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Local skier third at championships
  
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For a fourth year in a row, Grant Novota has qualified for the NASTAR, a national recreational ski racing group, skiing championships.
Grant, 11, of Highlands Ranch, recently qualified and competed at the 2009 NASTAR National Championships March 26-29 at the Steamboat Ski Resort in Steamboat Springs. A fifth-grader at Summit View Elementary School in Highlands Ranch, Novota is presently ranked No. 1 in Colorado for his age group, the Gold Racer Division. Novota is also ranked No. 1 at the Copper Mountain Resort in the Gold Division.
Grant began skiing at the age of 4, and on his very first run through a NASTAR course in March 2005, he earned a gold medal.
At the 2009 championships, Grant won the bronze medal, finishing third place in his age division. March 27, he ran the green course at Steamboat first and had the fastest time of all racers by almost half of one second.
On his second run, which was on the yellow course, he had a solid run but skidded out of a turn, rounding a gate about half-way down the course.
“He sat down and his skis stayed on; however, his right ski landed on top of his right thumb,” said Grant’s father, Tom Novota. “It immediately started swelling and turning black and blue. We thought maybe he had broken it.”
Ski patrol took a look at the injury and decided to just ice it the rest of the day.
“We did not know if he would be able to race Saturday morning,” Tom Novota said.
Grant’s first run put him in second place, essentially in a dead heat with the leader. He was .06 points behind the leader.
On March 28, he was able to complete both of his runs; however, due to the fall and his injury, he skied conservatively and really did not attack the course. All of the other racers were chasing him and the leader. Grant finished in sixth place on the day.
Because he skied so well on the Friday, his average two-day score gave him the bronze medal. A racer must complete one run on each day with the scores averaged for a total average score for the event.
Developed by SKI Magazine in 1968, NASTAR (National Standard Race) is the largest recreational ski and snowboard race program in the world. Its mission is to provide a fun, competitive and easily accessible racing program that, through the development of a handicap system, allows racers of all ages and abilities a means to compete and compete their race results to other competitors across the country, regardless of when and where they race.
The 2009 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships are expected to attract nearly 1,400 racers for the multi-day event. Racers qualify for the National Championships by earning a top-three ranking in their age division at any of the 125 Nature Valley NASTAR ski resorts throughout North America.
In 2008, competitors age 3-93 from 44 states, as well as Canada and Australia, competed in age and gender categories in alpine, telemark, snowboard and physically challenged categories for the chance to win a national title at Steamboat.
Grant, 11, of Highlands Ranch, recently qualified and competed at the 2009 NASTAR National Championships March 26-29 at the Steamboat Ski Resort in Steamboat Springs. A fifth-grader at Summit View Elementary School in Highlands Ranch, Novota is presently ranked No. 1 in Colorado for his age group, the Gold Racer Division. Novota is also ranked No. 1 at the Copper Mountain Resort in the Gold Division.
Grant began skiing at the age of 4, and on his very first run through a NASTAR course in March 2005, he earned a gold medal.
At the 2009 championships, Grant won the bronze medal, finishing third place in his age division. March 27, he ran the green course at Steamboat first and had the fastest time of all racers by almost half of one second.
On his second run, which was on the yellow course, he had a solid run but skidded out of a turn, rounding a gate about half-way down the course.
“He sat down and his skis stayed on; however, his right ski landed on top of his right thumb,” said Grant’s father, Tom Novota. “It immediately started swelling and turning black and blue. We thought maybe he had broken it.”
Ski patrol took a look at the injury and decided to just ice it the rest of the day.
“We did not know if he would be able to race Saturday morning,” Tom Novota said.
Grant’s first run put him in second place, essentially in a dead heat with the leader. He was .06 points behind the leader.
On March 28, he was able to complete both of his runs; however, due to the fall and his injury, he skied conservatively and really did not attack the course. All of the other racers were chasing him and the leader. Grant finished in sixth place on the day.
Because he skied so well on the Friday, his average two-day score gave him the bronze medal. A racer must complete one run on each day with the scores averaged for a total average score for the event.
Developed by SKI Magazine in 1968, NASTAR (National Standard Race) is the largest recreational ski and snowboard race program in the world. Its mission is to provide a fun, competitive and easily accessible racing program that, through the development of a handicap system, allows racers of all ages and abilities a means to compete and compete their race results to other competitors across the country, regardless of when and where they race.
The 2009 Nature Valley NASTAR National Championships are expected to attract nearly 1,400 racers for the multi-day event. Racers qualify for the National Championships by earning a top-three ranking in their age division at any of the 125 Nature Valley NASTAR ski resorts throughout North America.
In 2008, competitors age 3-93 from 44 states, as well as Canada and Australia, competed in age and gender categories in alpine, telemark, snowboard and physically challenged categories for the chance to win a national title at Steamboat.
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