Sugar Mountain Adult Race League (SMARL) Celebrates It's 20th Anniversary This Year with It's Kick-Off Race Last Monday Night

The 20th anniversary season of the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League (SMARL) got off to a fabulous start on Monday night with perfect weather and a lot of happy faces as skiers and snowboarders were ready to race into 2026. Some 75 participants representing 11 teams will be racing over six Mondays in the annual series that began on January 6 and will conclude with an award ceremony and festivities on February 9.

In the Fall of 2005 Bill Leonard of Ski Country Sports dreamed up the idea of organizing a race series for local adult skiers. The point of the series was to have some fun, as well as to enjoy some good natured competition. Bill pitched his idea to Gunther Jochl at Sugar Mountain Resort and the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League was born during the 2006 winter season. The concept for the league centered around the idea of having a race for all skiers age 21 years old and up, on a Monday night for six weeks in a row and starting the first week in January. The league would consist of teams of 4 to 8 racers with each racer having two runs on the course with the fastest run counting for points compiled for a season ending ranking of how teams and individuals fared against each other.

That first year the league filled up its 100 person limit and has been going strong ever since.

When Leonard was asked about what he was thinking when getting the race league started he joked, “I was kinda thinking it would be a great date night out to get away from kids once a week! But when I went over to see Gunther about it, he said ‘that sounds a like a great idea – why don’t you do it’.” Leonard credits many people for getting the league up and running. “It’s been a big coordination between a number of people. Sean McKee over at Sugar has been there from the beginning, from day one, putting the race course and timing gear together and having the race ready to start promptly at 6:30 every Monday night.”

Sean McKee, who is the Racing Coach at Sugar among many other things has not only been racing in SMARL for the 20 years but has been responsible for coordinating all the races, from setting up and maintaining the race course as well as keeping up with the timing and scoring. Going back twenty years, McKee reminisced about what it was like keeping up with the timing back in those days. “When SMARL started, we were using a wireless timing device that had a display about the size of a nano iPad, about 8 by 8 inches that ran off radio signals. The times captured from that device were then display on the screen and then those times had to be hand written down onto a sheet of paper. Then at the end of the race after the times were all compiled, those numbers had to be manually calculated that took into account each racers handicap and age for the final score,”

With all this equipment and paper work involved, keeping the weather at bay could also be challenging. Setting up a tent would usually work during decent weather conditions but McKee can remember working out of a Sno-Cat or snow grooming machine when the weather was bad. The race took place on Big Birch and a hard wire had to be run from the top of the course to the bottom for the timing equipment.

The scene at the after race get together at the bar was interesting back then as well as everyone was waiting for the scores to be brought out. When a dozen or so copies of the results came to the bar everyone would scramble around the sheets checking out their scores and see how they stacked up with everyone else. “Instead of the beauty of a computer today, somebody then had to physically spend an hour or so figuring all of the calculations before they were ready,” says McKee. “ That was always quite a scene watching the racers huddled around those sheets checking their times. Today I can have those numbers and results done five minutes after the race ends. We even have a 65 inch TV display at the top and bottom of the course that display names and race times as they happen.”

“It was certainly very popular right off the bat,” said Leonard. Not only was racing an attraction, but so was the post race get together at Sugar Mountain’s bar. “It was a lot of fun as the racers gather at the bar after the race not only to see what the results were but also for the drinks and food that was provided,” said Leonard. “Sugar, along with other local restaurants, would pick weeks to host that night’s food offerings. Banner Elk Cafe was the first to raise their hand and has been doing that for 20 years now.”

Erich Schmidinger, who has also been racing with the league for 20 years, said he remembers leagues like these growing up in Massachusetts as a kid. It was a big deal on the ski slopes up North he remarked. “You see a lot of people you don’t get to see during the busy winter season, a lot of local people. And of course enjoying getting together after the race for a couple of beers is something a lot of us look forward to.” Ask what does he think after 20 years of SMARL racing he says, “I could say everybody is getting older, but I would’t say we’re old yet. We’re still having fun!”

