Local alpine racers excited for weekend slalom event at Purden
Alix Wells is making no bones about it, she wants to be a provincial alpine champion.
Two weeks ago, she owned the slopes at Sun Peaks near Kamloops, winning all three of her K2 (13-and-14-year-old) Thompson-Okanagan zone events.
Last weekend at Whistler, against the top skiers from the Coastal zone, the 14-year-old Prince George Alpine Ski Racers club member ran the table in the super-G speed race events, capturing both K2 titles.
Wells set the pace in Sunday's race, stopping the clock in 1:17:55, after a winning time of 1:14:40 on Saturday.
"She did very well there, and that's not unexpected for her; it looks like she's going to have a very strong season," said Prince George team head coach Mike Stratton.
"Alix was second in the province last year, but this year she's definitely ranked No. 1 in the province and probably in the top three in the country for K2. She has amazing touch on the snow and has a very good mental approach. She sees the terrain and the hill very well."
Two other Prince George K2 team members posted impressive results at the Whistler races. Sixteen-year-old Annie Reimer was 10th out of 35 in the super-G on Saturday (1:20:53) and 13th on Sunday (1:24:35), while first-year K2 skier Mikayla Gairns, 13, was 23rd Saturday (1:25:29) and Sunday (1:28:41). Among first-year K2s, Gairns ranked seventh and eighth respectively.
Conditions at Whistler provided a severe test for race organizers when 1 1/2 metres of fresh snow fell in four days but crews from VANOC and Whistler took on the challenge and groomed the course enough to allow three training runs and two races.
"It was a pretty amazing to pull something like that off with all that snow," said Stratton.
"We got some powder skiing in too, so it worked out pretty good."
Prince George skiers brought home nine medals at the giant slalom races at Sun Peaks. In addition to the three gold Wells added to her collection, Kirsten Reimer, 16, won three gold in the J2 (15-and-older) class, and Hannah Zmudzinski, 15, a first-year J2, nailed down three silver medals.
The 17-member Prince George team will host North zone slalom races this weekend at Purden Mountain Resort. One race is scheduled for Saturday and two will be run on Sunday, with close to 50 athletes expected. Runs will be open for training Saturday afternoon. The event will also give 15 young racers from the local club in the E2 (nine-and-10-year-old) category a chance to race close to home.
"It's good to see that many Prince George skiers," said Stratton, now in his third season as head coach of the team.
"We've gotten off to a good start this season. The (11-member) group we took to Sun Peaks was the largest group of kids I've taken away since I've been here."
The Prince George team trains on weekends at Purden and Tabor Mountain, and during the week at Hart Highlands ski area. The team started skiing in November at Powder King ski resort near Mackenzie.
Purden will host the North zone alpine championships during the last week of March. The first of two Teck K2 provincial championship race events is set for Feb. 4-7 at Panorama, near Invermere. The K2 national championships will be contested March 22-28 at Collingwood, Ont.
