The Revelstoke Ski Club was excited to welcome back the Teck Okanagan Zone Finals after four years, on April 2nd and 3rd. There was a great showing from visiting clubs, with 143 athletes from Alpine Yukon, Apex, Big White, Revelstoke, Sun Peaks, and Vernon. For this spring race, the athletes saw it all on the course this weekend: sun, snow, and wind, and even a whiteout where you couldn’t see two gates in front of you. The snow held off though for the hard-working course workers, with only a few new centimeters on Saturday and Sunday. For anyone who stayed over until Monday, they would be treated with 19 cms of snow on the hill! (Photo above courtesy of Jessica Amelia Photography
On Friday, clubs started to arrive for training and free skiing, and then the event kicked off on Saturday with a two-run combined GS for the U14 – U19s, and two one-run GS races for the U12s. A highlight was our celebrity forerunner, Olympic Ski Cross racer Reece Howden! He’s an alum from the Okanagan zone and Apex Ski Club, and has come a long way since his last zone finals races! It ended up being a very long day for everyone, with one last athlete having to have the lift turned back on for him so he could make it to his re-run.
The plan changed up for Sunday aiming for a shorter day, and we succeeded! On Sunday we held the U14 – U19 first run, then the U12 paneled slalom and stubby slalom back-to-back, finishing with the second run for the U14-U19s. Everyone worked together for a super-smooth tear-down effort!
It was nice with restrictions lifted to be able to hold awards at the end of the day Sunday, with all the clubs together to celebrate some fast skiing and a great season!
Ava Dye from Sun Peaks and Egan Kelly from Revelstoke were both four for four, winning each of their U12 races. Kael Oberlander from Big White won both races in the female U16 category, as did Morgan Ring from Sun Peaks and Braden Blankley from Vernon in U14. Douglas Hunter from Sun Peaks won the GS for U16 males and Sacha Jirasek from Big White won the slalom. The full results are available on the BC Alpine Calendar.
Photo by Jessica Amelia Photography Photo by Jessica Amelia Photography
We want to say a big thank you to Revelstoke Mountain Resort for hosting the event, all the visiting teams, coaches and parents, and to all the hard-working volunteers who made it all possible!
~ Story submitted by Katie Findlay