Whistler Mountain Ski Club

WMSC and BC Skier Cross Team fare well Big White Nor Am Finals

After two days of perfect training the weather changed and fog rolled in for the Nor-Am Skier Cross finals on both race days but that didn't slow down Whistler Mountain Ski Club Ski Cross team members from collecting their medals and posting strong results. With visibility changing from between one and three gates the races were a challenge for the fans watching but due to clear visibility on training days the team members had the long course memorized so it didn't seem to slow them down at all. The course was fast and had lots of features and it was a little challenging due to loose snow on the sides of some of the banked turns so there were quite a few crashes.

Day one had WMSC women in a podium sweep with Marielle Thompson in first place, team-mates Catriona Blair and Danielle Wilhoeft in 2nd and 3rd. Day two had Thompson get gold again with team-mates Catriona Blair and Bryann Palmer collecting silver and bronze. 1st year racer Morgan Taylor was 7th both days but found herself improving on every training run so she is optimistic and is looking forward to next season. On the men's side on day one Whistler's Stan Rey was in 1st, Ontario's David Holmes came 2nd and WMSC member Rob Lepine collected a bronze medal. Other WMSC men in the hunt were Sven Winter 5th, Nick Geddes 8th, and Curtis Koepke in 11th. Whistler's Frazer McGaw and Tyler Allison were 12th and 14th but didn't blame their results on the fog but rather on bad waxing for the changing weather conditions that they had to battle. Day 2 had Stan Rey in the top spot again with David Holmes in 2nd, and Calgary's Cory Canart (ex FIS Alberta Alpine Team) collecting his first Ski Cross medal. WMSC Rob Lepine was 6th, Sven Winter 9th, Frazer McGaw 11th, Curtis Koepke 13th, Tyler Allison 14th, Nick Geddes 15th. 1st year ski cross racers Rowdy Reeves and Jacob Lepine were 20th and 22nd but weren't deterred and blamed their results on their light body weight which didn't help to maintain the speed needed to post good results on the snowy course.

As well as the 2 races the final results of the Nor-Am season were tallied after race day and had Marielle Thompson in 1st, 2010 Olympian Fanny Smith of Switzerland 2nd, and team-mate Catriona Blair in 3rd place. Thompson received the Nor-am Crystal Championship trophy with medals going to 2nd and 3rd place. Whistler's Stan Rey received the men's overall trophy. The
team is now preparing for the Canadian Nationals to be held in Calgary March 27th and 28th. It will be interesting to see how the young team stacks up against the National Team Members at the Canadian Finals.

For complete results visit: http://bcsx.ca/bcsx/pages/results.html