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The other two members of the team were racing in four Nor-Am events at Panorama. Daniella Aberger and Erika Park competed against some of the best skiers in North America, and got a good look at the next level of ski racing. Unfortunately Daniella is out of competition temporarily with a broken bone in her hand.

The following weekend the Kinder group (11-14 years) travelled to Apex to race three Slaloms – two on Saturday and one on Sunday. There the Revelstoke Ski Club won a total of fourteen medals – well over a third of the total possible prizes. Competing against the other four clubs in the Okanagan Zone – Big White, Silver Star, Sun Peaks and Apex – Revelstoke showed their off-season training has paid off.

On Saturday Peter Behncke won both races, with Lachlan Hicks close behind with a third and a fourth place. Also in the K2 boys category (13-14 years) Cole Smith posted a seventh, Alex Duchesne ninth, Landon Yauck tenth, Adrian Bernava 13th and Davis Roy 15th. As a J1 athlete Robert Bernava placed 17th overall.

In the K2 girls’ category Emily Unterberger won two bronzes, while Hannah Yauck placed 12th. Veteran K1 athlete (11-12 years) Sonia Schwenck led her group with a sixth place, with Anne-Marie Duchesne, Sara-Jo Howatt and Thea Peasgood close behind in eighth, ninth and 19th, respectively.

The K1 boys also won medals: Max Scharf a silver and Callum Hicks a silver and a bronze. Mitch Smith was just shy of the podium in fourth. Newcomers to K1 Bryce Molder and Donovan Miskiman had strong first races with a 15th and a 17th place finish, respectively.

Sunday’s race was a two-run combined event, which demands greater consistency from the athletes and makes for a suspenseful day. In the end Lachlan Hicks came out on top, with Peter Behncke in a close second after tying Hicks on the second run.

“The weekend was really good – I won both runs on the first day,” said Behncke. “On the second day head [coach] Ned [Lazarevic] set the course and it was really tight, and Lachlan got me.”

Hicks was thrilled with the event. “I was really happy to see that I could keep up with the older boys again, after the summer it’s good to see that I’m still skiing well and it’s good to be back with the team.”

Emily Unterberger was also on the podium again – this time a step up in second. “Ned set the course how we trained – it was really tight, so we were used to that,” she said. When asked what made the difference between two third places on Saturday and a second on Sunday, Unterberger boiled it down to the nerves. “I was a lot more nervous on the first day,” she said

Max Scharf also won silver and Mitch Smith edged out teammate Callum Hicks for a podium spot in third. The younger Hicks also won the “most improved” award in all three races, for moving up the most number of places from his start number. Callum said the weekend was “really fun” and noted, “I skied a lot more aggressively than I used to and it felt really good.”

As of press time, the FIS team was away racing – the boys at Nakiska and the girls at Panorama. They are up against some very stiff competition – not only are the best racers from B.C. and Alberta there, but also some top athletes from the Eastern provinces as well as some Americans. The group is steadily getting strong results, which improves their points as well as their world ranking.

Following a training block over the holidays, the team will be back at it with the Kinder team travelling to Sun Peaks for Giant Slalom races and the FIS team to Lake Louise for two Slaloms and two Giant Slaloms.