NASTAR

Ski and snowboard race
National Standard Race (abbreviated NASTAR) is the world's largest recreational ski and snowboard race program. It was founded in 1968 by SKI magazine and is owned and operated by Outside Inc.

NASTAR has a scoring system for assigning scores to ski and snowboard racers of all ages and abilities, using a handicap system. Since the program's beginning in 1968, more than 6 million NASTAR racer days have been recorded. It has been available at more than 100 ski resorts in North America and 1 in Australia. Many U. S. Ski Team stars got their start ski racing in NASTAR programs.

NASTAR uses the principle of time percentages to calibrate a skier's ability, a concept pioneered by France's Ecole de Ski Nationale Chamois program. For certification, a ski instructor had to perform well enough in the Ecole's annual Challenge to earn a silver medal and be less than 25 percent behind the time recorded by the fastest instructor. The Chamois was a regular slalom race course with hairpins and flushes. A certified instructor, back in his home area, could set the pace for local participants in Chamois races. His time was not re calibrated or speeded up, as in NASTAR, by the amount he lagged behind the winning time in the annual Challenge. The NASTAR idea of adjusting a local pacesetter's time to a national standard was introduced in France 20 years later, in the winter of 1987 88. SNMSF (Syndicat National des Moniteurs de Ski Francais) introduced Fleche, an open gated giant slalom, during the same winter that NASTAR began, though unknown to NASTAR's founder. Paul Chalvin, former Director of the SNMSF. John Fry, who became editor in chief of SKI magazine in 1964, adapted this percentage of time system to a program for recreational ski racing in the United States, calling it the 'National Standard Race'. Fry, who in 1969 became editorial director of Golf Magazine as well as SKI, was driven by the idea of creating in skiing the equivalent of par in golf. The program, to which Fry applied the acronym NASTAR, was introduced in 1968 as a means to compare the performance of recreational ski racers at resorts across the United States, and later, for a time, in Australia, Canada, Scandinavia, Switzerland and Italy. NASTAR courses are simple, open gated giant slaloms on mostly intermediate terrain, allowing skiers of all abilities and ages to experience racing. Just as in golf's handicap system, skiers can compare their times and compete with one another regardless of where and when they compete. It takes into account varying terrain and snow conditions. The program started with 8 participating resorts and 2,297 skiers in the first year, but quickly gained in popularity, under the powerful direction of former U. S. Ski Team coach and pro skiing impresario Bob Beattie, growing to more than 100 resorts and 6 million skiers and snowboarders having participated by 2006. competition to determine the overall champion based on handicapped time, along with the fastest 3 racers based on 'raw' time qualifying them.

The non Alpine Divisions (for the purposes of NASTAR championship racing classification) are Telemark, Physically Challenged, and Snowboarders. For each division, the top 100 performers during the season in their respective age and gender group are invited to compete in the National Championship. After the competition, Gold, Silver, and Bronze medals are awarded to the fastest 3 racers by handicap in each division, gender and age group.

The National NASTAR Championship brings together over one thousand participants from the United States and Canada, of all ages and ability groups. The 2006 Championship was held in Steamboat Springs and included 1,337 racers of ages 3 to 86, from 44 U. S. states and Canada.