Twenty-three U-10 and U-12 athletes from the Jasper Ski Team travelled to Panorama earlier this month to compete in the Linda Putnam Memorial Race.
The team spent Friday training and exploring the mountain in warm, sunny spring conditions. After a fun night of hot-tubbing, bungee-trampolining, t-shirt making, gondola riding and snowball fights, the team was up early on Saturday morning for race day.
Each athlete completed eight runs across two courses—a steep and fast GS course and a fun Kinder Kombi course (an event that combines slalom segments with GS segments).
The warm weather caused the snow to become heavy and slow as the day progressed and the athletes had to work hard to stay on top of their skis.
It was an intense and fast paced schedule with the athletes completing their eight runs back to back, with the best time taken from each course, giving the athletes an opportunity to attack the course each run and attempt to better their time without the fear of disqualification distorting their results.
This led to some exciting skiing, a positive atmosphere and an excellent learning environment for the team.
As well as some individual podiums for the Jasper athletes, the Jasper Ski Team finished third overall in the Team Award.
There was strong competition at the race, with large clubs from Panorama, Calgary and the Bow Valley competing, so to finish third as a team is a phenomenal achievement for our small club.
Four Jasper skiers found themselves on the podium at the end of the day: Griffin Shepherd finished first, Isabella Heinemann second, Jake Kertez-Knight third and Skylar Shepherd third.
Corbin Gulevich, Raphael Fortin, Paige Hugie, Lea Bisaillon, Austin Schmidt and Sophia Mastriani all finished in the top 10.
The weekend finished with a well-deserved pizza party for all the athletes, parents, coaches and volunteers.
Competition continued for the team’s U12 athletes last weekend, as they travelled to Mt. Norquay for the Caribou Cup GS Race, where each of the competing athletes posted personal best provincial results.
Some of the highlights from the weekend include a fourth place finish for Skyler Shepherd, 12th place finish for Jake Kertesz-Knight, 14th place finish for Isabella Heinemann, 21st place finish for Sophia Mastriani, 39th place finish for Abby Carmichael and 60th place finish for Allie Boese.
Tor Begg Special to the Fitzhugh
