by Kathy Stahr | Feb 12, 2020 | Member News
PacificSport Fraser Valley is proud to host three exciting Canadian Association for the Advancement of Women and Sport (CAAWS) "Women & Leadership" Workshops, hoping to bring together as many women as possible from all corners of the sport and physical activity sectors (and beyond).
These workshops will double as networking events to foster new relationships between women who are going through similar walks of life, as well as a safe space to share stories and experiences.
On the second night, March 9th, they will be making a bigger event out of the workshop as a celebration of International Women's Day. In addition to their experienced facilitators, Jennifer Fenton and Joanne Stygall Lotz, they will have speakers to engage with the participants and share their journeys as women navigating their respective worlds.
Please see below for the series schedule. They welcome coaches, administrators, athletes (ages 16+), officials, and anyone interested in these unique professional development sessions.
Tuesday, February 18th: Leading with Confidence 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Monday, March 9th: Effective Networking 5:00pm – 9:00pm *International Women’s Day Event*
Monday, April 6th: Conflict Management 6:00pm – 9:00pm
Registration: https://psfv-caaws-workshop.eventbrite.ca
FOR MORE INFORMATION CONTACT:
STACY FOURNIER | COORDINATOR, COMMUNICATIONS & SPECIAL EVENTS
PACIFICSPORT FRASER VALLEY
T 778.558.6723 W PACIFICSPORTFRASERVALLEY.COM
Suite #109-7888 200th Street, Langley, BC V2Y 3J4
by Kathy Stahr | Feb 3, 2020 | Member News
photo left – race day corduroy PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Smith
photo right – U12 athletes PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Smith
It was all smiles for the more than 140 racers who spent the weekend at SilverStar Mountain Resort! The Vernon Ski Club hosted its annual three-day Teck Okanagan Zone Speed Camp, culminating with two fun downhill races per gender on Sunday. This popular and important training event included athletes from U12 up to U16, some from as far away as Whitehorse, Yukon. The racers pushed top speeds of 105 km per hour, battling warm, wet conditions, fog and snow on the first two days, but wrapping it all up on Sunday with perfect race-day conditions! Nearly 1,000 individual runs were trained/raced on the speed course by the end of the weekend. It was a fantastic event with amazing volunteers and super keen athletes! Thank you to all who attended and helped out!! We are already looking forward to Okanagan Speed Camp 2021 where we all "Feel the need, the need for speed"! ~ report submitted by Lauren Carr
RACE RESULTS HERE
photo above – U12 Tanner Carr PHOTO CREDIT: Gordie Carr
photo right – U16 Rowan Smith PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Smith
photo below – U14 Tylee Carr PHOTO CREDIT: Gordie Carr
photo right – Volli Course Crew PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Smith
photo below – U14 Jasmine Coubrough PHOTO CREDIT: Murray Smith
by Kathy Stahr | Feb 3, 2020 | Member News
On Saturday, February 1st the Prince George Ski Club hosted 49 young skiers at their annual Nancy Greene Ski League race at Purden Ski Village. The event featured glalom and kombi competitions, and the ever-popular speed trap. They wish to thank all the families who came out to participate, and all the wonderful volunteers who helped make the event possible!
by Kathy Stahr | Jan 29, 2020 | Member News
It was a classic Grouse Mountain Tyee ski race. The U8/U10 Coast Zone event was fun, efficient and of course wet. Over 200 young skiers from Cypress, Seymour, Whistler and Hemlock ski clubs joined the Tyee racers in braving the rain for the season-opener U8/U10 Skill Event, January 25, 2020.
Image: Blue Rabbit Photography
The race-day main event was a dual Glalom with a combined 2 run-time. This was the first race of the season, so for a number of these skiers it was also the first race of their careers. Tyee U8 Head Coach Marouska Smith was impressed with how the first-time racers handled themselves.
"Those kids who were encountering a race environment for the first time came away more confident and happy to have overcome their nerves and fears."
Smith said she’s also seeing an overall change in the level of competition across all the clubs in the region.
"The caliber of skiing among the young athletes in the Coast Zone is improving."
Image: Blue Rabbit Photography
It’s become basically mandatory to include some fun stuff for these younger racers. Usually a combi, jump and speed trap are part of these already busy and somewhat chaotic days. This is the 2nd year the Tyee Ski Club decided to roll these events into one. A few gates take the little rippers into a jump followed by a tuck speed trap. It’s a great way to condense the activities while keeping the thrilling things. Of course the kids absolutely love it!
“Stubbies goes into gates then a jump where you have to tuck mid-air and then tuck to the finish. It was really fun!” said Tyee first year U10 Xavier Kuss.
Image: Blue Rabbit Photography
The Grouse Mountain Tyee Ski Club couldn’t put on successful events like this without the sponsors. A special thanks to Anthem Properties, Park Shore BMW, Sage Cabinetry and North Shore News.
RESULTS
~ submitted by Michael Kuss
by Kathy Stahr | Jan 24, 2020 | Member News
U16’s join U18-FIS to race together at Panorama Jan 9-12, 2020.
In a unique ski racing format for ski racers in BC, U16 racers and U18/U21 (FIS) level racers competed together on the same hill with the same courses. The FIS racers skied first for their own race event, and then the U16 racers raced in the same course for their event. Having tracks already laid down by the older athletes seemed to raise the bar and get them racing a better line through the gates.
