Women's BC Ski Team at Nakiska, November 2012 (left to right back row – Gregor Druzina, Sarah Elliot, Sarah Freeman, Aaron Speden; front row – Charley Field, Emma King, Hallie MacLachlan; missing Stephanie Gartner, Alix Wells)
VANCOUVER, B.C. (Nov. 22, 2012) – A mix of talented veterans and hungry rookies makes up a group of 16 skiers named today to the B.C. Alpine Ski Team, after six-months of preparation that has the team feeling “race ready”.
Veterans Sarah Elliot, Tyler Werry, Ford Swette, Sarah Freeman and Broderick Thompson lead the team which represents six ski clubs from around the province. Elliot, 20, one of five skiers who competed with the Alpine Canada “Prospect Team” last season, rejoins the provincial team with aspirations to make the jump to the World Cup level.
“I had a great experience with the Prospect Team last season and unfortunately I tore my (anterior cruciate ligament) again, but I feel really confident going into this season,” said Elliot, who hails from Kelowna and the Big White Racers. “With the dryland I had this summer and the great training we had this fall, I feel great. My goals for this season are to have a healthy, injury-free year, have fun and qualify for the national team.”
Elliot, who was raised on an orchard farm outside Kelowna, and is no stranger to hard work and dedication, sees a bright future for the team.
“I’ve been really impressed with the young girls on the team, with their skiing and how they’re super focused,” said Elliot. “The team dynamic is getting better and better as we all gel more and support each other. We’re having fun.”
Ford Swette, a Whistler Mountain Ski Club alum who is ranked fourth in the country in giant slalom, got his season off to a flying start when he won a U.S. Ski Team Invitation GS race earlier this week at Copper Mountain, Colorado. He is ready and champing at the bit for the men’s team to prove their skills. Tyler Werry from the Fernie Alpine Ski Team is “pumped” with how the team has worked together this summer.
“We've had first-class training and the team as a whole is ready to make our presence felt on the slopes this winter,” said Werry. “Ford, Broderick and I have been training in Colorado for the first Nor-Am races of the season at Loveland and Aspen. Ford and I have been duking it out every day in GS, and at the end of the season one of us will win the Nor-Am GS title.”
Two skiers on the men’s team; Brodie Seger of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club and Roger Carry of the Fernie Alpine Ski Team, have been forerunning the Lake Louise Winterstart World Cup this week and will run the course during the men’s downhill and super-G races this weekend. Rookie BC Teamer Blake Ramsden, also from the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, is at Lake Louise with his teammates putting the finishing touches on his return-to-snow, following a knee injury suffered at the end of last season.
Both teams will jump into the uber-competitive Nor-Am racing circuit in early December in Aspen and Copper Mountain, Colorado.
“It’s pretty busy from now until Christmas,” said Freeman, who is ranked third in the country in downhill. “The first race is coming up in Colorado, a Nor-Am speed race, and then we come back to Canada for Nor-Ams in Panorama and then the Van Houtte Cups right before Christmas. And then maybe we can get some pumpkin pie and turkey before we start up again.”
Freeman, who had 9 starts on the World Cup circuit last season, looks to draw strength from her family’s roots to boost her to the next level in the sport. “My family lives on an organic cattle farm down in Pincher Creek, so between camps I go back there and definitely help out with chores which usually means driving tractors, riding horses and chasing cows around the field.”
The women's team, led by returning coaches Gregor Dru