Rising Star Wearing Stripes: Durtschi Joins National Team

Alpine

Two SVSEF skiers picked up three wins in FIS racing at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon. In the Western Region Speed Series, Kyla Miller finished her season with a pair of victories in downhill. Tanner Farrow won one of the men’s super G’s and was runner-up in downhill.
Miller, 18, made substantial gains as the speed of the series increased. She did not finish the opening women’s super G, but skied to fourth in the next and won both women’s downhills – the first by .75 of a second and the next by .07.
Gold Team racer Farrow, 21, opened with a fourth in super G, followed it with a victory in the second, winning by .14 of a second over Sam Dupratt, who, like Tanner, spent the 2013-14 season on the U.S. Alpine Development Team. Farrow was runner up in downhill (by .16 of a second) to U.S. B Team member Bryce Bennett (Squaw Valley), who won three out of four races.
Some of the youngest racers in the field with ’98 birthdays, Duncan Fuller finished all four races finishing 19/24 in super G and 16th twice in downhill. Teammate Yuri McClure went 23/32 in SG and 18th twice in DH. John Blackburn’s best results came in downhill with placements of 34th and 28th.
U16 team member Spencer Wright was runner-up twice to USST member Brennan Ruby in a pair of USSA Western Region super G’s at Mt. Bachelor.

Biathlon

Former SVSEF cross country team member Max Durtschi picked up the sport of biathlon roughly a year ago, and his natural aptitude for marksmanship coupled with his prowess as a cross country skier boosted him all the way to the U.S. Biathlon Team. Durtschi, 23, was a member of the SVSEF Cross Country program for eight years, but started out his 10-year SVSEF tenure as a member of the snowboard team starting in 2003. Max, the son of Kitty and Dr. Martin Durtschi of Ketchum, is currently a junior at Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.
"We have greater depth than ever before -- five athletes with top-16 World Cup finishes, a junior with a medal and a rookie with a World Cup point," said U.S. Biathlon Chief of Sport Bernd Eisenbichler. "We have two very strong groups of four athletes per gender on the A Team, who will benefit from training next to each other and together on a daily basis in Lake Placid. With an efficient training set-up and use of the two biathlon venues in Lake Placid starting in May, we will provide our athletes competitive group training mixed with very specific individualized plans."

SVSEF Board of Directors

Jim DeWolfe was named to the SVSEF Board of Directors earlier this month.
Jim is the Managing Member and Chief Investment Officer of Northside Capital Management LLC, a multi-family office investment management company; and Vice Chairman of Jeffrey Slocum & Associates, an institutional investment advisory firm. Previously, Jim held several senior positions at Morgan Stanley & Co., and Thomas Weisel Partners. He served for six years as a founding board member of the Sugar Bowl Ski Team and Academy, and was previously a board member of the USA Cycling Development Foundation.
Jim graduated from the University of Vermont in 1979 with a BA in Economics and Political Science and was an early member of the Stratton Mountain Ski Team.
“(I) had a less than noteworthy ski racing career before and after college, including a ten-year stint on the Masters circuit in New England, all of which have served to permanently scar my technique,” he said.
Jim and wife, Eva, have four children; Sofia, a SVSEF alpine and cross country alum, Kristian, a current member of the FIS team, Lukas, a former member of the cross country team now attending school in his mother’s native Sweden, and Willy, a member of the U12 alpine team.

by Scott McGrew