The Giant Slalom races were held on ‘Old Timer’, a pretty friendly track with grippy snow and nice rolling terrain. The slalom races were on ‘Hay Fever’, a much more challenging slope which was created for a World Cup SL race in 2007. Hay Fever starts with a very steep pitch with about 25 icy turns, followed by another 40 or so turns on mellower terrain before the finish.
“I’m not sure racing on such a steep FIS SL hill was the best for the U16’s, especially our first race of the year.” said Milan Novak who took a gold and bronze in GS, “The GS hill could have been a bit more challenging but it was a long GS and really nice snow.”
“I was a little concerned with how things might hold up racing after the FIS athletes, but as soon as I took my first run I was realized, this is great!” commented Sara Stiel, winner of all four U16 ladies races, “I was able to see how my times held up against the older athletes and watched them racing to get a better sense of what I will need to do to be competitive when I move up to FIS level racing next season. It was a great race series.”
Conrad Pridy, lead coach for the WMSC FIS program commented “Great for the U18/U21 athletes to get a sneak peak at their future competition within BC. Any opportunity for the older athletes to be role models is a valuable one, and a race series like this builds a strong foundation for the future of racing in BC. We all learn a lot about how to race with this kind of exposure.”
The site for the 2022 FIS Junior World Championships, this race was great exposure for the racers born in 2001 or younger to get as much time and experience on the Pano race runs. ~ Submitted by Sarah Renzoni
COMPLETE RESULTS HERE
U16 Results:
Day 1 GS
1st Sara Steil (WMSC), 2nd Talyn Lorimer (Sun Peaks), 3rd Jamie Robinson(Vernon)
1st Dylan Stevens (Grouse), 2rd Sam Fuller (WMSC), 3rd Milan Novak (WMSC)
Day 2 GS
1st Sara Steil (WMSC), 2nd Jamie Robinson (Vernon), 3rd Sienna Blaser (Apex)
1st Milan Novak (WMSC), 2nd Sam Fuller (WMSC), 3rd Felix Shorter (WMSC)
Day 3 SL
1st Sara Steil (WMSC), 2nd Megan Doiron (WMSC),3rd Talyn Lorimer (Sun Peaks)
1st Dylan Stevens (Grouse), 2nd Felix Shorter (WMSC), 3rd Sam Fuller (WMSC)
Day 4 SL
1st Sara Steil (WMSC), 2nd Jamie Robinson (Vernon), 3rd ERin Husken (WMSC)
1st Sam Fuller (WMSC), 2nd Sasha Gilbert (WMSC), Kaleb Barnum (Fernie)
U18/FIS Results:
Day 1 Event – GS
1st – Makenna Lebsack (Pano); 1st – Sarah Shephard (Pano); 3rd – Anya Molesky (BAR)
1st – Gavin Donald (ABST); 2nd– Tait Jordan (BCST); 3rd – Gerrit Van Soest (BCST)
Day 2 Event – GS
1st – Makenna Lebsack (Pano); 2nd – Sarah Shephard (Pano); 3rd – Julia Ross (WMSC)
1st – Tait Jordan (BCST); 2nd – Gerrit Van Soest (BCST); 3rd – Ryuji Gaman (WMSC)
Day 3 Event – SL
1st – Makenna Lebsack (Pano); 2nd – Anya Molesky (BAR); 3rd – Anna Hawkins (Pano)
1st – Nathan Romanin (BCST); 2nd – Tait Jordan (BCST); 3rd – Gavin Donald (ABST)
Day 4 Event – SL
1st – Makenna Lebsack (Pano); 2nd – Anya Molesky (BAR); 3rd – Sarah Shephard (Pano)
1st – Nathan Romanin (BCST); 2nd – Tait Jordan (BCST); 3rd – Gerrit Van Soest (BCST)
by Kathy Stahr | Jan 22, 2020 | Member News
Apex Ski Club hosted the first U12/U14 Teck OK Zone race at Apex Mountain resort this past weekend, January 18 and 19th, 2020.
Photo by: Greg Jarron
What a fabulous weekend of racing at Apex Mountain Resort. This past weekend, January 18/19, Apex Ski Club hosted the U12/U14 Teck OK Zone race. Friday was a bluebird day with amazing conditions. Racers trained and did some free skiing while volunteers got the course ready to go for the next day. Both Saturday and Sunday were one-run SL races (2 per gender). U12s ran a panel course on Saturday and stubbies on Sunday. Saturday brought fresh snow, some fog and some colder temperatures but both athletes and volunteers put their best “ski” forward so that we could finish on time with solid course conditions. Sunday, just to round out the weather conditions, brought a mix of sun and cloud with warmer temperatures. A perfect day to race and race they did! The Okanagan zone clubs (Mt. Baldy, Vernon, Sun Peaks, Big White, Revelstoke and Apex) were joined by athletes from the Yukon. The race was a qualifier for the 2020 BC Games being held in Fort St. John.
Photo by: Greg Jarron
Both athletes and volunteers enjoyed their time at Apex. As shared by one athlete “I loved sending my family pics of our bluebird day and we got so many laps done. This t-bar is great.” We were also proud to overhear this comment from a volunteer: “This is the friendliest place to volunteer.” Many key organizing roles had a mentoring component as we try to build our knowledge and capacity from the senior members of the club. Thanks to our mentors and to those who stepped into new roles!
CONGRATULATIONS to all our racers. THANK-YOU for your effort, vocal support of your team members and the respect that you showed Apex Mountain and the volunteers. We applaud you, your parents, your coaches and all the volunteers for making this happen. Results can be accessed HERE.
Apex Ski Club wishes you an amazing ski season!
~ submitted by Rejeanne Droppo
