THE “BAčA CUP” 2025

TO ALL OUR BACA CUP SKI RACERS:

On Saturday February 15, 2025 the 46th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race came to a close at 3:00 pm and once again “History was Made!” This year, and despite a blinding Snow Storm dropping 5” of fresh wet snow just before race time, followed by an hours long Ice Storm during our race, and then having to completely re-adjust our timing set up, we were able to complete our race with very few falls, no injuries and not even a gate knocked over. This was truly an “All Hands on Deck Effort” and we are sooo grateful to everyone who stepped up to make this race happen and help keep this amazing tradition alive.

SO! Congratulations go out to our 2025 Baca Cup Champions Martin Hunka and Piper DeMatte for their outstanding and overall very impressive Baca Cup victories!! We also congratulate Tomas Pavlicek and Veronika Clewner for their outstanding efforts and Ambassador’s Cup wins! Of special note this year, for the first time in Baca Cup history we had a “fastest time tie in the men's division” with the 2nd run tie break of .02 seconds determining this years Champion and we especially congratulate Piper on her Overall Best Time! … “Girl Power!!” We also congratulate our Baca, Lukas Fletcher and Michaela Kloepping for their Snowboarding Championship Awards and we offer Special Recognition to “Every Baca Cup Racer” who participated this year despite the weather. Most of us looked very much like an Ice Cube” after the race!

Special Thanks and Recognition also go out to Sarka Fletcher and Izzy Mowery for their “Herculean Efforts” in designing, creating and executing our race timing, results gathering and even certificate creation this year. Truly, these girls went over and above the call of duty this year and deserve their place as “Legendary Reinforcements” in Baca Cup History! We are also incredibly thankful to Sam Wiley, Tim Corles, Kasten Tussey and Gary Dietke from our Blue Knob Family who worked for almost a week in advance to assure we had a working race course and at least a timing concept to begin with. Sam (Blue Knob Owner/Assistant Mountain Manager) spent the entire race starting all our racers and never wavered in his dedication to helping us complete our race despite the conditions. We are also grateful to Phillip and Alexander Hughes, Zuzana Steen, Martin Hunka and Dasha Fletcher for filling in all the necessary blanks on the timing/race coordination crew with the twins running information between the start and finish multiple times throughout the race and helping wherever and whenever needed. Truly, we couldn't have done this without everyone involved and really appreciate your efforts!

So after reinventing our race processes to accommodate the weather and assure no one got hurt, our race was completed and we enjoyed a Fantastic Awards Celebration Saturday night with Great Food, Great Company, Great Beer, lots of fun for the kids and a “Great Time was enjoyed by all!”

As always, we offer a “Special Thanks” to Blue Knob for their race support and really offer our “Heartfelt Thanks” to all the people behind the scenes who contributed to make this year's race another resounding success. Special Thanks go out to Sarka, Chaz, Ian, Nolan Church, Zuzana, Tomas, Milos, Sam & Abby, Suzie, Dasha, Martin, Jan, Izzy, Phil and Alexander, Big Phil and Marcella, Pavel Novak and the myriad of other folks behind the scenes who just outdid themselves this year. Although the weather Saturday did not cooperate fully and caused our race to take longer than planned, we are thankful and grateful that ALL of our racers survived the Wet Snow and near Glacial Ice resulting in an overall safe and happy ski race celebration.

We also wish to recognize Sam Arbogast (Awards & Event Photography), the Blue Knob Staff, our SOKOL Brothers and Sisters, Suzie Hagstrom, Carol Ellington and our Salas Hills Family, Chaz Wagner, the entire Hughes Family and all or our Dear Friends from the Embassy of the Czech Republic in Washington, D.C., and everyone who helped out for their unwavering support of this Fantastic tradition. This was yet another “Shining Example of Euro-American Cooperation” and sets a standard for the rest of the world to see how “Unified Cooperation” is an excellent way to accomplish almost anything.

We again offer our sincere thanks to Jan Woska from the Czech Embassy Washington, D.C. who stepped in to handle the Ambassador’s Cup Presentation on behalf of Ambassador Miloslav Stašek who's schedule (unfortunately) did not allow him and his family to join us this year. We also recognize American Sokol Washington, D.C. Starosta Milos Toth, and VP Zuzana Steen for their various contributions and support and are sooo grateful to all of these wonderful people in taking time from their busy schedules to offer their special talents to our race. As Race Coordinator’s, Dasha and I know how very lucky we are to have such Amazing Race Support to help make it all look easy.

Special thanks are also offered to Lukas Mitchell Fletcher “The Baca of Salas Hills” for carrying on “The Baca Tradition” in honor of his grandfather Jiri (Baca) Vaclav Parma. Baca Lukas' ongoing message “to enjoy the experience and have as much fun as possible” is always well received and truly is offered from his heart. We also thank Dasha Parma Fletcher "The Bacova" for her incredible hospitality in offering her home, her culinary talents and as always her beauty and grace in following in Bacova Ute Parma's footsteps. This entire event from start to finish is truly a “Labor of Love!”

And in closing we wish to recognize Carol Ellington for her excellent Meatballs, Tomas Pavlicek for the wonderful Sauerkraut and Chicken Paprika, Big Sarka for her Czech Bread Dumplings, Pavel for his incredible Kolache, Carl for the terrific Jasik, Venison Leg and Backstrap Roast, Dasha for the fantastic "Wunder Weiners" and everyone else who contributed to the wonderful feast prepared and enjoyed by all.

As we move forward from this years event, we are Thankful, Grateful, Appreciative and Blessed to know The Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race is continuing to be recognized world wide as a shining example of Euro-American relations and with the core group of volunteers and ski racers involved it is truly an honor for us to coordinate such a special event. WE LOVE YOU ALL!

SO! .. a Great Time, Great Participants and a Great Race has gone into the history books and once again we have all participated in making the 2025 Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race another Outstanding Event!

"It Just Doesn't Get Better Than This"!!

Have a Great Year Everyone and Ski Safe! We cant wait to ...

“SKI YA SOON!”

Carl & Dasha Fletcher
Baca Cup Race Coordinators
Dasapfletcher@gmail.com
carlfletcher60@gmail.com

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 !!