Scott

The Telemark Nordic Center was over run with cross country ski racers from across B.C. and the Northwestern U.S., when the club hosted the Teck B.C. Cup #3 and the Provincial Championships, February 28 to March 2.

“This was the largest race that has been held in B.C.,“ says Competition Secretary and parent volunteer, Jillian Stamp.  “We had over 600 skiers, coaches and wax technicians at the Nordic Center for each of the 3 days”.   The third and final race in the Teck B.C. Cup Series, skiers received individual race medals in each age category.   As well, aggregate awards and the club trophy were presented at the dessert banquet on Saturday night.   “ Telemark puts on a good race,” Stamp adds.  “We are central enough to draw skiers from across B.C. and Alberta and U.S. teams enjoy coming here as well.”  Athletes from all the B.C. clubs, as well as Canmore Alberta, Idaho, Montana, Utah, Wyoming and Washington State attended the race.  Methow Valley, just south of the Canadian border, sent the largest American team, of 25 skiers.

Athletes aged 5, to 55 plus, skied courses ranging from 1 to 15km.  Friday saw mass start races, (all racers in each division start as a group) with “freestyle” or “skate” technique and the first skier over the line wins.  Saturday had the racers going out individually every 15 seconds, racing classic technique, with the fastest time winning.  Sunday races were team relays, again using freestyle technique.

It takes a lot of help to host such a big event.  “We had 60 to 70 volunteers each day,” notes Jillian Stamp.  “That was more than 200 volunteer positions over the 3 days.”  Groomers and course setters were on snow at 5:00 am each day and the last course marker was put away around 4:00pm on Sunday afternoon.

“We had a lot of excellent results,” notes Telemark Junior Racers coach Adam Elliot.  “We were third in the province as a club, which is great.  Gareth Williams and David Walker skied really well and we had good results from some of the younger boys including Nikhil Filatow, Garrett Siever, Greyson Mckinnon  Ian Mayer, Ian Williams and Hamish Graham.  Jasmine Filatow and Alexandra Myshak-Davis were top medal earners for the girls.” “It’s important to note the size of the fields that we had,” Elliot points out.  “Several races had over 30 skiers, including Alberta and U.S athletes, and sometimes a 5^th place in the race would actually have been a podium spot if we only looked at B.C. finishes.”  “I am proud of everyone’s effort,” he added.

“Friday was clear and sunny with a hard packed course and temperatures just below freezing,” recalls Chief of Course David Llyod, from Kelowna Cycle.  “The glide waxing was not difficult and the racers had fast conditions, which they like”.

Skiers for Telemark in the mass start freestyle races included; Jasmine Filatow, 2^nd Atom Girls3 and Calla Haaheim 7^th, Atom Girls2.

Justin Siever was 5^th and Jonah Hawes 8^th in Pee Wee Boys1.  Nikhil Filatow came 1^st,  closely followed by Garrett Siever 3^rd, in Pee Wee Boys2.   Tamasin Graham finished 4^th and Kaelin Urness 7^th in Pee Wee Girls1.  Andrea Kraetzer placed 8^th for Pee Wee Girls2.  In Bantam Boys2, Grayson Mckinnon came 4^th, Tristan Lee 10^th and Connor Hobbs 12^th.   Ian Mayer was 5^th and Gregor Graham 6^th in the Bantam Boys1 category.  Midget Boys 2 saw Ian Williams place 6^th and Ben Shipley 12^th.  Hamish Graham was 4^th, with Cameron McInnes 6^th, Carter Fortney 12^th and Liam Hawes 13^th in Midget Boys1.  For Midget Girls 1, Sally Haaheim came 5^th, Michelle Kraetzer 15^th and Abigail Ertel 16^th.  Veronika Dimova finished 6^th and Madeleine Ertel 10^th for Juvenile Girls2.  In Juvenile Boys1, Rowan Webster came 18^th and Chase Stewart 22^nd.  Competing in Junior Girls1, Dana Allen finished 9^th.  In the Junior Boys1 group, Gareth Williams took 1^st followed by David Walker in 3^rd.  Kurt Behnsen and Jasper Mackenzie raced Open MenU23 and came 6^th and 8^th. Alexandra Myshak-Davis finished 2^nd in Junior Women1.

