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Canadian Senior National Alpine Championships at Kimberley Alpine Resort

The 2023 Canadian Senior National Alpine Championships were held at Kimberley Alpine Resort last week, and despite some challenges on the weather front, this high-caliber event was a huge success.

The 2023 Canadian Senior National Alpine Championships were held at Kimberley Alpine Resort last week, and despite some challenges on the weather front, this high-caliber event was a huge success.

“I think overall it went well,” said Donna Briggs of Dreadnaught Racing. “Mother Nature definitely dealt us huge blow.”

After crews had spent three huge days working on the tracks, a storm blew through bringing with it a great deal of precipitation: not what the Race Organizing Committee (ROC) had in mind.

READ MORE: ‘Prestigious’ season ahead for Dreadnaught Ski Racing

Ski runs for racing need to be watered to create a consistent track, especially for this high level of racing, as the athletes are big and strong and need to have a track that won’t get chewed up, so that the racer who starts first gets the same conditions, as much as possible, to the racer who starts one hundredth.

“So we had done all that work and then of course Mother Nature came in with that really super weird snowstorm, snow, rain whatever, so there was all of these variable conditions from top to bottom,” Briggs explained. “You either had it raining from partway up the mountain to 20 centimetres of snow on the course at the top.”

The crew then had to work tirelessly with the coaches and athletes, spending two days to try and get the track back into racing shape. Then a heavy fog rolled in so races were cancelled due to poor visibility.

“The first two days were really kind of a bummer honestly for the ROC,” Briggs said. “But then Mother Nature made up for it with some pretty spectacular conditions with freezing overnight which is what we like and spectacular sunny days during the day.”

READ MORE: Alpine National Championships commence at Kimberley Alpine Resort

Elias Jonsson, assistant coach of the Canada Men’s Teck Team, grew up skiing in Kimberley until he was 15, then went to Fernie racing FIS until he was 18 before becoming a coach. He coached in Fernie for eight years and has now spent five years coaching with the National Team.

“We lost the first two days but luckily were able to run all three national champs, so that was great,” he said. “We lost the first two, more amateur in a sense FIS races, but it was really cool that the weather was able to turn and have really great conditions for the last three.”

Jonsson had six athletes racing and they skied very well for all three races, taking a first place and third in the Slalom, first, second and third in Super G and second and third in Giant Slalom.

Some regional skiers also did very well, with Cassidy Gray and Eleri Sharp, both representing Invermere and Panorama making the podium twice and each winning a race. Kimberley’s Jamie Casselman also placed fourth in Giant Slalom.

Jonsson said Kimberley and KAR make for a great destination for races of this caliber because of how much they support racing.

“It’s a cool slope for a lot of levels and the snow is good and it’s nice to have some sunny weather and then also just having such a good volunteer base and their support,” he added. “We’re all pretty much ski in and ski out, really easy access, cool little down to be in for good restaurants and that sort of thing in the evenings.”

His team are mostly on the World Cup circuit and have been in Europe for most of the season. Before the National Championships in Kimberley, they were at events in Quebec and Vermont and from here head to Whistler for North American finals.

Jonsson also remarked on how important having such a dedicated volunteer base with so much experience between them is when Mother Nature hurls inclement conditions at an event, as it often can in this sport.

“It’s incredibly important,” Briggs said. If you took the cumulative years that are on the ROC and our volunteers, most of them that have been working on tracks, have been doing on levels like the Olympics, World Championships, NorAm Finals, we’re talking high level racing with big budgets.

“And of course we don’t have big budgets in these particular races so you have to be very creative with how you attack and problem solve with these things that Mother Nature throws your way.”

She added that the work is very challenging and takes a great deal of physical energy, so they’re fortunate to have the depth of experience they have, while also actively acquiring some younger blood into the organization as well.

“Our volunteer base comes from all over Canada, so we do have local volunteers, which we so appreciate obviously, but we do, when we’re running these high-caliber events need to bring in people from outside that have that wealth of experience that we need when we’re having to deal with these challenging environments.”

With all those challenges in mind, Briggs said it was a great feeling to see the athletes smiling atop the podium on Friday after racing had concluded.

“A lot of these athletes that we saw on the podium today, they were racing here in 2018 in the NorAm finals and they were just sort of beginning their professional athletic careers and now those are the same athletes who you’re seeing on the podiums in Europe,” she said. “So we like to think, in some little way, that we contribute to their overall confidence and their development as a pro athlete.”

It’s a no rest for the wicked type of situation for Dreadnaught, as one big race concludes with the National Championships and another begins with the 2023 FIS Para Alpine Skiing Canadian and USA National Championships.

Briggs said Dreadnaught likes to refer to this event as old home week. Kimberley has a deep history of hosting Para Alpine events and it’s how the Paralympic Training Centre got its name and is the original reason why it has the equipment and facilities for the resort to be able to host such prestigous events.

Briggs said the athletes are like a tight-knit family that come from all over the world, because of how few of them there are that race at that level. Many of the coaches, athletes and support staff have worked together for many years.

“Everyone knows each other just like they were brothers and sisters or a cousin or whatever so it’s a different kind of an event for us and we’re pretty thrilled that that’s the event we’re hosting last because it’s just not nearly as stressful and it’s a lot of fun,” Briggs explained.

“And just watching the para athletes and the personal challenges they overcome to achieve these things, to get to the point where you’re an Alpine Canada member, or a member of the U.S. National Team.”

Briggs thanked the “incredible support” from KAR, from Mountain Operations, Guest Services, Food and Beverage, the Cat Drivers who worked miracles, who all collaborated to make these races happen.

A Canada Revitalization Grant that Dreadnaught received also allowed them to purchase 100 new B-Nets, which allowed them to run their new track this year and it was a huge success.

“It elevates the experience that we’re able to offer in Kimberley and we may see a lot more higher caliber races because of it in the future and that’s exciting,” Briggs said. “And thank you to our volunteers, without our volunteers we can’t do what we do.”



paul.rodgers@kimberleybulletin

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