The Kimberley Nordic Racers had another successful weekend packed with ski races. The team was split between the Teck Kootenay Cup Races in Rossland, and the Western Canada Cup FIS races held at Sovereign Lake for the second weekend in a row.
The younger crew in Rossland consisted of Logan Cox, who came in second in both the Saturday classic race and the Sunday skate race in his age group (U18 men), and Koby Clark, Ethan Eskelin and Eil Fergus racing in the U16 boys races. All 3 younger skiers had excellent results, with Koby being on the podium both days. AvaFei Clark was also on the podium in first place in her age group on Saturday in U14. Adelie Albert came second on Sunday in the U12 category, and her sister Elianna Albert came third on Sunday in the U10 category. Spencer Tarte was also on the podium on Saturday with a second place finish in the U10 boys category. For most of the skiers, these were their first races of the year, and they are all excited for more racing this season.
The older racers travelled back to Vernon to race the FIS races at Sovereign Lake Nordic. The Saturday individual start classic races were challenging, but the skiers all performed well. However, the more spectator-friendly mass start skate races on Sunday saw everyone up their game, with several personal bests within the group. Marielle Ackermann came in second in the U20 category, Quinn Morgan came in fifth in the Open Women category, and Sadie Demars came in sixth in the U20 category. Sadie’s results were particularly impressive as she was racing against women three years older than her, and she was the fastest female from her year of birth. Both Nathan Savage and Raleigh Tarte raced into the top 20 in the very competitive U20 men’s category.
With Christmas around the corner and school winding down, the skiers will have a short break prior to ramping up their training in preparation for the upcoming BC Winter Games Trial race in Kimberley, the Biathlon Junior World Trial races in Valcartier, and the Junior World Trial races in Canmore in early January.
The racers want to thank their head coach Nikki Gilman, the other volunteer coaches, and all parent volunteers. In addition, they would like to acknowledge the support they have received from local businesses such as Black Dog Cycle & Ski, Purcell Outdoors and Gerick Sports in Cranbrook, as well as targeted support from Salomon, Fischer and KV+.