THE “BAčA CUP” 2023

Attention Baca Cup Ski Racers: On February 18, 2023, Baca Cup Racing History was foiled by Mother Nature again! As we attempted to celebrate the 44th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race, this years unseasonably warm weather, coupled with rain two days before the race left a very small window for the Mountain to replenish, and the resulting conditions did not allow for a race course to be set. We did manage to ski the available terrain with the racers who arrived on Saturday. and everyone had a good time, but Unfortunately, there was “No race this year!”

However! Not to be outdone by Mother Nature, and in the “True Baca Cup Spirit”, our Ski Racers and their families all had a “Wonderful Time” at our Saturday Evening Celebration!

In following through with our completely Central European menu this year, we wish to recognize Dasha Fletcher for her fabulous Valasske Goulash, the variety of salads and the wonderful Chlebícky. Carol Ellington for those amazing Moravian Beans and Tomas Pavlicek for the outstanding Czech Style Sour Kraut. Carl put on the awesome Venison Roast, Jazyk and Hungarian Chicken Paprikash while Sarka Jaksikova made those incredible Czech Dumplings. The many side dishes and contributions everyone added to the menu were also greatly appreciated and added to a fantastic meal. We also wish to thank Sarka Fletcher and her Amazing Group of friends from Penn State, as well as Diane Stutzman, and Izzy Mowry for their help in every possible direction and special Thanks to everyone else who contributed to the wonderful display of food and beverage we all enjoyed. Heck! This year the fresh Keg of Pilsner Urquell was enjoyed by all of the adults and actually brought to completion! NAZDAR! So! To Recap: The company was Great, the food and beverage were Fantastic, everyone had a Wonderful Time and “we can't wait to do it all again next year!”

Now!, even though we didn't race this year, there are a lot of Wonderful People behind the scenes (Our Baca Cup Race Committee) who deserve our thanks and recognition for doing their part and being ready for this years competition. So!, on behalf of The Baca of Salas Hills, Lukas Mitchell Fletcher, our sincere Thanks go out to: Chaz Wagner, Suzy Hagstrom, “Flyin'” Ian Cruz, Nolan Church, Tomas Pavlicek, Dusan Neuman, Diane Stutzman, Dasha Fletcher, Bruce and Carol Ellington, Miroslav Konvolina, Kiel Knisely, Leslie Mickey and anyone else we may have missed for their contributions throughout the year in “Always Stepping Up” to help out whenever necessary. Truly, Dasha and I could not do this awesome event without these folks and we are sooo grateful for their assistance.

We also wish to recognize our Partners for their participation and contributions in helping us keep this event going year after year: First, Our Brothers and Sisters from Sokol Washington, D.C., our friends at the Embassy of the Czech Republic Washington, D.C., our friends from The Czech Cultural Center and the Bohemian National Hall, New York City and a host of others who have been responsible in helping us pave the way for the Baca Cup Celebration we know and love today.

We also wish to give our very Special Thanks to the Blue Knob Mountain Staff, Cathy, Gary, Coony, Robin and especially Alex (our Snow Making Guru) for their for their outstanding efforts against insurmountable weather conditions, and their awesome hospitality to our Baca Cup Family. We also wish to thank Kiel Knisely, and his Blue Knob Racing Staff for standing ready to build us a safe race course the moment snow conditions allowed. Unfortunately, Mother Nature did not cooperate this time leaving our racers and our supporters no choice but to wait until next year to showcase their diverse cooperation, talents and skills, skiing prowess and share our overall “Love of the Nordic Experience”.

As always, we just couldn't have done this without the help of ALL these very talented people and Dasha and I are thankful, grateful, appreciative and blessed to everyone for their participation and assistance.

So in closing for 2023, Dasha and I wish to say what a blessing it was to coordinate “The 44th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race”. We really love watching the children grow up and having the opportunity “for just one day” to enjoy this special time with all our Wonderful Friends, our Salas Hills Family, our Blue Knob Ski Family, our Sokol Brothers and Sisters and our friends from the Czech Embassy, Washington, D.C.. The Overwhelming Camaraderie, the Joy of the Celebration and and the opportunity to have this one special day out of each year to share our “Love of the Nordic Experience" is just a Wonderful thing! It's also Great To Know that after 44 Years – we are still resilient and “The Baca's Dream Lives On”!

We hope everyone had as much fun as we did this year, and wish everyone a safe and happy 2023 ski season. Keep on Skiing dear friends! We hope you are all looking forward to joining us next year as we come together once again and celebrate “The 45th Annual Baca Cup International Invitational Ski Race!”.

With Peace and Love from our home to yours,

We can't wait to .. “SKI YA SOON!”

Carl & Dasha Fletcher Baca Cup Race Coordinators

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 !!