The Smithers Ski and Snowboard Club was busy this weekend bringing home a handful of medals from two separate events in Prince George and Kelowna.
On Tabor Mountain in Prince George, 11 ski cross racers took part in the Western Ski Cross series against competitors from B.C. and Alberta.
Darcy Fraser and Caleb Smale finished in second and third place in the U12 men’s final on Saturday and Sunday’s races. While Chantel Wickson and Kaillian Smale also placed first and second.
Madeline Kelson placed fourth on the second day of competition, U18 racer Jason Oliemans finished eighth on both days, and Hanna Buchanan came third in the U14 women’s category and fourth on the second day.
“It was incredible,” said head coach Jan Wengelin, adding that the racers had the chance to compete on the same course that was used during the Canada Winter Games.
“It’s a lot of work with these courses, you can’t just glide through it. [Chantel] started well and worked every jump and bump quite well and so did Kaillian Smale.”
Snowboarders also travelled to Big White for the B.C. Snowboard Like Me Series Snowboard finals.
Tosh Krauskopf placed first in the under 13 category, while younger brother Toan finished sixth in the first day of competition.
“You end up with a really soft track [in Big White],” said head snowboard coach Warren Pali “It’s not something that the kids were used to racing in. It was a bit of a game-changer and they had to change their plans midway and they were able to ride to different conditions.”
For Sunday’s races, Katie Peterson placed third in the U13 girls, while Tosh, Luke Pali and Toan swept the podium again.
This was the last provincial race for many snowboarders and Pali said other clubs are taking notice of the results they’ve had this season.
“After our last performance, we got a lot of comments and people were wondering what we have going on here with our program,” he said.
