WMSC Hits the Podium at J1 Nationals
The first day of racing saw a sweep of the Men’s J1 Super G podium by WMSC racers. Brodie Seger finished just ahead of Blake Ramsden by a very narrow margin of 7/100th’s of a second and Austin Llewellyn stood on the third step of the podium to complete the sweep by local skiers. On the Women’s side BC skier Hallie Maclachlan took home the bronze medal while Valerie Grenier from Quebec won the race and Meg Curry was second. Kelly Steeves had the best WMSC finish just off the podium in 4th place. Other Whistler skiers to finish in the top 10 of the Super G included Charlie Renzoni, Marc Leroux, Charley Field and Emma King.
Check out Daniel Kwong's helmet cam of the SG track courtesy of Robert Kwong!
The second day brought a big snowfall and challenging conditions for racers and organizers. With a great deal of effort the Women’s Slalom was completed while the Men’s GS had to be postponed. The top finisher for the WMSC was Rae Swette in 8th spot followed by Emma King in 9th position. The top slalom skier was Adrienne Poitras from Quebec. Darquise Denis from Ontario claimed second, while Valerie Grenier returned to the podium for the second day taking the bronze medal.
The third day saw the race crew work overtime to put on both the Women’s and Men’s Giant Slalom races. In the Women’s GS, Charley Field had the top BC result taking home the bronze medal. Rae Swette had a very strong performance finishing in 4th while Kelly Steeves made the top ten with a 7th place. The race was won by Jenna McIntyre of Alberta by almost a two second margin over Adrienne Poitras of Quebec. The Men’ GS saw Martin Grasic of Invermere, BC take first with a convincing victory over Patrick Carry from Fernie. The bronze medal went to William Mercier-Robin of Quebec. Brodie Seger finished in 6th place while Austin Llewellyn made the top ten in 9th place. Blake Ramsden of the WMSC was in contention in 5th place after the first run, but was unable to finish the second run, after a devastating crash on course.
With the change in schedule due to weather, the only race to be held on the last day was the Men’s Slalom. Eastern skiers managed to hold on to all the podium spots in a close battle, where Brodie Seger had the fastest second run to finish in 4th place. Austin Llewellyn had another top ten finish with a 9th place and Charlie Renzoni took home 10th spot. Blake Ramsden was not able to start the slalom after his crash the previous day.
The WMSC was well represented at the J1 Nationals with many top ten finishes mentioned above along with Ben Bethune, Kyle Yates, Celeste Pomerantz and Rachel Vanderveen having top 15 finishes in at least one discipline also. The overall titles for the series went to Adrienne Poitras and Brodie Seger. They were awarded plane tickets to Amsterdam by KLM, the sponsor of the race for their accomplishments.
Congratulations to all the WMSC racers and coaches who represented our club at such a high level with the best in the country here on our home hill! A special thanks to all the Weasel Workers and parent volunteers who endured through a week of long days and changing conditions to make the races happen.
Posted by: Leighton
on 3/13/2012