“Saturday weather was a different story,” exclaimed Llyod   “The temperature had dropped about 10 degrees and we had light snow all day.”

Telemark Racers finished the classic, individual start, courses as follows.

Jonah Benoit was 4^th for Atom Boys2, with Mika Aaserud 6^th.  Brody Melnyk finished 2^nd in Atom Boys1 and Oden Ransom was 6^th in Atom Boys3.  In Atom Girls3, Jasmine Filatow came 3^rd and team mate Aya Sentesy was 4^th, with Kaia Ross 6^th.  Katie Kershaw was 1^st  for Atom Girls1.  For Atom Girls2,  Calla Haaheim finished 5^th.  Garrett Siever and Nikhil Filatow were 1 and 2 for Pee Wee Boys2 followed by Alec Miller 11^th, Pascal Benoit 13^th and Cameron Hobbs in 14^th place.  Brother Justin Siever came 5^th in Pee Wee Boys1, with Jonah Hawes 6^th and Jacob Miller 15^th.  Tamasin Graham finished 6^th, with Daniella Plaxton 8^th and Taylor Meinyk 10^th in Pee Wee Girls1.  Ian Mayer was 5^th in Bantam Boys 1, followed by Gregor Graham 6^th and Mason Hawes 8^th.  Grayson Mckinnon skied 3^rd in Bantam Boys2, while Tristan Lee was 10^th and Connor Hobbs 11^th.  For Bantam Girls 2, Sophie Lachapelle finished 9^th and Mary Benoit 19^th.  Ian Williams, Ben Shipley and Matt Shipley went 4,5 and 6 for Midget Boys2 and Midget Boys1 saw Hamish Graham come 3^rd and Cameron McInnes 6^th.   In the Midget Girls 1 race, Michelle Kraetzer placed 5^th, with Sally Haaheim coming 8^th and Abigail Ertel 16^th.  Sister Madeleine Ertel was 6^th  for Juvenile Girls2, with Veronika Dimova placing 10th.  Rowan Webster finished 17^th for Juvenile Boys1.   Dana Allen completed the Junior Girls1 race 11^th.   Junior Boys1 Gareth Williams and David Walker finished 1,2 and Alexandra Myshak-Davis was also 1^st for Junior Women1   The senior racer on the team, Kurt Behnsen completed the U23 Men’s course in 8^th place.

Sunday relay races were both competitive and fun, with teams of 3 skiers from each club and crazy names and face paint to identify the members.  Top Telemark finishers were the Telennosaurus team of Garrett Siever, Nikhil Filatow and Justin Siever,  who were first for Pee Wee Boys3.  Ben Shipley, Ian Williams and Matt Shipley skied 3^rd as the Sexy Salimanders in the Midget Boys3 category and Telemark Tough Guys aka Kurt Behnsen, Jasper Mackenzie and Jon Sader were 4^th in the U23 Men.

Aggregate awards are based on finishes in all three B.C. Cup races and Telemark collected a good number of awards.

Category                      Girls                             Boys

Pee Wee1  `                                                    Justin Siever 3rd

Pee Wee2                                                        Nikhil Filatow 1^st
                                                                        Garrett Siever 2^nd

Bantam2                                                         Grayson McKinnon 3^rd

Midget 2                                                           Ian Williams 3^rd

Juvenile 2                    Madeline Ertel 3^rd

Junior 1                                                           Gareth Wiliams 1^st
                                                                        David Walker 3^rd

Junior Women              Alexandra Myshak-Davis 2^nd

 

U 23 Men                                                         Kurt Behnsen 1st

“Thiswas the last race of the season”, says Elliot.  “Next week David Walker and Gareth Williams are off to Cornerbrook Newfoundland for a week of competition at the Canadian National Championships.  We wish them good luck”