A9
Hood River News, Wednesday, January 7, 2015
Out of tragedy came bright tradition of Cato Memorial Race
‘Stu Cato says he is proud of the fact that his family and Richard Kohnstamm were able to come to an understanding rather than fighting one
another. “We both suffered,” he says. “We lost a daughter and he had a terrible thing happen at his Lodge. What can we do to make this thing
positive? You bring attorneys in and they’re going to convince you to hate the other person. Well we’re not that kind of people.”‘
By Ben Jacklet
Shred Hood
(Editor’s note: Ben Jacklet is edi-
tor and co-founder of Shred Hood,
a community news and information
website founded in 2013 to cover the
skiing, snowboarding, and back-
country scene on Mount Hood. For
more great content focused around
the Mount Hood snow culture, visit
www.shredhood.org)
For the 25th year in a row, hun-
dreds of high school skiers and
their families gathered on Mount
Hood to dress up in whacky cos-
tumes, ski fast, cheer each other on,
feast on turky and roast beef, and
have fun on the mountain. This
year was the last of the Christine
Cato Memorial Race, and a lot of
people are going to miss it.
The goal of the Cato race was to
build something positive out of
something terrible. Christine Cato
died from an accident involving a
snowcat at Timberline Ski Area on
July 9, 1989. She was 16 years old.
All these years later, the family
still prefers not to discuss the de-
tails of the accident.
“I can still burst into tears about
Christine at any time,” says her
mother, Judy Cato. “She was a fabu-
lous person. She made friends with
everyone. There were people who
showed up for her memorial who
said they were her best friend who I
had never met before. And I be-
lieved them.”
850 people attended a memorial
service for Christine Cato in
Beaverton. “The church was packed
and there were people standing out-
side,” remembers Christine’s fa-
ther, Stu. “It was overwhelming.”
Stu Cato has been skiing Mount
Hood since the 1950s. He and Judy
bought a cabin without running
water in Government Camp in 1974,
when Christine was two, and
worked for many years to improve
Photo by Ben Jacklet
JUDY CATO speaks at the conclusion
of the 25th and final Christine Cato
Memorial Race with Christine’s picture
re displayed on the podium.
it into a cozy refuge for friends and
family. All three of the Cato chil-
dren raced as Mitey Mites with the
Mt. Hood Race Team and competed
as high school racers. Their eldest
daughter, Caroline, worked for Tim-
berline Lodge after graduating
from high school.
Skiing Mount Hood was a huge
part of their life together, and now
one of their children had died while
skiing on the mountain. What could
they possibly do to make things bet-
ter?
‘ A Fun Race for All’
While they were suffering from
the shock of their daughter’s death,
Stu and Judy Cato were approached
by Richard Kohnstamm, president
of RLK and Company, the company
that rescued Timberline Lodge
from bankruptcy in the 1950s and
runs it to this day.
“Dick Kohnstamm came to us
and told us he felt awful about what
happened,” Judy Cato recalls. “He
said he wanted to do something pos-
itive, and so did we. So we talked to
the kids, Christine’s friends, and we
finally came up with this ski race.”
Kohnstamm committed to host-
ing the race at Timberline and in-
sisted on providing a nice meal at
the lodge for the racers and their
families. The Catos reached out to
friends for help with organizing the
race and assembled a core team of
volunteers who have worked togeth-
er for 25 years.
They decided to create an event
with Christine’s personality in
mind. Christine Cato loved to ski
and run gates, but she never loved
the hyper-competitive world of
high-level racing. She liked to see
everyone get a chance, and she
loved to cheer on racers new to the
sport. In keeping with that spirit,
the Cato Memorial has always em-
braced racers of all abilities and
styles. Points and times do not
count toward league competition,
and there are no protests over times
and rulings. Coaches are encour-
aged to give all of their racers a
chance to compete, not just the
fastest skiers. Racers are encour-
aged to relax and enjoy themselves
rather than stressing out over their
times. Unusual outfits are welcome.
“It’s a fun race for all,” says Stu
Cato. “It’s great for skiers racing for
the first time, or for racers who get
tight in the gates. The idea is for
everyone to walk away with smiles
on their faces.”
A Spirit Award was added to the
team and individual race awards,
later followed by a Costume Award.
“We were sitting in a meeting one
time, and someone said why don’t
we do costumes?” recalls Judy Cato.
“And I thought, well, Christine
loved costumes, why not? So we put
out the word that we were going to
between 250 and 450 per year —
have competed in the race and en-
joyed the festivities.
Last year’s Cato race brought to-
gether skiers of all ability levels, in-
cluding racers dressed as bears,
fairy princesses and vikings — not
to mention the daring lad who
shredded down in just his birthday
suit.
have costumes, and these kids real-
ly got into it. It just took on a life of
its own.”
