The athletes of the Mars Canadian Juvenile Championships came out for another day of high-quality and exciting race action at the giant slalom event up at Ski Banff @ Norquay on Friday.
After a week of training and racing in Banff National Park, the athletes were coming down the course exhausted from what was considered a long giant slalom event.
“This course isn't made to make you feel good,” said Banff Alpine Racer, Stephanie Irwin, who calls this mountain her home, and has trained on this course before.
On Friday, the cleanest racers were Marie-Michele Gagnon of Quebec for the women and Brandon Mudryk from Alberta for the men.
Gagnon, who has been on the podium in every event this week, laid down the fastest time for the third day. Despite feeling she was “really late on the gates,” Gagnon came screaming down the course in a combined time of one minute, 57.80 seconds. The course, which was a lot faster for the second run, allowed Georgia Simmerling from British Columbia to take second with a time of 1:58.59.
A small snow storm blew in during the men's second half of the race, but didn't stop them from pushing through. On the men's side, Alberta favorite Brandon Mudryk pushed BC's Trevor Rose into second place with his time of 1:59.04. Mudryk who has “raced on this hill a lot” would have liked to have been a “little cleaner on the pitches.” Norwegian Kim Massey took third.
The Mars Canadian Juvenile Championships wrap up on Saturday with the slalom at Ski Banff @ Norquay. Follow the action via live timing by visiting Alberta Alpine (www.albertaalpine.ab.ca) or Alpine Canada Alpin (www.canski.org) and clicking on the Mars Canadian Juvenile Championships' live timing button.
Women: 1. GAGNON Marie-Michele, QC, 1:57.80; 2. SIMMERLING Georgia, BC, 1:58.59; 3. MCBROOM Kelly, AB, 1:58.78; 4. LEPINE Marie-Elaine, QC, 1:59.45; 5. BLANCHARD Catherine, QC, 2:01.15; 6. DUQUET Eliane, QC, 2:01.29; 7. FARMER Connie, ON, 2:01.64; 8. BELAND Valerie, QC, 2:01.83; 9. MIELZYNSKI Erin, ON, 2:01.94; 10. PARKER Alexandra, AB, 2:02.94.
Men: 1. MUDRYK Brandon, AB, 1:59.04; 2. ROSE Trevor, BC, 1:59.53; 3. MASSEY Kim, NORWAY, 1:59.77; 4. LONG Braden, ON, 2:00.39; 5. BEAUCHESNE M-Antoine, QC, 2:03.37; 7. LAVERDURE Philippe, QC, 2:03.46; 6. MATHESON Alexander, ON, 2:03.81; 8. DEMERS-T. Francois, QC, 2:03.86; 10. ALLAN Gordon, AB, 2:04.03