HUNTER, N.Y. – The 63rd annual ski races of the Carpathian Ski Club, known by its Ukrainian acronym as KLK, were conducted at Hunter Mountain on Saturday, February 25.
Among girls age 12-13, the winner was Olena Kucher (left). With her are: Larissa Pawliczko (center) and Christina Silver.
Skiers of all ages – from age 6 to 75 – competed on a warm February day, taking a couple of runs down the official NASTAR (National Standard Race) course set up for the event. The rainy weather that had been forecast for the day did not materialize, and the races went on without a hitch.
Later that day, at a dinner held at Hunter Mountain’s Copper Tree Restaurant, skiers received the awards they’d earned. The ski resort’s general manager, Russ Coloton, was in attendance to greet the participants of this family-oriented event as well as loyal supporters of KLK.
Erko Palydowycz (center), the fastest male skier of the 2017 races, is seen with his father, Eri Palydowycz (left), and grandfather, Severyn (also known as Erko) Palydowycz.
The evening’s program was opened by Vira Popel, president of the Carpathian Ski Club, who noted the generous financial support offered by three Ukrainian credit unions – Self Reliance New York Federal Credit Union, Nova UA Federal Credit Union (Clifton, N.J.) and Ukrainian Selfreliance Federal Credit Union (Philadelphia), as well as the Ukrainian National Home Foundation of Passaic.
Trophies and medals were presented to the champions and top skiers in each age group. The presentations were conducted by Andrew Hadzewycz, vice-president of KLK, assisted by Roma Hadzewycz.
Diana Blyznak took home the trophy for girls age 14-18.
Special awards were announced for the fastest female and male skiers, an honor that includes yearlong possession of traveling trophies with the winners’ names inscribed on them (no repeat winners are allowed). Maya Stawnychy and Erko Palydowycz received their trophies from, respectively, KLK President Popel and KLK Skiing Director Orest Fedash.
KLK President Vira Popel presents the traveling trophy for the fastest female skier of the 2017 races to Maya Stawnychy.
All the members of the Wojcickyj family, (from left) Stefan, Marko, Adriana and Natalia, competed in the races. Marko received the trophy for boys age 12-14; Adriana received a special award for bi-skiing.
