THE “BAčA CUP” 2024

Attention Baca Cup Ski Racers

On February 17, 2024 we celebrated the 45th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race and once again ... “History Was Made! So, on behalf of Baca Lukas Mitchell Fletcher, our congratulations go out to our 45th Annual Baca Cup Champions; Tomas Pavlicek and Piper DeMatte for their outstanding Baca Cup victories.

We also wish to congratulate our 2024 Ambassador's Cup Winners Jan Woska and Veronika Clewner for their superior races and our 2024 Baca Cup Woman's Snowboard Champion Autumn Rhea and Men's Snowboard Champion Phil Hughes for their dominant performances in our Baca Cup Snowboard Divisions.

Another outstanding race with some excellent racers, marvelous characters, plenty of laughs, very few falls and NO major injuries happened which in our figuring was a “VICTORY” for everyone involved!

And even though Mother Nature threw us a few curves, (7” of fresh snow, high wind gusts, colder temperatures and ongoing snow making) we made the best of it and in true “Baca Cup Spirit” all of our Baca Cup Ski Racers and their families had a “Fantastic Time”!

In recapping the weekend; Mother Nature helped us out in providing 7” of fresh snow and colder temperatures throughout the week which allowed Blue Knob the opportunity to build us an excellent race course! And with the weather cooperating, our racers and families were able to come and go to the race and the awards celebration safely with everyone having a “Wonderful Time”.

On Saturday evening, we celebrated our Ski Racers and Baca Cup Champions and also recognized all of this years partners offering our sincere “Thanks!” to, our brothers and sisters from SOKOL Washington, D.C., our friends at the Embassy of the Czechia, Washington, D.C., the Czech Cultural Center, New York City, our Blue Knob Ski Racing Team, our Salas Hills Community and a host of others who were integral in helping perpetuate the Baca Cup we know and love today.

We also wish to give Special Thanks to the Blue Knob Mountain staff and Richard Fiore, Kathryn Swope and the Blue Knob Racing Team for their outstanding work in race course creation, timing and their awesome hospitality. We had an excellent course and our racers made another strong showing while showcasing their diverse cooperation, talents and skills, skiing prowess and our shared Love of the Nordic Experience.

In addition, we wish to thank Chaz Wagner, Suzy Hagstrom, “Flyin'” Ian Cruz, Tomas Pavlicek, Dusan Neuman, Vera Jeanne, Jan Woska, Mirek Konvalina, our Bacova Dasha Fletcher, Sarka Fletcher (Statistics), Sam Arbogast (photography), Bruce and Carol Ellington and (of course) “Our Baca!” Lukas Mitchell Fletcher for their ongoing contributions throughout the year in “Stepping Up” and helping out whenever necessary. Truly, we could not have done this awesome event without them and we are sooo grateful for their assistance.

On another positive note; we recognized and thanked Carol Ellington for her many years of participation as a Baca Cup Ski Racer, Race Committee Member and fully acknowledged her as a Baca Cup Legend. We also wish to recognize Sam Arbogast for event photography, Pavel Novak from Czech Radio and especially Dusan Neuman from Radio Prague International in offering his video and photo journalism talents to Baca Cup Racing year in and year out. No matter what the weather conditions may be or how far he may travel, Dusan always finds a way to be here for us and this year he was in Europe less than 48 hours before race time arriving in the U.S. just in time to be with us again. So!, Congratulations go out to Carol for all she has done and for being our newest “Baca Cup Legend”! You are now officially acknowledged and have been firmly placed in Baca Cup History for all time.

As for the Awards Celebration; we wish to thank Dasha and Vera for their awesome Goulash's, Carl for the Venison Roasts, Pigs in a Blanket and Jasik!, Carol Ellington for those amazing Meatballs, Tomas Pavlicek for his outstanding Czech Style Sour Kraut, Chlebecky and Chicken Parikash, Sarka for her Charcuterie Platter, and Izzy, Jan, Mirek, Martin, Matt, Stenka, Vera and Sam Arbogast for their help in every possible direction. We also Thank everyone else who contributed to the wonderful display of food and beverage we all enjoyed. Heck! Even the slightly burnt “Pigs in a Blanket” were enjoyed to completion while the fresh Keg of Pilsner Urquell was eventually thawed out and savored by all of the adults which resulted in a Fantastic Baca Cup Dance Party! Truly! The company was great, the food and beverage were wonderful and “we can't wait to do it all again next year”!

Special Thanks also go out to all our Baca Cup Racing Committee members for another impressive performance in making this one of the safest and smoothest events ever. Their contributions throughout the year in registrations, race and gate coordination, videography, photography, communications, statistics, results, awards coordination and overall assistance helped us to once again put on a first-class ski race. As always, we couldn't have done this without the help of ALL these very talented people and we are thankful, grateful, appreciative and blessed to everyone for their participation and assistance.

We also wish to offer our sincere thanks to everyone who contributed a little extra for Baca Cup Racing and The Salas Hills Sports Club, to Sokol Washington for their continued support and to the Blue Knob Ski Resort for allowing us to carry on our ski racing tradition for all of these years. You are all Amazing!

In closing for 2024, Dasha and I wish to say what a blessing it was to coordinate “The 45th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race”. We really love watching the children and having the opportunity to spend this special time with all our Wonderful Friends, our Salas Hills Family, our Blue Knob Ski Family, our Czech Embassy and Czech Cultural Heritage friends and our Brothers and Sisters for SOKOL Washington, D.C.. The competition is always fierce but the overwhelming camaraderie, the joy of the celebration and and the opportunity to take this one special day out of each year to share our “Love of the Nordic Experience" is just awe-inspiring to be part of.

And of course … It's Great To Know that after 45 Years - “The Baca's Dream Lives On”!

We hope everyone had as much fun as we did and wish everyone a safe and happy 2024 ski season.

Can't wait to “Ski Ya Soon”!!

With Peace and Love from our home to yours, Carl & Dasha Fletcher Baca Cup Race Coordinators

In Cooperation With:

ATTENTION: We are always looking to collect photos from the race course (and especially the awards gathering) to post on the web site. If you have any photo’s or video’s, PLEASE get them to Carl, Dasha or Ian (webmaster) for inclusion in our galleries. Or you can visit our Facebook page and upload them directly.
Thanks !!