Alpine skiers Hayes Layton and Charlotte Gibson will find out this week how they stack up against the rest of Canada when they tackle the slopes of Collingwood, Ont., at the Sport Check Under-16 championships.
The two Prince George Alpine Club racers qualified for the national event based on their results at Teck Provincial Series races at Sun Peaks and Kimberley.
Gibson, who just turned 15 in January, started the season with two top-six placings at Sun Peaks Jan. 4-6. She finished fourth and sixth in slalom events and 11th in a giant slalom and went on to post fifth- and 13th-place results in super-G races Feb. 5-6 at Kimberley.
Gibson won both giant slaloms and was first and second on the slalom course at the northern zone races at Purden Mountain Ski Resort, Feb. 10-11.
Layton put down two superb super-G runs at the provincial races in Kimberley and made it to the medal podium. He was third the second day after a seventh-place finish the first day. At Sun Peaks he ended up 17th in the slalom and 19th in the giant slalom. He dominated the U16 male category at the northern zone event at Purden, winning all four races.
“It’s hard to say but I’d like to think they have a chance at getting some good results – the guys from B.C. are usually on top of the country, so hopefully we can sneak in some good results there,” said Prince George Alpine Club coach Phil Soicher.
“Hayes is pretty physical, he’s a bit bigger than most U16s and is able to use that. He’s a pretty tall guy and obviously he’s a good skier. He skied his way on the team with those (Kimberley) results.”
The 14-female, 14-male B.C. team was picked based on their top three race results of the six races at Sun Peaks and Kimberley. Gibson is the seventh-ranked female skier in her provincial class, while Layton is ranked eighth. Both attend Duchess Park secondary school.
“Charlotte has certainly skied well this year, she’s been hitting the gym quite hard and it’s made quite a significant difference in her skiing,” said Soicher. “She had a pretty good series at Sun Peaks so we were pretty confident (she would make the cut for nationals).”
Monday was a training day, and racing starts Tuesday with the super-G event at Georgian Peaks, followed by an alpine combined (one run of super-G and one run of slalom). Giant slalom, slalom and dual slalom events follow on Thursday, Friday and Saturday.
The Prince George club will send three U16 skiers and eight U14s to the Whistler Cup, April 12-15. Whistler Cup rankings will be based on the best five of 10 provincial results. The third provincial race in the Teck series is set for Apex near Penticton on the Easter long weekend, March 29 to April 1, which is a qualifier for the Whistler Cup. Fernie will host the U14 provincial alpine championships March 21-26.
