There’s nothing quite like a bluebird day and a firm race surface … especially at Red Mountain Resort!
The Red Mountain Racers hosted another beauty of a race series, at the Teck Kootenay Zone Round 3 on March 1 & 2. The race was well attended by 177 athletes in the U12, U14, and U16 age groups from both the East and West Kootenays. All age groups had an opportunity to race slalom and giant slalom over the two days with two ROC’s running simultaneous events.
Early birds were treated to a beautiful sunrise and bluebird sky during the day and solid snow conditions. The two courses held up throughout the day.
Red Mountain Racers can’t thank all of the wonderful volunteers enough for their commitment to early mornings and hard work. And of course a big thank you to Red Resort for their commitment to alpine racing!
Sunny skies, wide smiles, and great attitudes were prominent in a well-organized Coast zone race series last weekend at Cypress Mountain Resort.
Over 100 volunteers worked behind-the-scenes and on the race courses, pulling off two days of slalom racing for 140+ U14 boys and girls. The race ran down Bowen Face, next to Midway Chair, at Cypress. Beautiful weather made for a comfortable time on the hill, though snow conditions required extra effort from the course crew to maintain.
“A record number of racers competed at Cypress Mountain this weekend. The sun accompanied us all through the weekend, and our course crew and a high number of volunteers helping out contributed to a successful event. It was great to see everyone helping out, and to see our team performing and skiing to the best of their abilities. Top ten and podium results are proof of the level of our racers. A big thank you to Cypress Mountain and all sponsors that support us throughout the season,” said Raul Anguita, Program Director.
A big thank you to Helene Tremblay for these incredible images!
Race Organizing Committee
TD: Carmen Kirshenblatt
Chief of Race: Virginia Abbott Race / Kim Mohr
Admin: Clara Cheong
Chief of Course: Ian Campbell
Chief of Gates: Jaret Lang
Chief of Timing: Kaveh Afshari
Chief of Volunteers: Andrea Vigna
Incredible Event Photos
A special thank you to Helene Tremblay for sharing these photos at no charge. She spent hours and hours editing these this week. She’s worked on so many we needed two albums!
The Big White Ski Club hosted the Nancy Greene Ski League Okanagan Zone Finals at Big White Ski Resort, last weekend, welcoming racers from Sun Peaks, Apex, and Vernon.
The first day of racing had the U8 racers take on the dual glalom course under perfect conditions, complete with smiling faces and sunny skies. Lucy Moose (the Big White mascot) even came out to cheer on the kids. Each racer completed two runs, showcasing their skills and enthusiasm for the sport.
The next day featured the U10 and U12 racers, who hit the course under equally-stunning weather, with sunshine and above-zero temperatures for spring like conditions. A speed trap added an extra thrill to the day, and all participants, coaches, and families enjoyed a BBQ lunch.
This event was also an important training opportunity for our Race Organizing Committee, which featured many new volunteers stepping into key roles. Their hard work, along with the dedication of coaches, parents, and officials, made the event a success.
A huge thank you to everyone who participated, supported, and helped make the Okanagan Zone Finals a fantastic experience for all!
Photos courtesy of Samuel Finch and Gavin Crawford
With all five Okanagan clubs, in addition to Smithers, Prince George and Lightning Creek from the North, a total of 127 racers were treated to a few days or racing at Sun Peaks during a Teck Okanagan Zone race which featured ski cross and GS races.
Thursday allowed for the racers to inspect and run the ski cross track – on the new Powder Excavating Ski Cross course – with one timed run for seeding during a perfect bluebird day. The next day (powder!) the racers each had three heats with four points being awarded for first place, three points for second, two for third and one for fourth. The top four point getters were matched in the Big Final and finishers rive through eight matched up in the Small Final.
The ski cross course had bumps, jumps and nine banked corners (see diagram below). The skills and improvement by all racers were tremendous.
The racing weekend was capped off on Saturday and Sunday with two-run GS races on the famous on OSV run. All U12 through U16 racers experienced a wide range of conditions over the two days and ran a max length course testing their training endurance and skill.
With a relatively new ROC taking charge of the event, even they were striving to learning and improve daily. Lessons learned and major improvements over the course of the weekend by us all. Massive shout out to TD Jim Martin for educating all of the ROC and on becoming better at our volunteer positions and helping grow a new generation of Sun Peaks Alpine Club ROC members for the future.
The Sasquatch Mountain Ski Club welcomed skiers from all over the Coast zone to their beautiful mountain for a series of U10 and U12 races. With a range of weather conditions – first sun, then a brief windy rain storm – followed by sunshine again, there were plenty of smiles and good action.
A fun highlight was a hot dog lunch served by volunteers from the Hemlock Valley Fire Department. The Whistler Mountain Ski Club won the Sasquatch Cup as the top U12 team, presented at the awards inside the main lodge, with hot chocolate and poutine served.
A big thank you to Sasquatch Mountain Resort for hosting the races and congratulations to all the racers and ski clubs that attended.
On a brisk but picture-perfect weekend, the North Zone NGSL congregated at Troll Mountain as the Lightning Creek Ski Club hosted another successful Ski the North NGSL Festival.
Saturday’s event started with a dual glalom after group photo, a short break for lunch and then a moguls event (each skier had a run on the blue and red course) and lastly to the jump competition where the youngsters had two jumps each. These young skiers were mighty impressive with the longest distance a whopping 12.5 meters!
Sunday featured both a kombi and speed trap, where the kids had fun weaving through the gates, and jumping over others. The speed trap was also a big hit, we had a big score board, showing the speeds. The coaches got in on the action too, going over 80 kms!
Next a scavenger hunt and ski poker, where the racers had to ski five chosen runs and pick up a card at each run. The player’s hands dictated the order athletes went up to pick their prizes in.
With $15 lift tickets for skiers aged 7-13 and complimentary coach passes and $94 entry fee (which included a hoodie) the event was affordable, fun and a great collaboration with the ever-supportive Troll Mountain Resort. BC Alpine congratulations the Lightning Creek Ski Club and once again thanks Troll Mountain for being supportive hosts and partners.
What a blast! Have a look at those smiles!
Race Organizers
ROC Chair Julie Backer
Chief of Race Falko Kadenbach
Chief of Course Karcsi
Chief of Timing Sean Seabourne
Chief of Gates Julie Dinsdale
Race Admin Molly S and Tamara Goyer
Chief of volunteers Jacci Leggett
Chief of ceremonies Sean Scallion & Janene Sellers
– Report submitted by Tamara Goyer, NGSL Coordinator, Lightning Creek Ski Club.
