The Kimberley XC Skiers (KiXS team) have had a busy calendar of racing over the past 4 weeks, with some excellent results. At the end of January, 7 team members travelled to Revelstoke to compete at the BC Cup races, and the team had multiple podium finishes. Most notably, the classic sprint races for Junior Girls (U18) featured Quinn Morgan, Sydney Wilson and Marielle Ackermann all making it to the A-Final. The white and orange suits dominated the race with Quinn coming in first and Marielle in second overall. The following day in the skate distance races we also saw Marielle Ackermann, Sydney Wilson and Sadie DeMars on the podium! Overall it was one of the most successful weekends for the KiXS skiers. The following weekend the racers travelled to Golden, with most of our skiers making it onto the podium.
Then, from February 8th to the 10th, 6 skiers attended the Western Canadian Championships in Kelowna. In the sprint skate races, Marielle Ackermann finished in 3rd overall. The relay races on Sunday had the various provinces put their best skiers head to head, and some of our Kimberley skiers made it onto the podium: Sadie DeMars was on a team that came 3rd, Sydney Wilson on a team that came 3rd as well, and Marielle Ackermann on a team that came 1st.
This past weekend, 3 members of the team headed down to Mt. Spokane for the US Junior National Qualifier Races. There was stiff competition in the U18 category and Sydney Wilson and Marielle Ackermann settled for top-10 results, but Sadie DeMars excelled in the U14 category, placing 2nd on both days.
The racers have had a very busy schedule, but will have next weekend to rest prior to going to Salmon Arm the following weekend for the BC Championships, followed by the National Championships in Gatineau, Quebec, in mid-March.
