Vancouver’s Grouse Mountain kicked off the K1 provincial championships this weekend. On Saturday, the 230 participating athletes competed in the Slalom. On Sunday the 11 and 12-year old athletes raced in the Kombi event. Today’s Giant Slalom at Cypress Mountain will conclude this three-day event. The K1 Provincial Championships wrap up this year’s B.C. Alpine’s Kinder Series, sponsored by the Vancouver Sun, and gives athletes from four regions in B.C.—North, Okanagan, Kootenays and Coast—a chance to benchmark themselves with the best skiers in BC.
The weekend races were very successful. The races ran very smoothly—thanks to some 100 hard working volunteers—the weather cooperated, and the racers performed well.
Sead Causevic, Program Director at Grouse Mountain, co-host of the Provincial Championships, emphasizes the unsung heroes, one of which is 11-year old Landon Yauck from Revelstoke Ski Club. With a start number of 105, he was the very last athlete to start in Saturday’s Slalom race. Yauck finished 57. This is, as Causevic points out, an incredible, yet largely unsung achievement.
Among the more visible heroes is 12-year old Austin Llewellyn. This promising athlete skis for the Grouse Mountain Tyees. He won one of the two Saturday Slalom races. Austin started skiing when he was a mere 30 months old. At the age of 7 he skied his first double black diamond run on Whistler Mountain, and by the age of 8, he had skied every single black and double black diamond run there. Austin says: “I could have done better in the Slalom at the BC Winter Games then I did, and I really wanted to prove here that I could do it. I wanted to take home a good medal.” This year, Austin won four gold medals and three bronze medals. His long-term goal is to eventually win an Olympic medal in skiing.”
(submitted by Gerda Wever-Rabehl of The Write Room & The Write Room Press)
Schedule of events
March 17 GS Women 2 one-run races Cypress
March 17 GS Men 2 one-run races Cypress
Races are from 9:30-12:00 a.m. and 1:30-4:00 p.m.
THE VANCOUVER SUN KINDER RACE SERIES
K1 Provincial Championships – Grouse Mountain
Vancouver, BC, March 15, 2008
Slalom, Men, First Run
1 LLEWELLYN, Austin (Grouse Mountain) 40.67
2 PEHOTA, Logan (Whistler) 41.05
3 SEGAR, Brody (Whistler) 41.13
4 RAMSDEN, Blake (Whistler) 41.50
5 KREUTZ, Alex (Vernon) 41.80
6 GREEN, Jamie (Vernon) 41.84
7 BEHNCKE, Peter (Revelstoke) 41.91
8 HOWATT, Shep (Revelstoke) 42.03
9 HICKS, Lachlan (Revelstoke) 42.21
10 SAINAS, Sloan (Whistler) 43.84
Slalom, Men, Second Run
1 GRASIC, Martin (Windemere) 41.44
2 GREEN, Jamie (Vernon) 41.56
3 LLEWELLYN, Austin (Grouse) 41.86
4 KREUTZ, Alex (Vernon) 42.30
5 PEHOTA, Logan (Whistler) 42.83
6 CARRY, Patrick (Fernie) 43.20
7 HOWATT, Shep (Revelstoke) 43.45
8 RAMSDEN, Blake (Whistler) 43.50
9 HICKS, Lachlan (Revelstoke) 44.21
10 KNOWLES, John (Vernon) 44.77
Slalom, Ladies, First Run
1 HIGGS, Kaylie (Whistler) 37.99
2 WELLS, Alix (Prince George) 38.08
3 KING, Emma (Whistler) 38.95
4 FIELD, Charley (Whistler) 39.05
5 HONSBERGER, Jamie (Fernie) 39.81
6 REEVES, Picabo (Whistler) 41.44
7 VAN SOEST, Fransesca (Vernon) 41.49
8 PERRY, Alexandra (Whistler) 42.50
9 TREMBLAY, Emilie (Vernon) 42.76
10 TAILLEFER, Alianne (Whistler) 43.85
Slalom, Ladies, Second Run
1 HIGGS, Kaylie (Whistler) 39.07
2 WELLS, Alix (Prince George) 40.79
3 SWETTE, Rae (Whistler) 41.52
4 OSER, Shawna (Whistler) 41.64
5 HONSBERGER, Jamie (Fernie) 41.70
6 REEVES, Picabo (Whistler) 42.46
7 KING, Emma (Whistler) 42.52
8 PARK, Jamie (Apex) 43.09
9 VAN SOEST, Fransesca (Vernon) 43.77
10 PERRY, Alexandra (Whistler) 43.86