With the launch of the inaugural season of the Northeast Slalom Series (NESS), skiers in the Eastern Region have the opportunity to spice up their competitive season with a six-stop, five-state series featuring a season-long points chase culminating in a head-to-cash, cash-prize finals.
The series kicks off June 11th, at Twin Lakes in Monroe, N.Y., and concludes with the head-to-head finals, Sept. 3-4, at Pangaea Puddle in Canajoharie, N.Y.
Each tournament in the series will be ran as normal, but an extra layer of scoring will be added to each event that pits all skiers in one of two divisions %E2%80%93 Women and Men (including juniors) %E2%80%93 against each other for NESS season points. NOPS scoring will be used to level the playing field among speeds and ages and determine placements for NESS points.
"The idea is that by introducing cross-divisional competition, rivalries between friends in different age divisions will flourish and skiers who sometimes show up to a tournament to find they are the only one in their division will always have lots of competition to ski against," said Tonya Maurer, EVP of the Eastern Region and an advisor to the series.
At the conclusion of the series, the top-50 percent of series participants in each of the Women's and Men's divisions qualify for the series championship at Pangaea Puddle, where skiers will compete in head-to-head brackets for what organizers hope to be a significant cash prize.
Additional details about series scoring can be found at www.WaterSkiTheEast.com.
The inaugural season of the Northeast Slalom Series is sponsored by Avon Self Storage, GOODE Skis, foregroup, Inc., h2oproshop.com, and Centurion Boats, and produced by ThinkSpark Media.
Registration
Skiers must be a registered NESS competitor in order to receive series points and participate in the head-to-head finals. The registration fee is %2425 per skier, which funds the finals cash prize, a participant t-shirt and minimal series costs such a points tracking, banners, website development, etc. Every cent generated by entry fees and sponsorships will be put back into the series.
To register or learn more, visit WaterSkiTheEast.com.
Schedule
The 2016 NESS stops are:
Stop No. 1 %E2%80%93 June 11
Twin Lakes June 3-Event, Twin Lakes, Monroe, NY
Stop No. 2 %E2%80%93 June 26
Dubes Pond Ski for Charity, Dubes Pond, Hooksett, NH
Stop No. 3 %E2%80%93 July 9-10
CT State Championships, Old Farms Pond, Avon, CT
Stop No. 4 %E2%80%93 July 23-24
John's Lake 112, John's Lake, Wantage, NJ
BONUS: July 28-31
Eastern Regionals, Lake Holly, Sparta, VA - Results to count in NESS standings
Stop No. 5 %E2%80%93 August 27
Tom Costello Alan Rossi VT Championships, Wrightsville Reservoir, Montpelier, VT
NESS Finals %E2%80%93 Sept. 3-4
Pangaea 43, Pangaea, Canajoharie, NY - Head-to-head finals
Stop No. 1 (2017) %E2%80%93 Sept. 10
New England Slalom Championships, Back Bay, Wolfeboro, NH - 1st tournament of 2017 NESS season
The individual tournament entry fees still apply and are payable to each tournament organizer. Signing up for the series DOES NOT register skiers for the individual tournaments, skiers must still enter them as normal and NESS participants do not have priority entry.
More information at WaterSkiTheEast.com.