Alpine skiers from across B.C. will race down the slopes at Purden Mountain Ski Village this week at the Teck U16 provincial championships.
The top 14- and 15 year-old men and women, around 120 in all, will try and qualify for nationals and make an impression for selection to the 2015 Canada Winter Games alpine events at Purden a year from now.
"It has been a long time since we hosted an alpine event of this magnitude in Prince George," said Kerensa Medhurst, spokesperson for the Prince George Alpine Ski Club. "Because of the improvements made for the 2015 Winter Games, we've never had facilities like this. It's the first time we've ever hosted a Super G."
Five members from the Prince George Alpine Ski Club are strapping on their skis this week. They include Tiana Gairns, Maya Medhurst, Noah Jacob and Shawn Nydegger who will race in all three disciplines.
The women will race out of the start gate first for Monday's one-run Super G at 10:15 a.m., followed by the men at 11:40 a.m.
An official test event for the 2015 Games, the Super G course has a vertical of 310 metres and will take racers, averaging speeds of 100 km/h, roughly 50 seconds to ski from start to finish.
On Tuesday, the men will start first in the Super G at 10:15 a.m., followed by the women at 11:40 a.m.
Two days of giant salom, a two-run combined time race, begins Wednesday.
The women start racing at 9 a.m., followed by the men at 10:15 a.m. The second runs on both days are at 1 p.m. for the women and 2:15 p.m. for the men.
The giant slalom course is also 310m of vertical and will take skiers roughly one minute and 10 seconds to complete.
The slalom event is a two-run combined time race that begins Friday and wraps up Saturday.
The slalom course is 160m and will take 60 seconds to complete.
The three tracks and courses are earning praise from coaches from the 14 other clubs who are at Purden this week.
"The coaches are saying it's the best track built in B.C. for U14 - U16 racers," said Jim Martin, Chief of Racing.
Running a week-long event such as provincials is excellent experience in the lead-up to the 2015 Games.
"All officials are getting experience running this to get the bumps and glitches out," said Martin. "We have enough volunteers to put this event on, but [for 2015] we could use more course workers to keep the track as safe as possible and in good shape."
The local Prince George club has 20 athletes in its ski racing program, including Alex Wells who is on the B.C. provincial team. It also includes 60 to 70 racers in the Nancy Greene youth development program.
