The Big White Ski Club hosted the Okanagan Zone Teck giant slalom race event on the weekend of February 25 & 26, 2023. The visiting clubs that travelled to Big White Ski Resort were Apex Ski Club, Vernon Ski Club, Revelstoke Ski Club, and Sun Peaks Alpine Club.
Saturday was a big day, with a large group of 130 competitors completing two runs each, and the event lasted until the lifts stopped spinning.
On Sunday, the day started with almost 20cm of fresh snow that had fallen overnight. The snow continued to accumulate all morning which made course preparations even more challenging. After a long morning delay, Mother Nature gave a window of clear visibility and the race was on. Due to the late start, Sunday was a one-run race for the U12s, U14s & U16s.
Congratulations to all athletes for persevering during this challenging weekend, and special credit goes to the volunteers who put in a ton of extra effort to keep the race going.
Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club hosted the 14th annual U12 Tyee Cup at Grouse Mountain, February 25–26, 2023. (See the event photo links at the bottom of this story for more incredible images).
Sponsored by Sporting Life, this Coast Zone event was scheduled to run for two days and include GS, Kombi, and SL races for both men and women. Over 185 athletes from Grouse Tyee, Cypress Ski Club, Mt Washington Ski Club, Sasquatch Mountain Ski Club, Whistler Mountain Ski Club, and Mount Seymour Ski Club came together on a bright, clear, and sunny Saturday morning for the GS race start. (photo above – Bib 120, Luca Valente and teammates watching the GS race from the corral. Photo by Felicia Lo
Bib 160, Daniel Gold of Grouse Tyee, at the starting gate. Photo by Felicia Lo
Pre-race pep talk with teammates. Photo by Felicia Lo
Almost as soon as the races began, the clear skies turned to snowy skies. The racers showed tremendous energy and excitement throughout the morning’s GS races down Expo run. For the afternoon session, the course crew transformed the GS run into a Kombi course. The athletes seemed high spirited and positive, cheering each other on, and helping to carry jackets to the bottom of the course.
Bib 99, Brooklyn Larsen of Grouse Tyee. Photo by Felicia Lo
Bib 146, Olivier Courcelles of Whistler Mountain Ski Club
The unrelenting snow resulted in a 30+ cm snowfall overnight. Unfortunately, the weather conditions and heavy snowfall caused the second day of racing to be cancelled.
Bib 90, Emily Rempel of Grouse Tyee. Photo by Felicia Lo
Thank you to all of the visiting athletes and families for your participation and enthusiasm for this special event. And thank you to all of the volunteers, organizers, coaches, athletes, and sponsors for making this event possible.
The Whistler Mountain Ski Club welcomed FIS athletes from around BC, Alberta and south of the border, February 20-24, for a week of speed, GS and slalom racing. It was a great warmup for the upcoming Nor-Am Finals running on the same tracks in March.
Monday and Tuesday saw a super-G speed camp run by the FIS coaches, allowing the racers to get ‘up to speed’ before race day. On Wednesday, just in time for the 43rd running of the Bob Parsons Memorial speed race, temperatures dropped to -15 and the winds picked up, making for a chilly day for racers and volunteers. Two super-G races ran on Wednesday with the athletes starting at the top of Raven and finishing at the bottom of the Dave Murray National Training Center (DMNTC).
The Parsons trophy was awarded by Griffin Parsons to the top male and female racer across both super-G races. Congratulations to WMSC athlete Felix Shorter and Okanagan Ski Team athlete Jasmine Coubrough for taking the wins and being added to the prestigious Parsons trophy!
On Thursday, temperatures dipped even further, and the winds got stronger for the longest GS race on this year’s calendar. The athletes ran from the top of Club 21 to the bottom of the DMNTC, taking almost 1 minute, and 30 seconds to complete the course, compared to sub-1-minute runs at most venues. The long, steep, icy course took its toll on the field.
The sun came out Friday for a beautiful, cold and sunny Whistler day to run the slalom. The DMNTC offered up another challenging course down the sunset pitch to the bottom of the training center.
A big thank you to all the volunteers, especially those that put in 3 or more days mid-week to get this race off. Mid-week races are challenging for volunteer numbers, and those that came out really shouldered the load, executing the race with half the volunteers normally out for a weekend U12/U14/U16 event. Also, a big thank you to the Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club and Vancouver Ski Team parents who came out in numbers to help fill volunteer positions, including some of the ROC positions.
Team BC got off to a “golden” start today in PEI, with Roxy Coatesworth, of Golden, BC, claimed the women’s super-G at the 2023 Canada Winter Games in Prince Edward Island, winning BC’s first medal of Canada’s largest multi-sport event.
With an aggressive mindset, the 16-year-old Black Dog Ski Club racer charged the course on Crabbe Mountain, taking the win comfortably with a time of 45.08 seconds, nearly a second ahead of the silver medallist Charlie Houde, of Team Quebec, and Rebecca Pelkey of Team Alberta who tied for second in 45.93. Coatesworth Team BC teammate Hannah Jensen, of Whistler, BC., finished just off the podium in fifth position.
The course was a good set and fun to go down,” said Coatesworth, who was the U16 national champion last season in both super-G and slalom. “Everyone was really hyped for the event today and the plan of attack was delivered and everything went really well.”
In the men’s event, Team Quebec was dominant on the day, taking the top 6 positions with Marek Novak, of West Vancouver, the top BC skier in 17th.
The super-G was the first alpine event of the Canada Winter Games, with the women’s and men’s giant slalom scheduled for tomorrow Tues., March 5th. See here for the full alpine schedule.
Alpine skiing has been a part of the Canada Winter Games since 1967, with previous winners such as current World Cup race Broderick Thompson, as well as many other such as Jan Hudec and Brit Phelan.
Final Results (top 5 and BC skiers) Tuesday, February 28, 2023 Crabbe Mountain
WOMEN
British Columbia Roxy Coatesworth0:45.08
Quebec Charlie Houde 0:45.93
Alberta Rebecca Pelkey 0:45.93
Quebec Arielle Desrosiers 0:46.20
British Columbia Hannah Jensen0:46.44
Other Team BC: 14. British Columbia Madison Sherriff 0:47.96 19. British Columbia Eva Wyse 0:48.73 22. British Columbia Maika Lennox-King 0:48.82 26. British Columbia Rylie Clark 0:49.33 31. British Columbia Amy Milne 0:50.53
MEN
Quebec Philippe Savard 0:44.37
Quebec Émile Piché 0:44.54
Quebec Luka McKinlay 0:44.82
Quebec Louis-Thomas Cantin 0:45.01
Quebec Henri Michaud 0:45.12
Team BC: 17. British Columbia Marek Novak 0:47.25 21. British Columbia Nick Kokot 0:47.46 26. British Columbia Maddox Johnson 0:48.08 27. British Columbia Sacha Jirasek 0:48.29 34. British Columbia Avery Tymchyna 0:48.84 39. British Columbia Gavin Russell Santoro 0:49.45
There’s no question that Karbon has some of the finest and best quality uniforms out there! Just look at the BC Ski Team above (also check out the Quebec and Alberta ski teams). The Karbon gear is second to none …. and is now available for BC Alpine clubs to customize and make your order for the 2023-24 ski season.