A few years later, a prominent
photo appeared in the Oregonian of
a six-foot male racer in full Lycra
racing regalia, wearing a tutu.
“One year Aloha High School
made sport jackets out of duct
tape,” says Judy. “Another year they
showed up in coconut boobs and
hula skirts. A guy showed up last
year dressed as a tree.”
Each year the Spirit Award and
the Costume Award are selected and
presented by a group of longtime
volunteers including Dave Porter,
Erik Bjorge, Steve Schaffer, Barry
Jackson, Brian Thompson and
Drew Porter — friends of Christine
Cato who have made it an annual
tradition to help with the race. They
have grown from high school kids to
college kids to adults with families,
but to this day Judy still refers to
them as “the boys,” and she credits
them with making the race a suc-
cess. They all get together every
year on the Friday night before the
race to sort the bibs and dine at
Timberline Lodge, to reconnect, and
to remember Christine.
“The Cato family really adopted
us after Christine died,” says Dave
Porter, now a 43-year-old contractor
with two kids of his own who are
learning to ski. “We were all friends
of Christine’s and we became fami-
ly after her death. That bond is
something that doesn’t leave you.”
Porter has never missed a Cato
race. “It’s a beautiful thing to see
these kids having so much fun,” he
says, “kids doing what Christine
would be doing, just goofing off and
having a blast.”
Over a quarter century the Cato
Memorial has grown into possibly
the largest, and certainly one of the
most popular, high school ski races
in the U.S. Thousands of racers —
‘The whole family has been healing’
Stu and Judy Cato never planned
for the race they started to continue
for 25 years. It just kept going.
Richard Kohnstamm insisted on
hosting the event at Timberline and
after his death at the age of 80 in
2006, his son Jeffrey Kohnstamm,
the current president of RLK and
Company, continued to support the
event.
Now Judy Cato says it is time to
move on. She believes the race has
fulfilled its goal of creating some-
thing positive and lasting out of the
tragedy of her daughter’s death. It
also has helped family and friends
to heal from the shock of losing
Christine as such a young age.
“25 years ago I could hardly go to
the cabin, let alone Timberline,”
Judy recalls. “Through the years
and with loving understanding the
whole family has been healing to
the point that our son Ray was mar-
ried at Timberline on Christine’s
birthday this past August.”
Stu Cato says he is proud of the
fact that his family and Richard
Kohnstamm were able to come to an
understanding rather than fighting
one another.
“We both suffered,” he says. “We
lost a daughter and he had a terri-
ble thing happen at his Lodge. What
can we do to make this thing posi-
tive? You bring attorneys in and
they’re going to convince you to
hate the other person. Well we’re
not that kind of people.”
C ATO
Continued from Page A10
ing as favorites to dominate
Mt. Hood League and state
competition. Both racers fin-
ished as individual league
champions in slalom and GS
last season, and both are out
for revenge after untimely
falls at state that kept them
off the podium.
Not far off Keillor’s 21.54
pace was William Lamer,
who returns to the varsity
boys’ No. 2 slot as last year’s
top state finisher (3rd com-
bined, 4th slalom, 10th GS)
and will likely keep Keillor
in check as the season pro-
gresses. Lamer’s time of
23.61 was good enough for
third place; he was followed
by Oskar Anderson in 33rd,
Tucker Fitz Simons in 45th
and Charlie Sutherland in
56th to round out the boys’
top five finishers.
McLean’s run of 33.90 was
two full seconds faster than
the next-best finisher, Isabel-
la Hoffman of Lakeridge. Be-
hind McLean were Sarah
Hall in 13th, Hannah Berge-
mann in 29th and Savannah
Boersma in 57th. Kelli Clark,
who was r unner up to
McLean in overall league
standings last season and led
the team at state with an 8th
place combined finish, had a
mishap at the bottom of the
course and had to hike back
to a missed gate. The lost
time put her toward the bot-
tom of the standings in 80th.
Another highlight of the
day, the JV boys team took
first, led by freshman
Mitchell Lamer who won the
race with a time of 30.64. The
JV girls were third, with
Claire Davies leading the
team in 10th.
T he Ea gles retur n to
league action this weekend,
with slalom Friday and giant
slalom Saturday at Mt. Hood
Meadows. As a perennial
powerhouse in the league,
skiers from the Cleveland,
Grant, Gresham, Barlow,
Sandy, St. Mary’s and The
Dalles will once again have
their work cut out for them
as they chase the fastest
skiers on Mt. Hood for the
next few months.
