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Training run crash sidelines Gairns

Last time the North American Cup ski cross series came to Tabor Mountain, almost exactly a year ago, Tiana Gairns was the queen of the hill.
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Tiana Gairns launches herself off a jump on Jan. 16, 2016 as she competed in the Nor-Am Cup ski cross competition at Tabor Mountain.

Last time the North American Cup ski cross series came to Tabor Mountain, almost exactly a year ago, Tiana Gairns was the queen of the hill.

The Prince George skier won both races on her home course and went to capture the Nor-Am crown as the series points champion.

The Nor-Am series returns to Tabor this weekend with races Friday and Saturday but Gairns will not be able to defend her titles. The 18-year-old is still recovering from a concussion she suffered Dec. 10 at Sun Peaks when she got too close to one of her Canadian development team teammates coming down the course in a training run.

"He somehow got his pole stuck in between my leg and I was trying to yank it out and I caught an edge and went down hit my head and he kind of flipped over me and landed on my head - it was kind of a double-whammy," said Gairns, the 2016 junior national silver medalist. "His crash was actually more impressive than mine, but I'm the one who got hurt."

"(Before the crash) I was really excited to come back to my home hill, especially since I haven't been in town.

Gairns has taken a couple short training runs but won't be cleared to race again for at least another week. She's targeting a return in early February at a Europa Cup event Feb. 9 in Grasgehren, Germany or a Nor-Am event the following week in Sunday River, Maine.

Much to her disappointment, as a result of her injury, Gairns will miss an international race in Solitude, Utah, Jan. 19-21, which will be contested on the World Cup snowboard cross course. The good thing about the timing on her injury is the race season is just beginning.

India Sherret of Cranbrook, who won the Nor-Am season-opener Sunridge in Edmonton, is considered one of the favourites this weekend. Zoe Chore of Kimberley, who won the second race, is also a medal contender.

Gairns is now based in Calgary, where she's part of the six-female, seven-male Canadian development team.

This is the first year Alpine Canada has brought the best ski cross athletes together in a central location, where they train at Canada Olympic Park and Nakiska and are encouraged to attend post-secondary school. Gairns, who plans to study medicine, is taking correspondence courses through Thompson Rivers University.

"The program at Calgary is going great, with the whole ski team being there and most of us doing school at the same time and training together, because before we were spread out and would only come together for training camps," said Gairns.

Last weekend's big dump came just in time time for course workers at Tabor Mountain Resort. There's just enough snow to create the big jumps and rollers ski crossers love to see and work crews have been busy all week with heavy equipment shaping the course in time for today's 11 a.m. training runs.

"We haven't got a lot of snow but it's coming together and it looks good, the course is there," said Tabor owner Fern Thibault.

Races are set to begin Friday and Saturday at 11 a.m. About 100 racers are expected for the two races. Although Gairns is out of the picture, there will be some local content lining up at the start gates.

Gavin Rowell, 17, posted a pair of top-10 finishes last weekend when he placed seventh and eighth on a sprint course at Sunridge on the banks of the North Saskatchewan River in Edmonton. Rowell started the season on the FIS Western Canadian alpine circuit. He placed 32nd and 48th last month in slalom races at Panorama and was 20th in a slalom race at Sun Peaks.

Lucas Gairns, Tiana's 16-year-old brother, has also been racing the Western Canadian alpine series. Now that he's reached the minimum age requirement he plans to take a stab at his first Nor-Am ski cross event this weekend. The younger Gairns raced the Western Canadian ski cross series last year.

Tabor will be the site of a Western Canadian snowboard cross series event next weekend, starting on Friday. The resort, located 20 kilometres east of the city, will also host Nor-Am snowboard cross series races, March 8-10.

Prince George snowboard crosser Meryeta O'Dine, 19, is in Watles, Italy this weekend for World Cup races. O'Dine started her race season Dec. 3 in Pitzal, Italy, where she posted a ninth-place result a in junior race. She placed 24th at a World Cup event Dec. 16 in Montafon, Austria.

As part of National Ski Day this Saturday, Tabor Mountain is offering half-price lift tickets all day. The ski cross course is confined to Eta's Course (named after O'dine), leaving the rest of the mountain runs open to the public.