John Gianotti hasn't competed in a masters ski race in six years, but his attachment to the sport proliferates.

Gianotti's annual Viva Italia masters slalom races are today at Heavenly Mountain Resort. He has sponsored the event since 1997, and money generated from the races goes to the Far West Masters' Scholarship Program.

“We've raised a lot of money,” said Gianotti, divulging the total has now exceeded $300,000 in the past decade. “This is my gift for all the years I was able to race all over world and compete. I can still compete if I wanted, but I don't like standing around in the cold. This a lot of fun and feel real good about it.

“The money all goes to scholarships. The idea is to do something nobody else does.”

Part of the money is raised through auctioning items during the day of racing and additional money is raised through contributions.

The scholarships go to up-and-coming racers that need financial help with the costs of travelling their sport. Past recipients have included Jonna Mendes, Marco Sullivan, Stacey Cook, Tim Jitloff and Travis Ganong.

The doubleheader of slalom racing begins at 9 a.m. today at Heavenly's World Cup Run.

Skiers must be at least 21 years old, and some competitors continue to race into their 80s. Participants don't need to be members of Far West Masters to compete. A second slalom is tentatively scheduled to begin at 11:30 a.m.

For more information on being a potential recipient of making a contribution, go to farwestmasters.org/scholarship_program.