Friday was dedicated to pre-race training. We used the morning to explore the mountain and in the afternoon we had our own lane space to get in some gate training. The quick lap time, hard manmade snow, and excellent fall line meant that we got an afternoon of quality training. The improvement in all the athletes was huge, especially for Patrick Lopinys, Mike Ralf, Keely Ralf, Tristain Erb-Beauchamp and Thomas McKenney. An evening of night skiing, snow tubing and pizza meant everyone was ready for the next day’s race.
Saturday’s race was a GS on the upper course and a kombi on the lower course. Each athlete ran both courses four times, which meant there was a lot of opportunity to get some good times in. The enthusiasm and team spirit amongst the group was fantastic and made the day a memorable one. Nate Boese led the way in this department with a huge smile on his face all day. Eva Chalifoux showed brilliant determination from a difficult morning to come back with excellent afternoon runs. For our youngest athletes it was their first race, so a special congratulations to them on doing so well. Both courses were long and challenging, but the Jasper team did themselves proud and showed some outstanding performances.
We had 11 top 10 finishes, which is a real achievement:
- Griffin Shepard - six-year-old boys, 3rd GS and 2nd Kombi
- Allie Boese - seven-year-old girls, 6th GS and 5th Kombi
- Aili Mamalis - eight-year-old girls, 6th GS and 5th Kombi
- Skylar Shepard - eight-year-old girls, 10th GS
- Laggan Mamalis - 11-year-old boys, 4th GS and 10th Kombi
- Eli Erb-Beauchamp - 11-year-old boys, 9th GS and 8th Kombi
Other athletes who were hot on the the heels for top 10 finishes were Brynn Noble, Thomas McKenney, Geoelle Chalifoux and Gage Leblanc. Jasper Ski Team finished 5th overall in the team awards.
A big thank you to the parents for all your support, and to the organisers of the event at Panorama Ski Team. It was a weekend to be remembered and a great start to the race season. Well done everyone!
