Ladies' Overall Podium March 6 (left to right) Georgia Burgess, Emily Unterberger, Kristina Natalenko PHOTO CREDIT: Martin Tichy
Check out race action photos courtesy of Derek Trussler HERE
Saturday, March 5 and Sunday, March 6 – The Fidelity BC Cup at Red Mountain was greeted with Whistler style weather on the weekend, with warm 5 degree temperatures and a steady rain well into the first run for both ladies SL and men’s GS. Fortunately the laws of thermodynamics were in force, and with abundant bags of salt distributed onto the line, both race tracks held up well for the duration of the races.
Start referee Don Stevens got the ladies' show on the road precisely at 9am, and the well salted, hard track held up perfectly for the duration. Fernie’s Tyra Collombin posted the fastest 1st run, followed closely by the previous day’s GS winner, Meg Cumming. Top U18 was Nakia Kamachi 1/100th of a sec ahead of WMSC’s Katie Fleckenstein. 36 of the 53 racers started run 2, on a similarly salted, hard racing surface. Cumming narrowly edged BAR teammate Collombin by 4/100ths for the win, with Mikaela Fitzgerald, skiing for the Sugarbowl California-based FIS team in 3rd, 3/100th sec ahead of top U18 Fleckenstein in fourth. Revelstoke’s Emily Unterberger made her return to SL racing in Canada, after a season spent in Austria, capturing 6th place. Vancouver Ski Team member Frances MacDonald rounded out the BC presence in the top 10 with 8th place.
The men were racing GS on the Legacy Training Center run, and National Team member (and BCST alum) Ford Swette set the tone with a scorching run 87/100ths faster than runner up Huston Philp of AST. Dominic Unterberger was 1/100th behind Philp in 3rd after run 1. The second run set strayed onto snow which did not firm up as well as the morning set, which resulted in some big holes as the flip wound down. The top U18 on the day, Liam Wallace, from Sunshine Resort, won the run starting 18th. The top 1st run racers struggled with the rutting course, with Swette only managing the 34th fastest time, and Unterberger failing to finish. Philp posted the 8th fastest 2nd run time for the overall win ahead of AST teammates Keegan Sharp and Collin Taylor.
Sunday dawned wetter than Saturday, with steady rain continuing to fall. Course prep on both race hills was similar to Saturday, with a salt layer going down before inspection and then again post inspection. The ladies were again out of the gate promptly at 9am, with no sign of the rain letting up. Tyra Collombin once again set the pace ahead of Emily Unterberger and Nakia Kamachi. The rain finally stopped during the 2nd run reset. AST’s Georgia Burgess took 2nd run honours ahead of a tie for second with Katie Fleckenstein and Mikaela Fitzgerald. Emily Unterberger took the race win with the 7th quickest 2nd run, with Burgess in 2nd spot and VST’s Kristina Natalenko in 3rd and top U18.
"Really happy with the outcome of the race," said Natalenko. "It was fun racing in the rain. The course was nice and icy thanks to the many people that salted. Overall it was an incredible weekend. Had lots of fun racing at Red."
On the men’s side, Canadian U18 GS champion, and BCST member, Max Kirshenblatt laid down the fastest 1st run time in the deluge.
"It was a fairly wet weekend of ski racing but keeping a positive attitude I managed to make it a pretty successful couple days of GS,: said Kirshenblatt. "It felt great to get a pair of solid results under my belt and it was also really cool watching teammates Ford and Dom win both slaloms."
AST’s Ben LeGree was 2nd and Dominic Unterberger was 3rd, all within 21/100ths of a second. Run 2 was a free flowing set won by Keegan Sharp ahead of Adrien Grabinski (29th on the 1st run) and Huston Philp in 3rd. Philp’s strong 2nd run vaulted him 1/100th ahead of Unterberger (the same difference as the previous day) with Sharp snaring the final podium spot. Kirshenblatt was top U18 in 4th position.
