THE “BAčA CUP” 2026

TO ALL OUR BACA CUP SKI RACERS: On Valentines Day, Saturday February 14, 2026 “History was Made!” and the 47th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race was concluded in a very organized and timely manner. We also had excellent weather and snow/race course conditions better than we have seen in many years and this year we were able to complete our race with very few falls, no injuries and only a few gates knocked over by “Racers in the Charge!”. As always, this was truly an “All Hands on Deck Effort” and we are sooo grateful to everyone who assisted us in making the race happen and once again helping to keep this awesome ski tradition going after all these years.

SO!, this year our Congratulations go out to our 2026 Baca Cup Champions Tomas Pavlicek and Piper DeMatte for their Awe-inspiring Baca Cup victories! We also congratulate Edita Hester and Milos Honzak for their outstanding alpine efforts and Ambassador’s Cup victories! And of special note, for the first time in Baca Cup history we had a “fastest time tie in the both the men's and woman's divisions! It was great fun watching Tomas and Piper complete their Championship runs and we congratulate both of them for sharing an outstanding Overall Best Time of 23.70 seconds! We also offer sincere congratulations to our 2026 Snowboard Champions Dana and Olivia Gaspar for their impressive snowboard victories as we are enjoying watch our Snowboard Division expand in participation every year.

Special Thanks and Recognition also go out to Sarka Fletcher and Izzy Mowery for their ongoing assistance in helping execute our race timing and results gathering in demonstrating why we will forever consider them as “Legendary Reinforcements” in Baca Cup History! We are also incredibly thankful to Sam Wiley, and especially our Mountain Manager Gary Dietke from our Blue Knob Family, who worked for several weeks in advance to assure we had an excellent race course prepared despite the ever changing weather conditions at the Blue Knob Ski Resort.

Once again, Sam (Blue Knob Owner/Assistant Mountain Manager) set our course and spent the entire race starting all of our racers. Sam never wavered in his dedication to helping us complete our race, and we are also grateful to Joe and Zuzana Steen, for filling in wherever and whenever needed on the race and event coordination, Suzie Hagstram, Nancy Melgar and Dasha Fletcher for additional race support, Phil Hughes and to Chaz Wagner for his statistical assistance in computing our results and creating the certificates for our racers. Truly, we could never have completed this without everyone involved and we genuinely appreciate everyone's efforts!

Later in the day, we celebrated our Valentines, and thanks to Dasha's outstanding attention to the menu, we enjoyed a Fantastic Awards Celebration with Great Food, Great Company, Great Beer, lots of fun for the kids and a Marvelous Time was We also wish to give Special Recognition to Nancy for Stepping Up and helping coordinate the timing process and making it all look easy. Nancy Melgar was experiencing her first Baca Cup this year, and has now placed herself firmly into our Baca Cup, and Salas Hills families while securing her spot on Baca Cup Race Committee moving forward.

And as always, we offer our “Special Thanks” to the Blue Knob Staff for their race support and our “Heartfelt Thanks” to all of the amazing people behind the scenes who contributed along the way to make this years race a success. Special Thanks go out to Sarka, Chaz, Ian Cruz, Nolan Church, Zuzana, Tomas, Carol, Bruce, Sam, Suzie, Dasha, Joe, Gary, Robin, Kathy, Izzy, Phil, Alexander, Phil IV and especially Nancy along with the myriad of other folks behind the scenes who just outdid themselves this year. As the saying goes “it takes a village” and we are sooo grateful to everyone for helping us pull this off while presenting an overall safe, enjoyable and Happy Valentines Day ski race and celebration.

We also wish to thank our SOKOL Brothers and Sisters for their ongoing partnership in supporting the Baca Cup, the Blue Knob Staff, Suzie and Jim Hagstrom, Carol and Bruce Ellington and the rest of our Salas Hills Family, Chaz Wagner, the entire Hughes Family and everyone else involved for their unwavering support of this Fantastic tradition. This years race was yet another “Shining Example of Euro-American Cooperation” and sets the standard for the rest of the world to see how “Unified Cooperation” is an excellent way to accomplish almost anything. Ha! The Olympics has nothing on us!!

We also wish to recognize American Sokol Washington, D.C. under the leadership of Starosta, Milos Toth, and VP Zuzana Steen for their various contributions and support and we are sooo grateful to all of the wonderful people who took 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 and we LOVE you all!

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 Dasha was truly instrumental in helping make it all happen.

So! In closing we wish to recognize Carol Ellington for her excellent Moravian Beans, Bruce Ellington for the fantastic Pork Bar-b-q, Tomas Pavlicek for the wonderful Chicken Paprika, Vera for her wonderful Venison Chile and the Best Salami perhaps ever presented at Baca Cup, Carl for the terrific Jasik and Venison Roasts, Dasha for the fantastic Goulash and to 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 were all instrumental in making the 2026 Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race another Spectacular Event!

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

Have a Great Year Everyone and Ski Safe! We can't 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 !!