Conrad Pridy of Whistler and the Whistler Mountain Ski Club is looking forward to his role as senior member of the BC Ski Team this season. He will be joined by returning athletes Sasha Zaitsoff (Balfour/Red Mountain Racers), Mathieu Leduc (Comox/Mt. Washington Ski Club) and Morgan Pridy (Whistler/WMSC).
Newly named to the team for 08/09 are three young athletes who are coming off of successful seasons and many trips to the J1 podium in 07/08. Christopher Campbell (150 Mile House/Timberland Ski Club), Tyler Werry (Calgary/Fernie Alpine Ski Team) and Ian Morrison (Whistler/WMSC) will round out the group of 7 men on this year’s provincial ski team.
On the women’s side, it is Whistler’s Victoria Whitney (WMSC) who is making a big comeback from a knee injury that kept her out of competition last season. Whitney has been working diligently on her post-surgery rehabilitation and is ready to jump into full training with the team this summer. It looks like she’ll be chasing a strong group of men, as Toria is the only female athlete named to the team this year. We hear she’s up to the task!
Head BC Team Coach Chris Mosaed and long time Women’s Coach Nancy O’Neill will work together to steer this talented group of athletes toward achieving their goals and objectives for the year. Along with dryland and conditioning camps in Whistler this summer, the team plans to travel to Mt. Hood and Farnham Glacier for on-snow training. In September they will take advantage of the fantastic ski conditions in Portillo, Chile.
The J1 High Performance Group program will parallel the BC Team plan for much of the preparation phase prior to race season. As well, there may be training opportunities offered to other high potential athletes who are working hard and skiing fast.
Four athletes are retiring from the BC Team this year and we would like to wish them all the very best in their future endeavours.. Sandra MacDonald (Apex Ski Club) has accepted a scholarship to attend the University of Alaska and ski race at the NCAA level. Victoria Glowczynski (Sun Peaks Alpine Club) is considering an offer she has received to also race NCAA at Westminster College in Salt Lake City, Utah.
Ben Thomsen (Windermere Valley Ski Club) and Stan Rey (WMSC) plan to continue ski racing and BC Alpine will support them wherever possible as they pursue their goals of meeting national team criteria.
To quote our new Head Coach, Chris Mosaed; “Now that the teams are selected, the hard work begins!”