The Vernon Ski Club and Silver Star Mountain Resort welcomed over 90 athletes from the Okanagan Zone for a 3-day speed camp on January 27-29.
Each racer had 7 runs down the track that was perfectly groomed and covered in sunshine every day. After two days of training, the camp finished with a two-run downhill race on Sunday, which demonstrated amazing progression from all the kids.
Hunter Kay
Leila Nasipayko-Shippam
“I thoroughly enjoyed my time on course and I know the athletes had a great time as well! The race program was well-planned, safety systems were well-placed and the volunteers were treated very well!”
BC Alpine Chair and first-time Technical Delegate, Graham Cope
The speed camp also allowed many of Vernon Ski Club’s newly-trained officials to put their knowledge into practice, as well as burn some calories setting up the b-net.
Fallaway
Matthew Leach
Thanks to all the volunteers, coaches and athletes for attending, as well as the Silver Star Mountain Resort events team and groomers for their incredible support. VSC hired Kiss The Monkey Photography to take pictures on Sunday. Barry’s awesome photos are available for free download at VSC Speed Camp – Jan 2023 – Kiss the Monkey Photography
Clancy start
Elijah Nasipayko-Shippam
Report submitted by Murray Smith, Vernon Ski Club and Okanagan Zone Chair
Former BC Alpine skiers, now competing for Canada on the World Cup tour, put forward world-leading performances of late.
Take “Big Rig” Reece Howden, of the Apex Ski Club, scorched the ski cross race track in Idre Fjäll, Sweden, taking a win and second place over two days of racing. Howden now leads the World Cup ski cross overall standings with 481 points, with a sizable lead over Mattias Graf, of Austria (328 points).
At the same race, Marielle Thompson, of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, raced to third place in the women’s race, moving her into third overall in the World Cup standings.
Marielle Thompson. Photo: Alpine Canada/GEPA.
Marielle Thompson. Photo: Alpine Canada/GEPA.
Reece Howden. Photo: Alpine Canada/GEPA.
Reece Howden. Photo: Alpine Canada/GEPA.
Cameron Alexander 6th at Kitzbuhel; Broderick Thompson 9th
Meanwhile over in Kitzhuhel, Austria, two Whistler Mountain Ski Club stars, scored top 10 finishes in the world’s most famous – and treacherous – World Cup downhill.
With snow falling on the 40,000 thousand fans in the grandstands at the base of the Hahnenkamm, Cameron Alexander started 27th and powered his way down the Streif course to finish sixth. In his 25th World Cup start, this is Alexander’s best result this season and his first top 10 since last season’s win in the downhill in Kvitfjell, Norway. The day before Broderick Thompson made an impressive jump from start number 39 to finish ninth, his first top 10 since a third-place finish last season in the super-G in Beaver Creek, Colorado.
Broderick Thompson
Cameron Alexander
Cameron Alexander
Broderick Thompson in the start for race #2 at Kitzbuhel.
“Today felt like I skied well,” said a pleased Alexander. “I had a solid run yesterday but there were a few mistakes that I wanted to clean-up. Did my best today to do that and it turned out really well. Kitzbühel is an insane place, coming into the finish with thousands of fans cheering felt really good. I’m stoked to build on this confidence heading into the next races and into the World Championships.”
Teammate Brodie Seger and James (Jack) Crawford, both of the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, also had strong performances at Kitzbuhel with top 30 restults to finish in the World Cup points. Kyle Alexander gained valuable experience in Kitzbuhel on the most difficult race course on the World Cup.
Meanwhile, over at Cortina d’Ampezzo, Italy, Stef Fleckenstein (Whistler Mountain Ski Club) inched closer to a World Cup top 30 finishing 32nd in the super-G.
Heming Sola goes “full throttle” in second run at World Juniors
On January 25th, current BC Ski Team racer Heming Sola (Apex Ski Club) had Canada’s best finish at the World Junior Championships after a blistering-fast second run of 48.80 moved him into 14th position from Bib 49.
“I figured if I wanted to have a good day I would have to go full throttle and that’s what I did,” Sola said after the race.
When Mount Washington Alpine Resort and the Mount Washington Ski Club welcomed 120 athletes from Coast Zone clubs – including Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club, Cypress Ski Club, Mt. Seymour Ski Club and Sasquatch Ski Club – they did so under incredible conditions and a well-run TECK race series.
The Teck Coast Zone TECK U14 GS & SL (January 21-22, 2023) showcased the best U14 skiers in the Coast Zone.
After excellent preparation by the grooming staff and the race volunteers, the snow was almost perfect for racing. On Saturday, they raced two runs of GS, with the girls competing first, followed by the boys. Second run start order for each gender was reversed to provide equal opportunity for all athletes. With light snow and cloudy conditions, the race went smoothly and finished close to the scheduled time. Results were determined by the combined 1st and 2nd run times.
