On April 2nd and 3rd, the final weekend of the Mount Washington Ski Resort’s scheduled 2021/2022 season, 195 athletes from teams across the Coast Zone, including Whistler, the 4 Lower Mainland ski teams (Cypress, Grouse, Seymour, Sasquatch) joined 30 Mount Washington Ski Club athletes to compete in the Teck Coast Zone Finals. The two-day event was scheduled to have 3 different age groups being timed for top place in slalom on the Saturday and head-to-head racing in the Dual Slalom on the Sunday. (See awesome action shots in Don Tait’s Flickr Albums)
The conditions were excellent on Saturday for a great race. The snow was hard, the weather was clear and the race committee and equipment operated flawlessly. The U12 age group raced two individually timed slalom races while the U14s & U16s combined the two times of their runs for a total overall ranking. (FIND FULL RESULTS HERE)
Top three included:
- U12 girls Run 1: Cecily Gibbons (Whistler), Anya McColm (Whistler), Danica Williams (Mt Washington)
- U12 Boys Run 1: Joe Orde (Grouse), Eric Krastev (Grouse), Aaron Na (Cypress)
- U12 Girls Run 2: Nikita Ciesla (Grouse), Charlotte Severin (Grouse), Danica Williams (Mt Washington)
- U12 Boys Run 2: Aaron Na (Cypress), Joe Orde (Grouse), Bodie Morgan (Whistler)
- U14 Girls: Valerie Chan (Grouse), Teagan MacCon (Whistler), Elana Dedas (Whistler)
- U14 Boys: Dreas Gibbons (Whistler), Dash Han (Whistler), Kingsley Parkhill (Whistler)
- U16 Girls: Maeve Pretty (Grouse), Alice Cameron-Boyes (Cypress), Rachel Na (Cypress)
- U16 Boys: Nick Kokot (Whistler), Malcolm Elvidge (Grouse), Archie Clark (Whistler)
Unfortunately, the Sunday races were cancelled as too much snow fell over a short period of time to be able to safely run the race.
“Its too bad we could not safely run the race. The Dual Slalom is a fun event to watch as athletes go head-to-head with the winners moving on to the next round until a winner is determined. We tried our best but we could not keep up with the falling snow. Ironically, 30 minutes after we officially cancelled the race, the sun came out, the powder skiing was amazing and Mount Washington had great weather for the ‘Slush Cup’”
Ryan Williams, Chief of Race for the Teck Zone Finals
The Mt Washington Ski Club celebrated its 40th year this year. Athletes can be as young as 5 years old in the Nancy Greene Ski League and as old as 18 years old and racing on the interprovincial FIS race circuit. Thank you to the following sponsors for 2021/2022: Race Series Sponsor – Teck; Platinum (Mount Washington) – Rick Gibson of Royal LePage, Colonial Countertops, Gold (Mount Washington) – Ryan Williams of REMAX, Accent Inns Vancouver Island, Arrowsmith Bikes, Ski Tak Hut, Frame & Co Injury Law, Grant Signs.
~ Story submitted by Ryan Williams