ErinPeckham

There are 10 women that are qualified AND have skied in MW in a tournament in the last 12 months. There are many others that are qualified but do not choose to participate for their own personal reasons. If we don't have MM and MW, where do we want to see pros ski when they retire? Do you really expect Karen Truelove to start skiing in her appropriate age division when she retires? That is ridiculous. For her and for the competitors in her age division. Guess what, if you don't have a division for pros to go when they are retired from OW/OM, they WILL STOP SKIING in tournaments. MW also gives 55+ women a place to ski when they don't want to drop down in speed. So we have 55+ women who are total badasses and still want to ski 34mph and want the opportunity to ski against 35-54 year olds and we are going to tell them, "No, you are too old for that, you have to go 32mph". THAT is sad. I'm pretty sure we could file, "tearing down other skiers" as another reason our sport is dying.

@Than_Bogan Not yet. Jason is working super hard to make them available ASAP. If you want to sign up to receive production notifications, you can do so here: http://www.sprayresearchusa.com

@sunperch It sounds like you have made a wonderful contribution to our sport through the years. I'm certainly not questioning the value you have added to tournament skiing....our sport exists because of competitors and volunteers, regardless of skill level. I'm not understanding how 2 additional divisions (MM & MW) is an increased cost for the LOC. My family brought 5 skiers to Nationals. We spent $320 on practice sets and $715 on entry fees. I'm pretty sure Ski West was VERY happy to have us there, regardless of the division we chose to ski in. I'm also guessing that Timberlake Water Ski Club in Virginia was happy to have us support their Regionals tournament. Time wasted changing out boat crews?!?!?!? I genuinely do not understand.

I have to disagree with this. If we can't have MW at Nationals, then what's the point? Regionals and Nationals are the *ONLY tournaments that Masters Women have. Yes, we can ski MW in our local tournaments, but that's purely for the ranking list. Unlike the Men who have several 55K opportunities such as the 55K West series (that includes a cash prize!!!), 35+ women have nothing. It is our ONE opportunity to choose to ski in an elite division. I know I'm just one person and all I know is my own experience, but I'm really grateful for MW being in the Nationals. I mean, I got to ski against Jennifer LaPoint in the freaking Nationals. I grew up admiring her and at age 39, I got to stand on the dock and the podium with her. One of the best moments in my 29 years of competitive skiing. *Technically, we also have 35+ PanAms and 35+ Worlds, but we are skiing in our age divisions in those situations. And more often than not, those tournaments are held in foreign countries and cost A LOT of money to attend with no cash prize. I will agree that sometimes it can be difficult to choose what division to ski in. I don't think the MM and MW is a perfect system/division. Maybe there are opportunities for us to improve it and I'm completely open to that. In fact, Jason and I are constantly brainstorming ideas of ways to better the divisions. However, to completely do away with it would be a disservice to women who want to push themselves to ski against the highest ranked 35+ skiers, despite their age division. I understand that people from the outside look at the podium and see that it's not full every year. The main issue is not the division.....IMHO, the issue is that our sport is not retaining female skiers. I grew up skiing in the 90's and early 00's as a junior skier....we had a ton of INCREDIBLE talent for 3-eventers and slalom specialists. 20 years later, the only people that I grew up skiing against that are still competing are Jazmine Gagner and Regina Jacquess. We shouldn't be talking about taking opportunities away from women, we should be talking about how we can support women in their training and help them stay in the sport beyond careers, marriage and babies. I don't know the solution for that, but it's something I'm constantly thinking about.

@JPeckham, his father, and our two daughters (G1 & G2) all used the T-handle at Nationals. Jason placed 2nd in Masters Men and our daughters each placed 5th in their divisions. Here is Jason skiing at Nationals using the handle: https://www.youtube.com/live/MlJ3XaGB4T4?si=d61mHGVXvL2tbEql&t=38198 The link above should start at his first pass. If not, he starts skiing at 10:36:30 The handle has been added to the IWWF rulebook on a trial basis for TWO years (this year and next), not 1 year as mentioned in the broadcast. Unfortunately, I need to use a radius handle for wrist pain so I have not been able to make the switch yet. Jason is working on a radius design for me and I'm hoping to be on it next season!

@sunperch as the woman who placed first in MW, I have to say that your sarcasm is not appreciated and is extremely disrespectful. You have to earn the right to ski in MW and OW. There are 10 women on the MW ranking list….4 of them skied in MW at Nationals and 2 of them skied in their age divisions. That means only 4 other women that COULD ski in MW weren’t able to come. People have real lives and not everyone can come to Nationals every single year. My family drove from New York to California to compete and I’m just really grateful that I got to stand on the podium with 3 other amazing women that respect each other and put in the work to EARN a spot on the podium in an ELITE division instead of sitting at home on their computer judging a situation that they know nothing about.