CLUB ATHLETES RETURN HOME FROM SPEED EVENTS

Revelstoke ski club athletes return home from speed events

By Katie Findlay - Revelstoke Times Review

Published: February 16, 2011 5:00 PM 

Updated: February 16, 2011 5:17 PM

Emily Unterberger had a great weekend in Whistler – she came home with two fifth places at the Provincial Speed Championships. Unterberger was close behind two girls from Whistler and two from Fernie in both Super G races. Teammate Shayna Seyl had a strong showing in her first speed event with a 39th, but did not finish the second race.

Mitch Smith and Max Scharf also had great results on Sunday – in a field of boys their age and a year older, Smith finished 12th and Scharf 14th. Lachlan Hicks fell early in the course and placed 33rd. The boys were only able to compete in one race as Whistler faced uncooperative weather on Saturday.

The Nancy Greene teams recently raced in a two-run dual slalom at Harper Mountain, which Claudia Cinelli called “really icy.” In the ’99 boys Olin Mosher was eighth, and in the ’00 boys Levi Strobl was sixth. With a strong presence in the ’00 girls’ division, Revelstoke athletes Claudia Cinelli placed eighth, Alexis Welch tenth, Kate Granstrom 11th and Beth Granstrom 13th. Colm Molder finished ninth in the ’01 boys, followed by teammate Zach Wroe in 15th. Jenna Knight placed sixth on one of her runs but didn’t finish the other, putting her in twelfth in the ’01 girls’ division.

Alex Wroe placed ninth in the ’03 boys category, while Eva Mosher was sixth on the girls’ side. The youngest Revelstoke athletes at the event were Erika Peasgood who was fourth in ’04 girls and Parker Aucoin who came sixth in ’05 boys.

The Nancy Greeners will host other clubs at RMR on March 5th and 6th, racing a dual slalom and a kombi on lower last spike.

The oldest athletes in the club recently returned from an 11-day stint in Apex, where they participated in a speed camp, downhill training and downhill and Super-G racing. The first week brought excellent conditions for the FIS team – cold weather and sunny skies. During the races, however, the snow gods brought powder, forcing the organizers to cancel one women’s race and two men’s.

The fast and technical “Gunbarrel” downhill had two jumps this year, and the Revelstoke athletes shot down an icy slope clocking top speeds of around 120 km/h. After a very promising start with a ninth in downhill training, Eric Schwenck made a small mistake before a long flat section to finish 31st in the downhill race. Cole Smith was just behind in 36th in his first downhill appearance, while brother Richie finished 44th and Brady Roy 47th. On the women’s side, veteran downhiller Erika Park placed 13th, and her sister Jamie finished 17th. Alix Petit was 18th in downhill and 15th in the super G. Peter Behncke did not finish, but has been training hard and is ready to leave for Nova Scotia on Friday for the Canada Winter Games. Keep an eye on the Times Review for coverage of that event.