RYAN WILLMAN
Arrow Lakes News
Whitewater ski hill was bathed with the sound of scraping ski edges on ice, as the tiny tots of the Nancy Greene ski race program struggled to maintain their balance on the hard-packed racecourse. Slipping and sliding, the little racers performed a comedic chaos of colliding bodies during the course inspection along the short combination course set on the ski run, Jackpot. But, despite the adverse snow conditions, the race day was otherwise a fine combination of calm winds and sunny patches as smiling faces above tight white racing bibs spoke to the passion that drives the sport. After all, as any skier knows, any day on the snow is a good day.
The Whitewater race was the first competition for the Summit Lake Ski Racers. Two teams travelled to the ski hill just north of Nelson to take two shots at running through the combination course, in an effort to vie for the fastest times. The course was a mix of short slalom and longer GS turns, with a quick technical flush thrown into the middle. The course was “tight and shorter than usual” observed Summit Lake coach Taylor Aeichele, and included a challenging fast turn right out of the steep start gate.
No stranger to adverse conditions, the Summit Lake team joyfully cheered each other on through the course of the day, as each skier maintained composure and control by shredding each gate, then tucking into the classic race position past the finish line.
At the awards presentation, Whitewater racer organizer Catherine Williams was astounded at the turn-out for this year’s race.
“Every year the ski teams in this region get bigger and bigger and this was another record breaking year. We had over 170 racers today which is incredible!”
The racers covered an age spectrum of 5-14 years and represented the Kootenay region: Rossland, Salmo, Grand Forks, Nakusp and Nelson. The Summit Lake racers charged their way through the time ranks to earn a third place finish for the day.
The next Nancy Greene race will be hosted by Summit Lake ski hill on Feb. 15.
