Lightning Creek Ski Club held the first race of the 2022/2023 North Zone Season at Troll Resort on January 14 and 15. These dates were a bit earlier than we usually endeavour to hold a race, but with a tight season calendar we knew we had to make it work. And we did!
With great snow early in the season, and Troll Resort opening in mid-December, our athletes were able to hit the snow with great conditions for the weeks leading up to our race. However, Mother Nature has an evil side and we lost a lot of snow in the days leading up to the race. But, the show must go on. We were able to hold one 2-run GS race on Saturday and 2 x 2 run SL races on Sunday.
The kids were all smiles as they rekindled friendships with their competitors from other North Zone Clubs, and mild temperatures helped keep the mood very light and happy. We are all counting down to the next North Zone race in Smithers in February!
U16 TECK COAST ZONE GS & SL – hosted by Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Photo of coaches above courtesy of Adrienne Bouris
Whistler Mountain Ski Club was happy to welcome back athletes for Teck’s first U16 Coast Zone race of the season. After a soggy week the weather greatly improved with durable, hard-packed conditions on Ptarmigan. The terrain was carefully prepared by the Dave Murray National Training Centre and Vail Resorts and the course itself was tended by course crew volunteers from all clubs.
The format was a two-run combined time GS on Saturday and a two-run combined time slalom on Sunday. The athletes from Cypress, Grouse, Mount Washington, Sasquatch and Seymour enjoyed a crisp winter day with sunny conditions on Saturday, and a partly cloudy day on Sunday with the snow holding off until the awards ceremony at the Garbo Hut.
Exciting racing for all, with the most improved award won for GS and SL by Alexandra Menard for the women and shared by three athletes – Corey Kwan, Jaden Chow and Martin Winnett for men’s SL, Jaden Chow also won for GS.
Race Report courtesy of Kristi Blom (WMSC); photos by Al Han and Adrienne Bouris
(above) First Place in GS and SL – Hanna Jensen, Whistler Mountain Ski Club – Photo Credit: Al Han
Men’s Giant Slalom – January 14th First Place: Nick Kokot, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Second Place: Marek Novak, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Third Place: Dreas Gibbons, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Fourth Place: Dominic Reid, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Fifth Place: Kingsley Parkhill, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Sixth Place: Indigo Liu, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club Seventh Place: Corey Kwan, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Eighth Place: Jaden Chow, Cypress Ski Club Nineth Place: Koen Lefevre, Mount Washington Ski Club Tenth Place: Kekai Chalmers, Whistler Mountain Ski Club
Women’s Slalom – January 15th First Place: Hannah Jensen, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Second Place: Maika Lennox-King, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Third Place: Nicole Webb, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Fourth Place: Lilia Rose, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club Fifth Place: Brooke Bessie, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Sixth Place: Thea Torn, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Seventh Place: Thea Lutz, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Eighth Place: Rebecca Whelan, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Nineth Place: Alexandra Menard, Cypress Ski Club Tenth Place: Sidney Wallin, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club
(above) Women’s Slalom – January 15th – Photo Credit: Al Han
Men’s Slalom – January 15th First Place: Nick Kokot, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Second Place: Marek Novak, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Third Place: Jaden Chow, Cypress Ski Club Fourth Place: Zack Firkins, Cypress Ski Club Fifth Place: Aiden Thornhill, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Sixth Place: George Sarkis, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Seventh Place: Indigo Liu, Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club Eighth Place: Kingsley Parkhill, Whistler Mountain Ski Club Nineth Place: Oscar Wong, Mount Washington Ski Club Tenth Place: Martin Winnett, Mount Washington Ski Club
(above) Men’s Slalom – January 15th – Photo Credit Al HanU14/U16 Race series sponsor Teck, represented by Catherine Adair (Manager, Community Development) with Anders Hestdalen (BC Alpine CEO)
The Alpine Women in Sport is about to kick off another 3-part Webinar Series. We are very excited to start our Series with Johnny Crichton, Vice President, BC Alpine.
“A Little Bit of Everything, Coaching-Wise” Monday January 16th @ 5pm These Webinars are all eligible for Education Credits
Please see the post in the link below for the Google Meets link, and be sure to share with all your coaches, both male and female, especially your young coaches. Many know the name Johnny Crichton, yet have never heard him present or been able to ask him a question.
If the answer to the headline question is no, this article is intended to shed some light on BC Alpine’s Safe Sport process and support.
Background: BC Alpine follows Alpine Canada’s Safe Sport guidelines which are committed to providing environments that ensure that athletes, coaches and staff have a safe, inclusive, and supportive training and competition environment. Everyone has a role to play in creating a healthy physical and mental environment for sport participation.
Process: If you witness or experience something you feel would be considered maltreatment, we work with an independent third party to ensure proper process and complaint management is followed. BC Alpine has established independent third party process for handling Safe Sport complaints here: https://home.bcalpine.com/safe-sport/
Contacts: Visit the link above for contact information.
The BC Alpine community was deeply saddened to hear of the passing of long time ski coach Floyd Gniewotta in mid December.
Floyd, who moved to Thailand permanently in 2019 after many visits, had deep roots with coaching ski racing in BC. He started with the Big White Racers – after being hired by head coach Pogo Alford – in the mid 1980s, first with the NGSL youngsters then up to older age groups.
He was with the BWR club from 1987 to 2000. The next season, Floyd moved over to the Apex Ski Club where he was the Head Coach and Program Director for the next 8 years, until 2008.
Floyd was a caring and talented coach who took considerable time to get to know each skier, to work on the details and to introduce the love of skiing and ski racing to each and every young athlete. He was well respected by his coaching peers in all corners of the province.
