REVELSTOKE SKI CLUB STOKED FOR RACE SEASON

After a very successful season last year, the Revelstoke Ski Club – winner of the “Club Development of the Year” award from BC Alpine – is ready to go for another exciting year of ski racing. Some significant changes have taken place within the longest running ski club in North America . First, the creation of an E2 Race Development Program for skiers aged nine and ten, in addition to the regular Nancy Greene program. The second is the formation of a dedicated FIS (International Ski Federation) program for racers aged 15 and up who want a competitive high-performance program.

Less than a week away for some athletes, the competitive season has been in the minds of the young racers since last spring. Some have taken part in summer and fall ski camps in order to improve their skills, and all have been working hard on their fitness.

At the club’s fitness testing last week the coaches were able to track the progress of all the athletes and gauge the success of the summer and fall dry-land programs. Head Coach Ned Lazarevic was very pleased with the improvements the athletes have made to their fitness. “The kids have worked really hard and it shows at fitness testing,” he says. “We are ready to race this season.”

The club has also been busy training on snow since RMR opened and some athletes had the opportunity to do additional pre-season training as well. The Kinder group (11-14 years) trained at Norquay and Panorama and the FIS team (15 years and up) had a nine-day camp at Panorama and Nakiska. Not only do these trips give our local athletes more time on snow before our home mountain opens, but also the opportunity to ski on some harder snow, which is the norm for race conditions. (Perhaps the only downside of skiing at RMR is that fresh powder isn’t great for racing – but you won’t hear the ski club complaining!)

One other advantage of travelling in the pre-season is that racers often get to watch – and sometimes even ski with – their idols who race on the World Cup and at the Olympics. The FIS team helped prepare the course for the Canadian men’s national team, then watched as they stormed through a slalom. They also watched the men’s world cup downhill training run in Lake Louise and chatted with Manuel Osborne-Paradis at the finish. Manny went on to win World Cup Gold at the race two days later.

Two of the club’s racers have just returned from a camp at Sun Peaks with the top 13- and 14-year-old athletes in all of B.C. and Alberta . Peter Behncke and Lachlan Hicks were selected to ski with the best of their peers, and did very well there.

Coming up in the next couple weeks are the opening races of the season. Most of the FIS team will be racing in two slaloms at Norquay this weekend. The following weekend, the Kinder group will also be competing in two slaloms at Apex. Daniella Aberger and Erika Park of the FIS team have qualified for a Nor-Am race in Panorama next week – they will be competing against some of the top racers in all of North America , including World Cup athletes. Park expressed great enthusiasm about the competitive phase of her year. “The pre-season training camp we had was really exciting. It allowed all of us to have serious confidence in our abilities and our new equipment, and we’re really excited for the season.”

The Revelstoke Ski Club and RMR will be hosting two Giant Slalom races for K1 athletes (11-12 years) on Jan. 30 and 31, a Nancy Greene race (10 years and under) on Feb. 6, and the Western Canadian Championships for K2 racers (13-14 years) from March 25–28. Please come check out your local ski team in action!

The club would like to thank Revelstoke Mountain Resort and all its staff, skiers and riders for their continued support and cooperation. For more information please visit www.revelstokeskiclub.info.