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 5th 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, 2nd Atom Girls3 and Calla Haaheim 7th, Atom Girls2.
Justin Siever was 5th and Jonah Hawes 8th in Pee Wee Boys1. Nikhil Filatow came 1st, closely followed by Garrett Siever 3rd, in Pee Wee Boys2. Tamasin Graham finished 4th and Kaelin Urness 7th in Pee Wee Girls1. Andrea Kraetzer placed 8th for Pee Wee Girls2. In Bantam Boys2, Grayson Mckinnon came 4th, Tristan Lee 10th and Connor Hobbs 12th. Ian Mayer was 5th and Gregor Graham 6th in the Bantam Boys1 category. Midget Boys 2 saw Ian Williams place 6th and Ben Shipley 12th. Hamish Graham was 4th, with Cameron McInnes 6th, Carter Fortney 12th and Liam Hawes 13th in Midget Boys1. For Midget Girls 1, Sally Haaheim came 5th, Michelle Kraetzer 15th and Abigail Ertel 16th. Veronika Dimova finished 6th and Madeleine Ertel 10th for Juvenile Girls2. In Juvenile Boys1, Rowan Webster came 18th and Chase Stewart 22nd. Competing in Junior Girls1, Dana Allen finished 9th. In the Junior Boys1 group, Gareth Williams took 1st followed by David Walker in 3rd. Kurt Behnsen and Jasper Mackenzie raced Open MenU23 and came 6th and 8th. Alexandra Myshak-Davis finished 2nd 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 4th for Atom Boys2, with Mika Aaserud 6th. Brody Melnyk finished 2nd in Atom Boys1 and Oden Ransom was 6th in Atom Boys3. In Atom Girls3, Jasmine Filatow came 3rd and team mate Aya Sentesy was 4th, with Kaia Ross 6th. Katie Kershaw was 1st for Atom Girls1. For Atom Girls2, Calla Haaheim finished 5th. Garrett Siever and Nikhil Filatow were 1 and 2 for Pee Wee Boys2 followed by Alec Miller 11th, Pascal Benoit 13th and Cameron Hobbs in 14th place. Brother Justin Siever came 5th in Pee Wee Boys1, with Jonah Hawes 6th and Jacob Miller 15th. Tamasin Graham finished 6th, with Daniella Plaxton 8th and Taylor Meinyk 10th in Pee Wee Girls1. Ian Mayer was 5th in Bantam Boys 1, followed by Gregor Graham 6th and Mason Hawes 8th. Grayson Mckinnon skied 3rd in Bantam Boys2, while Tristan Lee was 10th and Connor Hobbs 11th. For Bantam Girls 2, Sophie Lachapelle finished 9th and Mary Benoit 19th. Ian Williams, Ben Shipley and Matt Shipley went 4,5 and 6 for Midget Boys2 and Midget Boys1 saw Hamish Graham come 3rd and Cameron McInnes 6th. In the Midget Girls 1 race, Michelle Kraetzer placed 5th, with Sally Haaheim coming 8th and Abigail Ertel 16th. Sister Madeleine Ertel was 6th for Juvenile Girls2, with Veronika Dimova placing 10th. Rowan Webster finished 17th for Juvenile Boys1. Dana Allen completed the Junior Girls1 race 11th. Junior Boys1 Gareth Williams and David Walker finished 1,2 and Alexandra Myshak-Davis was also 1st for Junior Women1 The senior racer on the team, Kurt Behnsen completed the U23 Men’s course in 8th 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 3rd as the Sexy Salimanders in the Midget Boys3 category and Telemark Tough Guys aka Kurt Behnsen, Jasper Mackenzie and Jon Sader were 4th 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 1st
Garrett Siever 2nd
Bantam2 Grayson McKinnon 3rd
Midget 2 Ian Williams 3rd
Juvenile 2 Madeline Ertel 3rd
Junior 1 Gareth Wiliams 1st
David Walker 3rd
Junior Women Alexandra Myshak-Davis 2nd
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”
