There was a lot of excitement last week at Mount Washington Alpine Ski Resort when Kwame Nkrumah-Acheampong showed up to forerun the K2 Giant Slalom races.
Kwame, a.ka. The Snow Leopard, was the first person from Ghana to take part in the Winter Olympics. He competed in the slalom event at the 2010 Games in Whistler, finishing 53rd.
Mt. Washington Ski Club hosted the BC Alpine TECK Juvenile Race Series K2/J1 Giant Slalom on Jan. 22-23, with 75 athletes from Mount Washington, Whistler, Grouse, Hemlock, Mt. Seymour and Cypress competing in near perfect racing weather and course conditions.
Athletes raced down the course twice each day to compete with a total combined time for each of two Giant Slalom races on the weekend. Whistler racers Marc Leroux and Kelly Steeves dominated the event, each winning gold medals in both races.
Mount Washington racers earned five top-10 finish ribbons led by Lindsay Frame of Campbell River who just missed out winning a bronze medal by .12 seconds.
Top 10 results:
Saturday, Jan. 22
Giant Slalom, Men 1 Leroux, Marc (Whistler) 1:36.94 2 Pehota, Dalton (Whistler) 1:37.92 3 Seger, Riley (Whistler) 1:39.15 4 Walton, William (Grouse) 1:40.05 5 Cadman, Jeffrey (Whistler) 1:40.35 6 Pare, Gabriel (Mt Washington) 1:41.50 7 Peiffer, Max (Whistler) 1:42.54 8 Gershon, Alex (Whistler 1:43.15 9 Uglene, Erik (Mount Seymour) 1:44.51 10 Keay, Levi (Cypress) 1:45.67 Saturday, Jan. 22
Giant Slalom, Ladies 1 Steeves, Kelly (Whistler) 1:39.22 2 Vander, Veen Rachel (Whistler) 1:42.29 3 Martin, Mikayla (Whistler) 1:43.66 4 Frame, Lindsay (Mt. Washington) 1:44.54 5 Wearmouth, Antonia (Grouse) 1:47.10 6 Wong, Sabrina (Whistler) 1:47.41 7 Swaffield, Emma (Whistler) 1:47.64 8 Yamaoka, Anna (Whistler) 1:48.09 9 Ling, Cheyenne (Whistler) 1:48.28 10 Baragar, Claire (Whistler) 1:50.38 Sunday, Jan. 23
Giant Slalom, Men 1 Leroux, Marc (Whistler) 1:42.15 2 Seger, Riley (Whistler) 1:42.97 3 Llewellyn, Carson (Whistler) 1:44.49 4 Cotton, Paul (Grouse) 1:45.22 5 Mulligan, Sam (Grouse) 1:45.38 6 Gershon, Alex (Whistler) 1:46.31 7 Pfeiffer, Max (Whistler) 1:46.44 8 Cadman, Jeffrey (Whistler) 1:46.52 9 Pare, Gabriel (Mt. Washington) 1:47.31 10 McDermid, Jordan (Mt. Washington) 1:48.75 Sunday, Jan. 23
Giant Slalom, Ladies 1 Steeves, Kelly (Whistler) 1:44.34 2 Martin, Mikayla (Whistler) 1:47.31 3 Mah, Cassandra (Grouse) 1:48.13 4 Kepl, Elizabeth (Whistler) 1:48.30 5 McTavish, Esme (Whistler) 1:48.87 6 Frame, Lindsay (Mt. Washington) 1:49.45 7 Fleckstein, Stefanie (Whistler) 1:49.63 8 Wearmouth, Antonia (Grouse) 1:50.77 9 Yamaoka, Anna (Whistler) 1:50.96 10 Finan, Siobhan (Whistler) 1:51.29
The next TECK Juvenile Race Series event hosted by Mt. Washington Ski Club is the BC TECK K1 Provincial Championships March 18-20.