HENNIKER, New Hampshire ??” Pats Peak is proud to announce that 18-year-old employee Monica Gemmiti has qualified as a 2005 FIS Junior World Championship team member. Gemmiti took 6th place at the “Race To The Cup” at Loon in the Parallel Giant Slalom (PGS) race on January 13, 2005, which qualified her for the Lake Placid World Cup on March 3, 2005 and the FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships 2005, which will take place on April 2-6, 2005 in Switzerland. Gemmiti placed 29th out of 51 racers at the Lake Placid World Cup. Many of the top women snowboard racers in the country were on-hand to compete in the distinguished snowboard competition.

Each stop on the “Race to the Cup” Alpine Series tour qualified racers to fill the extra host country quota spots during the World Cup at Lake Placid. Each stop on the tour consisted of a Parallel Giant Slalom event with prize money for the top three finishers and an additional Parallel Slalom points race.

The 2005 FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships is for athletes born between 1985-1989 for Alpine and SBX events and 1985-1991 for Halfpipe. The top 20 male and top 20 female riders off the USSA Points and Ranking List, who have a FIS license, a current USA passport and meet the age limit, are eligible for consideration. Selection for the FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships is based exclusively on performances during the period from November 1, 2004 through March 15, 2005. Start positions in Parallel Giant Slalom are filled objectively using the top junior finisher at each of the Race to the Cup Alpine PGS races (3 men, 3 women). Any additional alpine start rights awarded outside these events will take into consideration performance at all other alpine events throughout the season.

Monica learned to ski at Pats Peak when she was two years old. She has been snowboarding for the past 10 years. This is her third year on the Junior team. Monica is Pats Peak first current Junior World Cup member on staff. She is a 2004 graduate of Souhegan High School in Amherst, NH. Monica will spend her summer vacation training with the Junior World Cup team out west. Pats Peak wishes good luck to Monica at the 2005 FIS Snowboard Junior World Championships.

What is FIS?
FIS stands for International Ski (Snowboard) Federation and is the governing body for Olympic-eligible ski and snowboard competitions worldwide. FIS is headquartered in Oberhofen Switzerland. FIS is comprised of representatives from national associations, such as USSA, and works closely with International Olympic Committee and other winter sport federations

About Pats Peak
Wayne Patenaude of Hopkinton, New Hampshire, owns Pats Peak – a family designed, owned, and operated ski area built by the Patenaude family in 1962. This season, Pats Peak is in its 42nd consecutive ski and snowboard season under the Patenaude family ownership. Pats Peak has 22 well-groomed trails, 10 high capacity lifts and some of the most challenging skiing in Southern New Hampshire. Pats Peak has more than 60 Adult Racing teams in the Adult Corporate Racing League, an After School Ski Program for more than 10,000 kids from over 100 local schools and the most Night Skiing in Southern New Hampshire. Pats Peak is located within a twenty minutes drive from Concord, forty minutes from Manchester, and ninety minutes from Boston.