Local cross-country skiers gathered at Mount Washington on Jan. 2 to compete in the Zone 6 BC Winter Games trials, hosted by the Strathcona Nordics Ski Club.
The race was a big success, with eight athletes from the Strathcona Nordics qualifying for the Games.
The Games, which will be held Feb. 25-28 in Penticton, draw top athletes born in 2001 and 2002 from across the province. Strathcona Nordics head coach Andrea Stapff is not worried for her team however. She says they are looking strong and “primed for excellent performances.”
Based on results from the trial race, Zone 6 will be represented by Gabe Gledhill of Cumberland, Stephen Lamon and Emma Wong of Comox, Aiden Noble, Zander Swift and Annelies Henckel of Courtenay, Taz Oldaker of Black Creek, Emmy Stapff of Campbell River and Amelia Wells of Victoria.
In conjunction with the BC Winter Games trials, Strathcona Nordics also hosted a club race. This event was inclusive to all age categories, and was a great finale to several weeks of holiday skiing.
For the club race, category winners were Talia MacPhail-McGrady, Luke Damery, Hugo Henckel, Naomi Swift, Ross Lamon, Tallon Noble, Madeleine Guimond, Alex Brown, Michael Ravensbergen, Odette Lemay, Marilyn Atkinson and Rick Goletski.
“Great conditions made for fantastic training and racing - we got a lot of great miles under our belts,” says Stapff.
Next up, the Strathcona Nordics race team is off to Vernon for the first in a series of Provincial Cup races.