The Telemark Racers cross country ski team tested their skills at a competition Dec. 27 and 28 at the Larch Hills Nordic Centre in Salmon Arm.
For some skiers, this was a warm up for the B.C. Cup in Prince George the following weekend, while for some of the younger members it was their first taste of racing for the season.
Top results for Saturday’s Classic Mass Start came from Gareth Williams, 17, with a first-place finish more than 45 seconds ahead of second in the 10km Junior Boys category.
Ian Williams took third spot in his 5km Juvenile Boys category of racers aged 14 and 15.
Michelle Kraetzer also took third spot in her 3.5km Midget Girls race against 12- and 13-year-olds.
Garrett Siever had a strong second place finish only 12.5 seconds from first place Trond May of Larch Hills in their Bantam Boys category.
Other Bantam racers included Ian Mayer 4th, Gregor Graham 5th, Nikhil Filatow 6th, Mason Hawes 7th, and Cameron Hobbs 14th.
In the girls division Andrea Kraetzer placed 18th with Juliet Webster 19th.
Hamish Graham just missed the podium for fourth in the 3.5km Midget Boys category while Grayson Mckinnon was 8th,Connor Hobbs 10th,Tristen Lee 11th, Oliver McDougall-Eisele 13th, and Liam Hawes 14th. Rowen Webster had a strong top 10 finish placing 7th in Juvenile Boys skiing 5km.
The teams youngest racers of the day in the Pee Wee Girls division for eight and nine year olds racing 1.5km included Tamasin Graham 7th, Jasmine Filatow 8th, and Kaelin Urness 9th. In the boys division Justin Seiver just missed the podium for fourth and Jonah Hawes placed 9th.
Sundays races brought more great results for the Telemark Racers in the Free Technique Sprint Races. Sally Haaheim raced to first place after advancing through qualifiers and three heats to a hard fought A-Final for the Midget Girls Division. Michelle Kraetzer placed 10th.
In the Bantam Boys Division Telemark racers took second, third, and fourth spots with great races from Nikhil Filatow, Garrett Siever, and Gregor Graham behind winner of the previous day Trond May. Erik Haaheim placed 8th with Cameron Hobbs in for 13th. Andrea Kraetzer placed 13th and Juliet Webster 15th for Bantam Girls.
Tamasin Graham proved to be a strong force in Pee Wee Girls placing second in her A-Final, while teammates Jasmine Filatow and Kaelin Urness raced in the B-Final for 7th and 10th place. Justin Siever took third spot in his Pee Wee Boys Division against strong rivals Mitchell Bond of Sovereign Lake and Eric Moore of Larch Hills. Calla Haaheim raced to third place for the youngest racers of the day in the Atom Girls division born in 2007.
Rowen Webster took 5th in his A-Final for Juvenile Boys.Racing for top spot in the Midget Boys B-Final were Hamish Graham and Grayson Mckinnon taking 6th and 7th. Connor Hobbs took 11th with Oliver McDougall-Eisele 12th.
