Nancy Greene program develops slope skills for the young and eager
There's one word to describe why Gavin Rowell likes racing in the Rio Tinto Alcan Nancy Green Ski League.
Speed.
Going fast is what ski racing is all about and the 10-year-old from Prince George wasn't about to obey any playground zone speed limits on the slopes at Purden Mountain over the weekend. All he could think about was getting through the gates of the slalom course ahead of his buddy Lucas Gairns.
"Lucas pushes me," said Rowell. "The other people are easy to beat.
"This course is really fast and I like it like that."
Gairns topped the overall E2 (development program) list Saturday, just ahead of Braden Stewart and Jessie Nydegger, and finished at the head of the class again on Sunday. Rowell placed second in the E2 9-and-10-year-old boys class behind Gairns and ahead of third-place Samuel Cook.
Rowell, a Grade 5 student at Austin Road elementary school, is hoping to move up to the K1 class on the alpine team next season. While some ski racers gravitate to snowboard racing, Rowell has no intention of such a career change.
"You can't go fast enough on a snowboard to get the thrill," said Rowell.
Cool temperatures with a week-old dusting of snow left the course in ideal shape for racing. The skiing was fast but the course had enough grip to allow easier turning for the young skiers. The weekend races were the first of the season for the Nancy Greene racers.
The nine-year-old Gairns has two older sisters -- Tiana and Mikayla -- who compete with the Prince George Alpine Ski Racers team and he figures, after four seasons at the Nancy Greene level, he'll be ready to make the jump to the alpine team next fall.
"You just have to be faster to keep up, and then you get to go to more races," said Gairns, who attends Grade 4 classes at Hart Highlands elementary. "I like everything about it -- racing and free skiing. I want to see how I'll do in provincials in a couple of years."
Other Nancy Greene class winners from Sunday were: Kaitlyn Martin (E2 girls overall); Joy Nydegger (E1 5-6-year-old girls); Jordan Ahlstrom (E1 7-8-year-old girls); Jenna Van Delft (E2 9-10-year-old girls); Brinn Whalen (E1 5-6-year-old boys); and Doug Helle (E2 7-8 boys).
The combined Nancy Greene programs at Tabor Mountain and Purden Mountain have 24 racers involved. Some of veterans, like Ahlstrom and Alicia Stewart, have been sporting Nancy Greene racing bibs on winter weekends since they were three.
"They love skiing out here and I think they were really excited to race on the same style of course they usually train on," said Purden Nancy Greene coach Kali Flick.
Flick and Alice Muirhead, who coaches young skiers at Tabor, both used the Nancy Greene program as a springboard to prepare them for the alpine team that became a huge part of their lives when they were teenagers.
"In Nancy Greene, even if they don't go on to racing, it creates a love of skiing and they will probably enjoy skiing for a long time," said Muirhead, 22. "The whole family can get involved."
The season includes about eight race days, although warm weather a couple weeks ago forced cancellation of the Hart Highlands races. Instruction takes place at the Hart hill on Wednesdays, when conditions will allow it. The program runs through the end of March.