Cindy and Les Broussard of Banner Elk Cafe are also alumni of that first race. A family who loves to ski, the Broussard’s restaurant has always sponsored two to three teams every year. “The snow or weather is not always the best on Monday nights,” says Broussard, “but your buddies are out there to see, it’s almost like a date night for us cause it’s my friends and folks I work with, so it’s always a great time – no matter what the weather is.” Besides the fun, Broussard enjoys the competitiveness that’s brewing out there on the course. “I know it’s suppose to be fun and all that, but don’t let anyone tell you there’s not some serious competition going on between teams and individuals. I know Gunther and I keep a close eye on each other scores to see who comes out on top every Monday. And probably the top ten racers from around here are out there on the course.”

Besides participating in the racing, the Broussard’s restaurant has been hosting nights of food for the racers after the race from the very first season. “These days our restaurant enjoys providing food for the racers for two Monday nights a season along with Sugar and Ski Country Sports for everybody,” say Broussard. “I know most of the racers, so we end up feeding our friends which is fun.”

Perhaps the most dedicated racer of them all is 72 year old Ralph Polattie from Greenwood, South Carolina. Polattie tells how he heard about the race from his friend Donovan Carroll who was a manager at Alpine Ski Center in Banner Elk back in those days. “I’ve always wanted to race since seeing Jean-Claude Killy back in the 1968 Olympics when a was a youngster and said man, I want to do that someday. My friend Donovan Carroll at Alpine Ski Center told me about the race and encouraged me to come up and give it a try. So I signed onto the A1 Bayou Smokehouse team and I was hooked.”

Polattie has been on a number of teams over the years as teams came and went. He has enjoyed helping putting together some good teams. “We loved doing it, it kinda gets in your blood, especially the competitiveness. I remember always trying to help get the right team together to go for those first places. The competition between teams is still as intense as ever.” says Polattie. “The other thing to watch out for is how well you do within your age group, us old timers really keep an eye out for that.” Polattie says he’s come a long way in his racing skills since that first year out on the race course. He’s participated in racing clinics at Sugar and is always picking up tips from fellow racers. He says running gates on a race course definitely improves your overall skiing. One tip he shares: “The secret to finishing the season good is being out there every Monday night, cause when the weather’s bad you got some folks staying home which gives you a better chance at keeping your overall scores up there at the end of the season.”

But what perhaps makes Polattie the most dedicated racer is the fact that he drives 3 hours 40 minutes each way from Greenwood, SC every Monday for the race. “I’ve been driving up for the race for 20 years now, only missing a few nights, mostly because of treacherous weather,” says Polattie, “I come up there and and ski for the afternoon and then back out for the race that evening. Then I pack up and head home. I’m so use to it and don’t even notice the drive anymore.”

After the first seven years of bouncing around ski teams, Polattie decided to start up his own team, and the Good Ole Boys was born 13 years ago. The team’s been out there ever since racing together. “I’ve made a lot of friends over the years, kinda like you’re in a fraternity, and I can’t wait to see them ever season,” says Polattie.

The 20th season has started great for the league. After a bit of a slow down during COVID years the numbers are coming back. They had 26 new racers signed on this year and new teams formed as well.

Gunther Jochl, owner of Sugar Mountain Resort is also a 20 year veteran of the Sugar Mountain Adult Race League. “It’s been fun, people enjoy it and have been having a good time doing it. We get together, race a little and have a beer afterwards. The camaraderie, and just having it has been a great thing.” Jochl thinks back on all the people that have participated over the years and how COVID caused somewhat of a slowdown in attendance. “We had a little downturn with COVID of course which was understandable, but we still had the race for those who wanted to come. But it’s been perking up again and we’re seeing a lot more interest now. We hope people will come join us next year. It’s as much fun as it was in the beginning!”

“It’s hard to believe it’s been 20 years,” says Leonard. “But thinking back, a lot has changed. Snowboards were just starting to become common but it would be almost be another 10 years before snowboards would come to the SMARL races. Helmets were hardly used. We were starting to get use to shape skis. And we were a lot younger of course. In those early years I remember that a lot of us had to wait for the High Country Press newspaper to come out on Thursdays before we saw the race results. I’ve had a front row seat to the ski industry these last 20 years and it’s been exciting watching all the changes take place, and fun to be apart of it. I hope the SMARL series carries on for years to come for racers to enjoy the fun, camaraderie and competition while being out there on the slopes.”