Down Rim Rock

Probably the only international sport event that will be held in the U.S. this year took place last week at Lake Placid, N.Y. between ten lady Kanonen representing the U.S. and Canada.

A Kanone is an expert skier, and skiing is one of the few sports at which women become expert. Discouraged from jumping (too dangerous) and cross-country running (too tiring), women have adopted the most becoming ski sport: downhill racing. Even so, whooshing down a mountainside at 40 m.p.h. requires steel nerves, stamina, split-second thinking. Not by seconds but by fractions of seconds are races often won & lost.

Last week thousands of U.S. ski fans crammed the sidelines at Lake Placid's Rim Rock run. Like most downhill meets, the races were divided into two sections: the straight-down (popularly called the downhill) and the slalom,* a zigzag course defined by pairs of flags which skiers must thread.

Few weeks ago, when practically the same U.S. and Canadian Kanonen met in a tournament at Mont Tremblant in the Laurentians, the Canadian girls lost the slalom but streaked off with the downhill race. In last week's return engagement, Canada's dashing Wurtele twins, Rhona & Rhoda, who have finished one-two in every downhill race they have entered this year, failed to lead their side to victory. Winner of the downhill, with spectacular runs of 1:02 and 1:01.4 (for the 3/8-mile course) was Dorothy Hoyt of Schenectady, N.Y. Two U.S. teammates were clocked close behind.

For the slalom, the U.S. team had an overwhelming favorite: bespectacled, oak-legged Marilyn Shaw, 17-year-old daughter of the owner of the general store at Stowe, Vt. At 15 she outran a crack field that included famed Betty Woolsey, once ranked among the world's first ten woman skiers. Last year Miss Shaw waltzed off with the ladies' U.S. slalom championship.

Last week, darting like a goldfish through the layout of 40 "gates"-including hair-raising hairpin turns, flushes (S curves) and right-angle elbows-Miss Shaw was clocked in the breath-taking time of i min. 44.4 sec. On the same f-mile slalom course earlier in the day, ten top-flight men skiers had competed in Lake Placid's annual Washington's Birthday ski meet. Only three of them had chalked up better time than Miss Shaw's (winning time: 1:34.4).

When the two-race totals were tallied, Marilyn Shaw had piled up 196.94 points, led her four teammates-who had all finished the slalom in faster time than the fastest Canadian-to a clear-cut victory over their northern neighbors, 763.17 to 673.04.

*From the Norwegian words slad (steep terrain) and lorn (track).

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