Summit Lake Ski Hill

The local stars are rising! Summit Lake snowboarders, Jesse McDonald and Carly Thorp, have been selected to represent BC at two Canadian National Championship events. The first, at Crystal Mt. in Washington, is an Alpine Competition, with both Parallel GS and Parallel Slalom courses. The second, at Mt. Avila, Québèc, is a Snowboard Cross. Carly and Jesse will attend the SBX Nationals in Québèc on April 1st and 2nd to represent BC and Summit Lake. The races are NorAm Cup FIS events; the next step is the World Cup circuit. Their coach, Tim Markholm, commented that "the kids have had an amazing season. They've worked hard and have earned a berth at the Nationals."

Summit Lake Club Races were completed on Sat., March 11th, to the cheers of encouraging spectators. It was a great day with no "technical problems".

Three events are worth mentioning: The Brown-Dahl family cleaned up, winning in all the categories they entered. Eric Waterfield bravely competed in all three events. The largest category of skiers/boarders was the 40+ age group!

The winners are as follows:

Ski 6-8 girls - Katelyn Horning
Ski 6-8 boys -Greg Markholm
Ski 9-11 girls - Caroline Carruthers
Ski 9-11 boys - Nolan Brown-Dahl followed closely by Tyler Hascarl
Board 9-11 girls - Kylie Gardner
Board 9-11 boys -Gareth Douglas
Ski 12-14 girls - Megan Brown-Dahl followed closely by Kristin Likness
Ski 12-14 boys - Cameron Carruthers
Board 12-14 girls - Chelsey Groffen
Board 12-14 boys - Alex Thorp
Ski 15-18 women - Amber Brown-Dahl followed closely by Liz Waterfield
Ski 15-18 men - Dane Olsen
Board 15-18 women - Jesse McDonald follow closely by Carly Thorp
Board 15-18 men - Mike Hicks
Ski 19-39 women - Nicole Nicholson-Chadat
Ski 19-39 men - Alistair Skey
Board 19-39 men -Tim Markholm
Ski 40+ women - Tracy Brown
Ski 40+ men - Doug McQuair followed closely by Eric Waterfield
Board 40+ men - tie to Dave Jackson and Matt McKee
Telemark - Eric Waterfield

The Teanne Jones Memorial Trophy for the fastest elementary school racer went to Megan Brown-Dahl, the John Gleboff Trophy for the fastest high school skier to Dane Olsen, and the trophy for the fastest high school snowboarder to Alex Thorp. Dane was the fastest male skier, while Amber Brown-Dahl was the fastest female skier. Where were the Stevens brothers?

Alcan Nancy Greene Ski and Snowboard League Zone Finals were held on March 12, at Salmo Ski Hill. Coaches Liz Waterfield, Alistair Skey, Frances Swan, and dedicated parents took 13 racers to the competition. According to Frances, the single slalom event was a "nice course with a challenging steep pitch out of the start gate, leading into flats before coming through some fast-banked turns to the finish." Racer, Solomon Tupper, stated that "the first part of the course was very steep, but on the second run they changed the first 2 gates, probably because they thought it might be easier. Quite a few kids wiped out on the first 2 gates." As usual, coaches, parents, and racers enjoyed the race-to-awards gap with sunny free skiing on great hard-packed runs. Solomon's advice to people who might want to join the ANGSL next year is that "it is very fun and you learn a lot and you almost go to every ski hill for races!"

Summit Lake Racers' Season Wind-up Event will take place on Saturday, March 25th at the ski hill. More information will be posted at www.skisummitlake.com.