L'illustre is the biggest people magazine in the French side of Switzerland.  We were very excited to be on the centerfold page of the magazine that had Michelle Obama on the cover.  

To read an article in Snow East magazine about Tracie, please click on the image to the left, hold your mouse or keypad down and scroll around.  Thanks.

Tracie is hot on the German side of Switzerland...

This article is from the Zurich Blich in Switzerland. Written in German, it describes Tracie's training in the wind tunnel in Geneva for the World Championships in Verbier Switzerland in 2007.

I'm not sure what this article in the Swiss Sunday paper says, but I think it states that I'm faster than Schrek.  Haha..  I'm in good company on this page, don't you think?

In this article from Ski Racing Magazine, Tracie tells it all.  All about wax that is.  If you need some good tips on race prep for this season, please click on the article and read it.  After enlarging the article click on your mouse and hold it while scrolling around to read the full article.

Click on the image to read an article in Italian about Tracie.  This is the Italian Ski Magazine Sciare, Fall 2007.

Click the image to read Tracie Featured in the New York Times, February 2003.

Click the image to read Tracie Featured In Ski Press World Cup.

Click the image to read Fall Line Skiing story with Tracie from Winter 2001/02 issue #40.

Click the image to read Tracie Featured in the Subaru of Europe Magazine, August 2002 issue.

By JULIA CARLSON ROSENBLATT
March 9, 2006

"I'd like you to meet the fastest woman in the world," said Keith Holmquist, expert boot fitter and owner of The Pro, in Hunter.

I looked up from the boots I was trying and saw a very attractive, almost delicate-looking, young woman who had stopped by the shop. Tracie Max Sachs, of New York City and Hunter, has earned the right to be called the "fastest." Her sport, speed skiing, is the fastest non-motorized sport on earth.

She is a three-time World Cup Champion — 2003, 2004 and 2005. Her wins are a testament to her consistency in races. She has skied as fast as 142 miles per hour. That's double the speed you're going when you get pulled over on the highway.

Few people have had the experience of going that fast on their own two feet, and most won't often go that fast on any land-bound conveyance. Speed skiing is less well known than other World Cup disciplines. We did not see it in the XX Olympic Games in Torino. Its sole Olympic presence was as a demonstration sport in the Albertville Olympics in 1992.

Les Arcs, where the 1992 event was held, is the speed skiing capital of the world. According to Sachs, it was a success. "During the 1992 games, speed skiing had the second highest viewership behind figure skating," she said.

She wishes it were and hopes it will become a permanent Olympic sport, but there are, in her words "political and financial obstacles." Slalom skiers train by running gates, over and over, at their home mountains. Many train on gates every day. Speed skiers can't train by repeatedly heading down a track.

Each event includes required mandatory training days so that the competitors can get a feel for the snow. Les Arcs holds occasional training sessions, to which competitors travel for rare on-snow practice opportunities. These are very weather dependent and hard to predict.

Well-rounded training

This means that her training, a year-round affair, is a matter of achieving physical and mental readiness. In the warm months, she does things like biking, roller blading, hiking and weight lifting. She regularly plays squash for agility. In the winter, it's lots of time on snow.

"I think the most important training for speed skiing is free skiing,"she said. "It is extremely important to have a good feeling on the snow, and to have confidence in your own ability."

As much as she enjoys skiing at Hunter Mountain, she tries to spend as much of the winter as possible in Verbier, Switzerland, "where I can ski difficult terrain and build up my confidence before the season." And, although the last thing she wants to do in competition is use her edges and turn, she really enjoys getting out on slalom skis and working on her carving.

Now, just as other ski competitions are winding down their seasons, hers is just getting under way. Although slalom skiers like a hard, slick surface, spring snow is better for speed skiing.

She explained: "The ideal conditions are warm and wet snow. We ski so fast that we actually hydroplane on the surface of the snow. If it is too cold and icy, there is too much friction between the snow and the base surface of our skis."

When you read about how much money top athletes make from sponsorships and endorsements, you would think that the owner of three World Cup crystal globes would not have a financial worry in the world. But speed skiing does not have the visibility of other sports. She has sponsors, but the funds they provide do not even go far in paying her expenses to get to the races.

She is determined to go to every race this season, but she is not sure how she will finance it. She needs sponsors, anything from individual donations to corporate sponsors. She can be contacted through her Web site. Go to www.quickchick.com — and learn more about this remarkable and dedicated young woman.

Julia Carlson Rosenblatt writes on skiing every Thursday in Players. Write to her at Poughkeepsie Journal Players Section, P.O. Box 1231, Poughkeepsie, N.Y., 12601.