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Unity Hopes "Bigger's Better" at U.S. National Toboggan Championships

January 29, 2008 - UNITY -- For the third consecutive year, the Unity College faculty and staff toboggan team, Team Green Monster, will compete Feb. 8-10, at the U.S. National Toboggan Championships at the Camden Snow Bowl in Camden.

Team Green Monster enjoys the distinction of being the largest team ever to complete in the championships. In a sport where team weight is an advantage, the staggering size of Team Green Monster promises to propel them to the top (or is it bottom?) of the competition once again.

In a rain-soaked and abridged 2006 championship, Team Green Monster finished 13th overall in the highly competiti\e fourperson sled division. The team led for much of the 2007 Championship, though a mishap dropped them to a third-place tie. Disappointment followed as the judges ruled in favor of the other team, awarding Team Green Monster, which had the single fastest run of the entire 2007 championship, a fourth-place overall finish in the four-person sled category. The team's disappointment was mitigated, though, as many Unity College student toboggan teams placed in the finals, and one team, Team Dude Sled, secured second place overall in the four-person sled category.

"The U.S. National Toboggan Championships is something of a cultural phenomenon for Unity College," said Team Green Monster three-man Joe "The Eco-Farmer" Saltalamachia, associate director of admissions at the environmental college. "There are a great many student teams from Unity College that complete in the championships, and this year, we expect to once again have the most teams from a college or organization competing."

Saltalamachia lost 50 pounds over the past year, but Team Green Monster still expects to be the largest team at the 2008 Championships. Team Green Monster weighs in with: John "Zenmaster Sky" Zavodny, associate professor, 6 feet tall and 210 pounds; Joe "The Eco-Farmer" Saltalamachia, associate director of admissions, 6-1 and 220 pounds; Stephen "The Green Punisher" Nason, a Mars Hill native who is director of residence life/assistant dean for student affairs, 6-5 and 350 pounds; and Mark "The Ozone Ranger" Tardif, associate director of college communications, 6-4 and 330 pounds.

"What is so amazing about two teams from Unity College placing in the top four of the 2007 U.S. National Toboggan Championships, is that we have more than a dozen other teams from Unity College sharing those same sleds," said Saltalamachia, who has become something of a toboggan wax and equipment expert. "Most teams at the championships that are competitive have their own sled, some very expensive and custom made. Given this level of competition, it is astonishing what Unity College accomplished during the 2007 championships."

Team Green Monster will have a new weapon at its disposal for the 2008 championships, the men bought their own sled. "We are really excited to bring out our own sled that only we will use," said Nason, who became accustomed to seeing the world flow by at 40 miles-per-hour down a frozen chute while serving as steersman at the front of the Team Green Monster sled.

"There is no question we couldn't have higher expectations for ourselves going into the 2008 championships."

Though Team Green Monster is tightlipped about preparations for the competition, there is one secret that it shares. "Many teams try to slow themselves when they hit the ice of the pond at the end of the run, but we keep our 'tuck' until our sled comes to a stop on its own," said Tardif. "We tried to slow ourselves down immediately after a run once and flipped at 10miles-an-hour, and Steve Nason wound up on top of my right leg. You can believe me, when a 350-pound man winds up on top of your leg while you careen across a frozen pond, you think of ways to avoid that kind of mishap in the future."

Tardif said during one "tucked" run in 2007, Team Green Monster made it all the way across the frozen pond, coming to a stop within 10 feet of the other side.

In addition to competing in the four-person sled category this year, Team Green Monster will also run in the three-person category with Nason as steersman, Tardif at No. 2 and Saltalamacliia as anchor.

Is it possible for Team Green Monster to take two national titles during the 2008 U.S. National Toboggan Championships in February? "We don't feel that Team Green Monster has any limitations," said Nason. "There is no limit to what we can achieve."



SOURCE: VILLAGE SOUP CITIZEN

DATE: 01-16-2008


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Regions: Mid Coast


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