| Rank | Bib | Men's GS Mar 5/16 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | ||
| 1 | 9 | PHILP Huston | 1997 | CAN | 1:01.80 | 59.59 | 2:01.39 |
| 2 | 10 | SHARP Keegan | 1997 | CAN | 1:02.56 | 59.08 | 2:01.64 |
| 3 | 6 | TAYLOR Collin | 1995 | CAN | 1:02.22 | 59.64 | 2:01.86 |
| 4 | 8 | WALLACE Liam – 1st U18 | 1999 | CAN | 1:03.25 | 58.93 | 2:02.18 |
| 5 | 15 | KIRSHENBLATT Max 2nd U18 | 1998 | CAN | 1:02.74 | 59.66 | 2:02.40 |
| 6 | 11 | CARRY Patrick | 1995 | CAN | 1:03.16 | 59.37 | 2:02.53 |
| 7 | 13 | SOETAERT Michael | 1996 | CAN | 1:02.95 | 59.68 | 2:02.63 |
| 8 | 3 | LEGREE Ben | 1996 | CAN | 1:02.28 | 1:00.45 | 2:02.73 |
| 9 | 14 | WEBSTER Ryan 3rd U18 | 1998 | CAN | 1:03.69 | 59.14 | 2:02.83 |
| 10 | 16 | KELLY Justin | 1996 | CAN | 1:03.64 | 59.32 | 2:02.96 |
| Rank | Bib | Ladies' SL Mar 5/16 | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total | ||
| 1 | 4 | CUMMING Meg | 1997 | CAN | 56.04 | 51.98 | 1:48.02 |
| 2 | 7 | COLLOMBIN Tyra | 1997 | CAN | 55.57 | 52.49 | 1:48.06 |
| 3 | 6 | FITZGERALD Mikaela | 1996 | CAN | 57.41 | 53.88 | 1:51.29 |
| 4 | 10 | FLECKENSTEIN Katie 1st U18 | 1999 | CAN | 58.08 | 53.24 | 1:51.32 |
| 5 | 1 | MILLER Kyla | 1996 | USA | 56.97 | 54.69 | 1:51.66 |
| 6 | 13 | UNTERBERGER Emily | 1996 | CAN | 58.30 | 53.95 | 1:52.25 |
| 7 | 5 | KAMACHI Nakia 2nd U18 | 1999 | CAN | 58.07 | 54.35 | 1:52.42 |
| 8 | 3 | MACDONALD Frances 3rd U18 | 1999 | CAN | 59.40 | 53.99 | 1:53.39 |
| 9 | 26 | RUFENER Michelle | 1999 | SUI | 59.93 | 54.05 | 1:53.98 |
| 10 | 20 | BEZENAR Sydney | 1998 | CAN | 1:00.35 | 54.36 | 1:54.71 |
Ladies' U18 Podium March 5 (left to right) Nakia Kamachi, Katie Fleckenstein, Frances MacDonald PHOTO CREDIT: Martin Tichy
| Rank | Bib | Ladies' SL Mar 6/16 | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total Time |
| 1 | 2 | UNTERBERGER Emily | 1996 | CAN | 50.00 | 53.49 | 1:43.49 |
| 2 | 6 | BURGESS Georgia | 1997 | CAN | 51.76 | 52.12 | 1:43.88 |
| 3 | 3 | NATALENKO Kristina 1st U18 | 1999 | CAN | 51.12 | 53.07 | 1:44.19 |
| 4 | 10 | TAYLOR Sarah | 1997 | CAN | 51.75 | 52.81 | 1:44.56 |
| 5 | 1 | KAMACHI Nakia 2nd U18 | 1999 | CAN | 50.60 | 54.39 | 1:44.99 |
| 6 | 26 | RUFENER Michelle 3rd U18 | 1999 | SUI | 52.26 | 53.02 | 1:45.28 |
| 7 | 4 | FLECKENSTEIN Katie | 1999 | CAN | 53.03 | 52.56 | 1:45.59 |
| 8 | 9 | FITZGERALD Mikaela | 1996 | CAN | 53.84 | 52.56 | 1:46.40 |
| 9 | 22 | BELCZYK ZOE | 1998 | CAN | 52.79 | 53.90 | 1:46.69 |
| 10 | 20 | BEZENAR Sydney | 1998 | CAN | 53.05 | 53.65 | 1:46.70 |
Ladies' U18 Podium March 6 (left to right) Nakia Kamachi, Kristina Natalenko, Michelle Rufener PHOTO CREDIT: Martin Tichy
| Rank | Bib | Men's GS Mar 6/16 | Year | Nation | Run 1 | Run 2 | Total |
| 1 | 3 | PHILP Huston | 1997 | CAN | 1:03.15 | 56.58 | 1:59.73 |
| 2 | 2 | UNTERBERGER Dominic | 1994 | CAN | 1:03.04 | 56.70 | 1:59.74 |
| 3 | 9 | SHARP Keegan | 1997 | CAN | 1:03.94 | 55.91 | 1:59.85 |
| 4 | 6 | KIRSHENBLATT Max 1st U18 | 1998 | CAN | 1:02.83 | 57.41 | 2:00.24 |
| 5 | 1 | LEGREE Ben | 1996 | CAN | 1:02.97 | 57.50 | 2:00.47 |
| 6 | 15 | SWETTE Ford | 1993 | CAN | 1:03.72 | 56.79 | 2:00.51 |
| 7 | 16 | KELLY Justin | 1996 | CAN | 1:03.18 | 57.57 | 2:00.75 |
| 8 | 10 | SOETAERT Michael | 1996 | CAN | 1:03.41 | 57.57 | 2:00.98 |
| 9 | 14 | WEBSTER Ryan 2nd U18 | 1998 | CAN | 1:04.52 | 56.58 | 2:01.10 |
| 10 | 5 | DAVIDSON Brian | 1996 | USA | 1:03.17 | 57.97 | 2:01.14 |