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Tabor ski cross course aces NorAm test

Tabor Mountain Ski Resort has once again passed the scrutiny of some of the continent's ski experts.
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Trent McCarthy launches himself off a jump on Saturday as he competed in the Nor-Am Cup ski cross competition that took place at Tabor Mountain. The event, which took place on both Saturday and Sunday, saw a total of 36 men and women participate with some coming from as far away as Maine. Citizen Photo by James Doyle January 16, 2016

Tabor Mountain Ski Resort has once again passed the scrutiny of some of the continent's ski experts.

The host facility of this past weekend's NorAm Cup ski cross events and its crew of volunteers received rave reviews from skiers and coaches involved in the races at the city's closest downhill ski area and that bodes well for the prospects of Prince George attracting bigger and better events.

Mathieu Leduc of Comox, who won the men's race Saturday, says the Tabor course is an ideal training ground for young athletes who aspire to make Canada's World Cup team.

"There's little features you have to work and lots of gliding, which is important for our sport, and I think it's a good balance of challenge and safety for these kids, especially at the grassroots level," said Leduc. "It's good to have this as a skill-building course to get the kids into the sport and let them learn what ski cross is and then they'll be ready for something bigger."

Although there's only a couple of feet of snow on the mountain, far less than normal, the jumps, dips and high-banked berms which make up Tabor's ski cross run are permanent features built mostly out of dirt. That means Tabor needs only minimal snowfalls and far less time to build up a ski cross course. Very few ski resorts in Western Canada have that capability. While it typically takes 10 days to build a ski cross course out of snow, half that time is required to shape the Tabor course, which was built with infrastructure funding for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

Tiana Gairns of Prince George, 17, who won both women's races, was proud to show off her home hill to the other NorAm skiers, most of whom had never skied at Tabor before.

"I've heard lots of people saying great things about Prince George - they hadn't realized what a great facility we have with the ski cross track and how much snow we have, so this is a good spot for us to advertise P.G.," Gairns said. "It's not a little town in the north, it's actually pretty big and we have a lot to offer."

The two-day competition attracted skiers from the Canadian and American development teams. Some were from as far away as California and Maine. There was a wide variance in the backgrounds of the 38 skiers. Some, like 16-year-old Gavin Rowell of Prince George, have extensive alpine racing experience but just started racing ski cross events, while others - Leduc, Tristan Tafel, Kristophor Mahler - have already competed at the highest level possible in World Cup events.

"A setup like this really allows the kids who are new to the sport to test out a new skill set in a very safe environment," said Canadian World Cup team coach James Clarkson. "It's great for them to be able to see how (the World Cup skiers) operate, all the way from the technical stuff on the course to how they're prepping (for the race) up at the top. It's a unique setup for somebody new to the sport to be in."

Prince George, Nakiska (west of Calgary) and Smithers, which will host the NorAm championships in late March, are the only Western Canadian stops on the NorAm ski cross tour.

Canadian NextGen head coach Sead Causevic of Vancouver was in Prince George last year for the Western Canadian ski cross championships in March, following the Canada Games. He was impressed with the Tabor course and how well it was prepared and said the city goes out of its way to make the skiers feel welcome.

"This is really the prep for the higher levels, there's very good support up here (in northern B.C.)," said Causevic. "The communities get behind the events and behind the athletes more than anywhere I've seen, to be honest. I hope we can come here for a big event like a world junior championship. I think it's just a matter of convincing the European countries."

The facilities at Tabor and the level of training of the officials is one of the lasting legacies of the 2015 Canada Winter Games. NorAm chief of race Jim Martin is hopeful Prince George will continue to expand its horizons and attract major events.

"Hearing there is that interest in holding higher-level championships, it gives me a sense of pride that the team we have here that puts on the race is doing a phenomenal job," said Martin. "They're great people and they put a lot of hours in.

"I've been involved in conversations with groups across Canada that are holding ski cross races and certainly a big barrier is if you have to build everything from snow. It's expensive and takes a lot of snow. If we were building our course strictly from snow we wouldn't be having (last weekend's) event."