Link to original article: http://www.burlingtonfreepress.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2009903170312

RICHMOND -- Jimmy Cochran was not at all pleased with the results of Monday's "Thank God for Snowmaking" ski race at his family's Richmond ski hill. Neither was his cousin, Tim Kelley.

It just didn't seem right to the two men that a non-Cochran should sit atop the leaderboard after the end of the day's races. They swore the day's winner, Tim Jitloff, a fellow U.S. Ski Team member from Reno, must have been cheating. How else could any Cochran get beaten on his home turf, a trail both men helped build and shape over the years?

The Cochran cousins didn't really think their teammate was doing anything untoward to get the advantage, but their collective pride certainly took a hit after the results were tallied.

Monday's benefit race for Cochran's Ski Area was the first U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association race held at the hill in more than 30 years. The event drew more than 200 ski racers from around New England. The cars in the jam-packed parking lot came from as far away as Maine and Rhode Island.

The race was possible because of the new snowmaking system the nonprofit ski area put in last year. Before that, they never would have had enough snow to sustain racing into March.

"For years we didn't have a trail that we could host a race on," said Barbara Ann Cochran, the family's Olympic gold medallist and one of the organizers of the race. "And we didn't have reliable snowmaking."

The surrounding hills around Cochran's were a weather-beaten brown and barren of snow Monday, but the race course, called "I-89," was covered in an impressive amount of spring corn snow. Many of the racers commented on how good the course was in the beginning of the day.

"It's a little flatter than our usual races, but the snow is pretty similar to World Cup snow," said Kelley, a Starkboro native who -- with sister Jessica and cousin Jim -- is among the second generation of Cochrans to pepper the national team's roster.

The day-long men's race pitted high school, college and recreational racers against U.S. Ski Team members, including Cody Marshall of Pittsfield and Developmental Team members Nolan Kasper of Warren and Colby Granstrom of Lake Stevens, Wash. Jimmy Cochran, a 2006 Olympian, and his compatriots skied in a NorAm Cup race at Whiteface in New York and will race Wednesday at Stowe. They'll finish out their season at the U.S. Alpine Championships in Alaska, at the end of March.

Being able to race against the pros was a huge draw for the skiers racing Monday. Huddled around the scoreboard, skiers compared their times to Jitloff's and Cochran's, slapping hands and congratulating each other when they were within five or six seconds of the leaders.

"I'm closer to the U.S. Team than I thought," said 15-year-old Hunter Lathrop, a student at Stratton Mountain School. "I'm only six seconds out."

This race is the beginning of a new era at Cochran's, board member Rick Sharp said. After years of coaching top racing talent but never being able to host big races, the Cochrans are hoping this race will add a new dimension to their offerings.

"This is a really big deal that we can expose the area to these racers and put on a top-notch race," Sharp said.

While the ski area was hoping to raise about $10,000 from the race, the racers were hoping to take home the $500 top prize. Lest anyone think Cochran and Kelley were sloughing off because the race didn't count for them, they wanted the prize as much as anyone.

"They're laid back, but they're all gunning for it," Barbara Ann Cochran said.

Jimmy Cochran was the man to beat after the second run, but it wasn't enough to best Jitloff, the 2008 U.S. giant slalom champion. Cochran finished with a combined time of 1:11.56, a whisker behind Jitloff's 1:10.99.

University of Vermont skier Marsh Gooding rounded out the top three overall racers. In addition to winning prize money, the top three also won a trophy made in the shape of a Cochran's T-bar tower, hand-welded by Jimmy Cochran.

Kelley finished seventh and hung his head in mock-shame.

"I used my 20 years of experience on the hill, and I couldn't win," Kelley said. "I'm a little embarrassed."
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