First it was the pandemic, now it’s a lack of snow - the BC Games jinx continues for a group of local athletes and their coaches.
Freestyle skiers, alpine skiers and snowboarders from all over the province will not get the chance to compete in the Winter Games in Lhtako Quesnel Feb. 22-25 because the host ski hill Troll Ski Resort does not have enough snow.
The cancellation affects five members of the Northern British Columbia Freestyle Club – Lucas Eberle, Owen McConkey, Hayden Vonah and Charlie Mullins, all of Prince George, and Seamus Zirnhelt of Williams Lake – and their assistant coach Dominik Zwiers, all of whom will miss out on the chance to represent Zone 8 (Cariboo-North East) at the four-day multisport event.
“It’s quite disappointing, that was their only opportunity for this year,” said Paul Knutsgaard, president of the Prince George-based Northern BC Freestyle Club.
“There are some sanctioned Freestyle BC events scheduled between now and the end of March but the weather is a big factor in whether or not some of those events will be able to proceed.
“It’s unfortunate, the athletes have been training hard and they actually have qualified on some technical inverted tricks earlier in the season to compete at the event.”
The BC Games athletes had been scheduled to compete in moguls and slopestyle, but not big air.
Zirnhelt finished second in the Timber Tour big air event at Panorama near Invermere in January and was considered a potential Gemes medal threat.
Timber Tour events are scheduled for later this month in Sun Peaks/Apex and Silver Star near Vernon will host the final tour event in late March.
The 11-athlete freestyle club trains at Hart Ski Hill during weeknights and at Troll on weekends. Club members who qualified for the Games range in age from 12-14.
Knutsgaard won’t rule out the possibility some of them will make the zone team for the 2026 BC Winter Games in Trail/Rossland.
There were no local snowboarders entered in the BC Games affected by the cancellation but there were two alpine skiers from the Prince George Alpine Ski Team who won’t get the chance to compete against their provincial peers. Briar Henderson and Milo Sanchez, as well as team supervisor Chris Sanchez, are part of the Zone 8 alpine team that won’t get out of the 2024 BC Games start gate.
