The cross-country ski racing season is upon us and the Kimberley Nordic Club race team was in Canmore for the AB Cup season opener this past weekend.
Marielle Ackermann, Sadie Demars, Ben Gadd, Molly Miller, Sydney Wilson and Morgan Quinn were in attendance. For Sadie Demars, it was her first race as a junior racer with the KIXS team. She saw some great competition with female racers from across the country in a large midget category of 52 skiers. Ben Gadd from Golden, BC also skied under the KIXS team for the first time in the junior boys category. Marielle Ackermann achieved a bronze medal in the 5K Skate race.
Molly Miller, who is training out of Rossland, BC this season with the Blackjack Ski Team, achieved two gold medals in the 5K skate and 5K classic races. Congratulations to all the skiers on racing hard and kicking off the season with strong results in all categories.
For Molly Miller, who has achieved great success at a young age, the move to Rosalind was an emotional one, but a necessity to allow her to race at a high level and keep up with her schooling.
Her mom, Kim Miller, talked about Molly’s tough decision to move to Rosalind.
“It was mainly so that she could better accommodate the travel that comes with training and competing with school. She is attending a private school in Rosalind where many downhill and cross-country skiers go who are racing at a high level. That way she can do schooling online while she is away. Selkirk is really not set up for that. Molly can be gone for a month at a time so it is hard to keep up with schooling. Molly is in grade 11 so her marks this year and next are important for post secondary. Molly is interested in medicine so wanted to maintain strong grades, but still train and compete in ski racing.
“She is still a member of the Kimberley Nordic Club, but had to change teams, so is now under Dave Wood with Black jack. This is also where Colin (Ferrie) went to train a few years ago. Dave is an ex-national team coach who has coached a number of Olympic female athletes, so overall this was a good move for Molly… but an emotional one because she feels very loyal to Kimberley and her team here.
“They’ve been a very close team here in Kimberley, so it’s been a struggle for Molly at times to not have those girls with her. She also gets quite homesick, so I was so pleased for her this past weekend because she needed some reinforcement that her sacrifices are paying off. We will see how this year goes. She knows she can always come home.”
The KIXS team will travel to races in Vernon and Rossland this month to take part in the NorAm circuit.
