Pacesetting | The Ski Challenge

Click on the links below for more PACESETTING information:

For 2022-23 Season

NASTAR will not be holding any pre-season regional pacesetting trials this season. We will be using pacesetting handicaps from last season for scoring purposes this season. If you earned an official pacesetting number last year, you will automatically be entered into the pool of pacesetters for this year.

How Ski Challenge Pacesetting Works

The Pacesetter for each run will simply be someone participating in the race that has achieved a pacesetting number at one of the pre-season pacesetting trials put on either by NASTAR or Ski Challenge. We will try to have four or five racers in each race that carry a pacesetting number to help to determine the average par (zero handicap). Racers who in past years have been consistently fast, under a 14 handicap, and who have shown up at most of their scheduled races are welcome to become a pacesetter. If you are interested in becoming a pacesetter and don’t already have an established pacesetting number, you can receive a number at any of our open NASTAR races.

The Ski Challenge software program picks the pacesetter in the first course by selecting the racer whose calculated par time is closest to the average par (determined by averaging the par times of each qualifying pacesetter on that course). The par time in the second course will be determined by taking the average differential in times between the first course and the second course of the top 20 racers. The program will then select the par time on the second course based on this differential compared to the par time in the first course.

The objective is to be as consistent as possible with handicaps. In most cases, the system will not choose the lowest par (making handicaps the highest they could be) nor choose the highest par (making handicaps the lowest they could be). The system DOES NOT try and match par times in each course either. The racer whose number is used for pacesetting will score points as a reward for having his or her time and handicap used for races throughout the season. Those points can be used for purchasing Ski Challenge gear or getting a discounted rate on the next season’s race fees or end-of-season races.

This system will not affect the scoring system or the reporting of the scores to NASTAR, it will simply make someone in the race the pacesetter and eliminate the need for one person to make multiple runs until a usable time is achieved on each course. Click on the links above to see pacesetter handicaps and points earned which can be used toward Ski Challenge fees.