Top three GS finishers
U14 girls: Elena Deda (Whistler), Valerie Chan (Grouse), Maggie Cormack (Whistler) U14 boys: Luka Buchheister (Whistler), Alex Velikov (Grouse), Nathaniel Hung (Grouse
Sunday proved to be another great day for racing. With cooler temperatures, a beautiful a sunrise and hard snow, the 120 athletes hit the slopes with solid slalom skiing. There were two courses set; one for the girls and one for the boys in the morning. For the afternoon races they switched courses and reversed their start order. Just like the previous day’s GS, the slalom results were based on two-run combined times.
“It was a fantastic weekend of racing” stated Ryan Williams, Race Chairman. “A big thank you to the Mount Washington Ski Resort for working with our requirements for a safe venue. An even bigger thank you to all the volunteers that were needed before, during and after the race. And the biggest thank you to the athletes for the smiles, the quality racing and positive attitudes. In the end, the Mount Washington Ski Club is very proud of the quality of the event they hosted.”
The Windermere Valley Ski Club & Panorama Mountain Resort welcomed over 130 athletes from 8 clubs to Panorama Mountain last weekend for the first race of the season for the Kootenay Zone U14/U16 SL and GS race series. The ROC managed to deliver 5 races in 3 days, an exceptional experience for all attending clubs.
“The traditional 2-run races are easier to run but don’t allow racers spend a lot of time on their skis,” said Dusan Grasic, Program Director of the Windermere Ski Club. “Racers at this age should spend more time on skis and less time sitting in the lodge and waiting for their run so we decided to host a 3-day event, and attempt to hold 2 SL and 3 GS races over 3 days.”
“We are extremely fortunate to have an experienced ROC that organizes two to three FIS series’ a year,” he continued. “Organizing U16/U14 event gave us an opportunity to bring in new young volunteers to shadow our ROC and run the series in a new race format.”
The first day (Friday) the veteran ski club kicked off with 2 SL races with the start of the first course at the top of the run with two SL runs set. The second/lower course started across from the finish of the upper course and finished at the same spot as GS races would finish Saturday and Sunday.
All the athletes had one inspection of both the upper and lower course in the morning, and again both courses in the afternoon. The ladies started on the lower course and the men started on the upper course…at the same time! With two ROCs running two races simultaneously, the ladies did the loop to the top and the boys just moved over to lower course. Courses on the bottom and on the top counted for one race each. The races ran without a hitch, and with an 8:30am lift load, the crew was done by 2:30pm.
Three GS runs were scheduled for Saturday but Mother Nature had other ideas. Heavy fog resulted in only two runs for the girls and one run for the boys. “The teams were absolute troopers, despite long delays spirits remained high,” Grasic said.
The visibility was better on Sunday and the race organizers were able to complete the second run for the boys from Saturday, as well as two more runs for each gender.
“This proved we can successfully run 3 GS races in two days if the weather cooperates,” Grasic continued. “We believe this format is something we should try again in the future. It kept the racers engaged and moving. It is of course, dependent on weather and snow conditions, but fortunately we have great early season snow making in Panorama, and fog is rare.”
One wildcard factor for hosting an agreessive race schedule such as this is have the adequate timing crews for the SL races, as the format requires two ROCs.
“We would like to express huge thanks to the timing crews, especially from Red Mountain and Fernie,” said Katie Comb, of the WVSC. “We lost internet several times and they just kept going! Also big thanks to Panorama Mountain for their amazing cooperation, the hard-working volunteers from clubs around the zone, the forerunners who were here on vacation from the Northern Ski Team in New Zealand, as well as the coaches and racers who stayed positive and patient while we battled weather delays. All the racers showed great team spirit and sportsmanship!”
TECK OKANAGAN ZONE SL – Hosted by Apex Ski Club and Apex Mountain Resort
On January 14th and 15th, the Apex Ski Club hosted the Teck Okanagan Zone Race for U12-U16. This year’s race weekend will certainly be one to remember! Despite significant technical and environmental factors working against the hosts, a successful race weekend was accomplished. Over the course of the two days, the race organizers had to contend with power and cellular outages, foggy conditions, and falling trees. With safety at the absolute forefront, precautions were taken, and the event proceeded thanks to the efforts of the many parents, volunteers, and coaches.
On Saturday and Sunday, over 140 racers from Apex, Silver Star, Big White, Revelstoke, Sun Peaks and the Yukon participated in slalom races on the Okanagan Run for their first competition of the season. Although the fog was not ideal, athletes managed to turn in some great performances, and the atmosphere and energy among competitors was terrific.
Apex Ski Club would like to thank Apex Mountain Resort and the sponsors for their support, and the athletes for their patience while course workers successfully maintained a fair play event. Most importantly, the club would like to express their gratitude the volunteers who worked tirelessly to pull off a great race weekend under the challenging circumstances. Excellent job everyone!