Freestyle skiers get their
start to the season Friday as
well, with a slopestyle con-
Joe Guenther
Financial Advisor
1631 Woods Ct
Suite 102
Hood River, OR
97031
541-386-0826
www.edwardjones.com Member SIPC
Submitted photo
LUCY MCLEAN races down the hill on the way to winning her
fourth straight Cato Race title on Saturday at Timberline Lodge.
2014 Christine Cato Memorial Race highlights
Varsity boys: 2nd overall,
total time 1:13.90 (1st was
West Linn, 1:12.71)
Austin Keillor: 1st, 21.54
William Lamer: 3rd, 23.61
Oskar Anderson: 33rd, 28.75
Tucker Fitz Simons: 45th, 32.02
Charlie Sutherland: 56th,
35.40
JV boys: 1st overall (Top
five: Mitchell Lamer 1st, Don-
ald Bryce 4th, Zack Colson 7th,
Austin Marques 14th, Thomas
Mixon, 17th)
Varsity girls: 2nd overall,
total time 2:05.77 (1st was
Lakeridge, 2:03.53)
Lucy McLean: 1st, 33.90
Sarah Hall: 13th, 43.90
Hannah Bergemann: 29th,
47.97
Savannah Boersma: 57th,
52.12
Kelli Clarke: 80th, 1:04.03
JV girls: 3rd overall (Top
five: Claire Davies 10th, Nico-
lette Paulus 14th, Casey Sher-
rerd 16th, Avrie Van Tillburg
17th, Savanna Brentlinger
18th)
test at Meadows’ terrain
park. Expected to dominate
again this season, HRV’s
freestyle ski team has estab-
lished itself as the trail-blaz-
er in the developing sport of
high school freestyle
(slopestyle, halfpipe, rail jam
and skier cross) competition.
The Eagles claimed league
and state titles in every
freestyle event last season
and among the standouts
back on the lineup are re-
tur ning state champions
Bergemann (overall, skier-
cross, slopestyle and rail
jam), Tucker Fitz Simons
(overall, rail jam and
slopestyle) and Par tick
Crompton (skiercross).
Bergemann, a senior, fin-
ished her 2013-2014 season in
Copper Mountain, Colo.,
where she won USASA
freeskiing national titles in
her division in slopestyle,
halfpipe and rail jam events.
In all, coach Keillor says
he has a bigger, better team
to work with this season, so
he expects good things both
at the league and state level.
“We have 46 kids this
year,” he said. “There’s a
healthy amount of competi-
tion at the top level and I
would expect to see several of
our athletes right up there.”
He said the low snowpack
and late opening to the sea-
son did have an effect on his
athletes, but that there’s still
plenty of time to get proper
training in before league and
state championships.
The team competes at Mead-
ows for most of the season,
with a few races scheduled for
Ski Bowl, assuming there’s
enough snow. Both alpine and
freestyle state championships
are at also Meadows this sea-
son (March 4-6).
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Photo by Adam Lapierre
W INNERS
Seven young sure-shots advanced qualified for the annual Knights of Columbus Hoop Shoot dis-
trict championship, set for Feb. 8 at Wy’east Middle School.The qualifier contest was held at Hood
River Valley High School, on the final day of the HRVHS holiday break basketball camp last week.
Contestants had 15 shots from the free-throw line and the highest-percentage shooter in each
age group won. Qualifying for the regional event, which is a qualifier for the state contest, will
be (back to front, left to right) Jack Siekkinen, Greyson Losee, Dylan Santee, Robert Rowan, Emma
Kelly, Izaiah Adams and Abigayle Witt Inman.
H IGHS
Continued from Page A10
■
We’ve also had some more
round winners in our
leagues. In the Tuesday
morning ladies Workshirk-
ers, the dynasty Nobi’s four-
some emerged on top once
again as they have so often
done in the past. Bowling for
Nobi’s are local legends
Shirley Thor nhill, Nina
Kruckenberg, Charlotte Sev-
erns and Nancy Asai.
In the Tuesday Nite Mixed
the Take Ten crew of
Dawnell Espersen, Slats Jef-
fries, Carl Casey, Sandy
Holmes and Ken Espersen
Serving Hood River Daily!
Monday - Friday: The Dalles • Hood River
HIGH
ROLLERS: Pat
Olson and
Nancy Asai
hold the high-
est averages
in town with
217 and 193,
respectively.
took top honors.
Winning the first half in
the Wednesday afternoon se-
nior Colts & Fillies league
are the Hit and Miss quartet
of Karen Driver, Kevin
Rogers, Adria Erwin and
Kim McCartney.
HA P P D Y A Y
B I R T H
S S !
E
C
N
I
P R
The importance of win-
ning a round is big because
these teams qualify to bowl
for their respective league ti-
tles in their championship
roll off matches at the end of
the season. Great bowling
everybody!
Wish your family
and friends a Happy
Birthday
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