Built like a basketball player, alpine skier Isaac Hausot sometimes takes start gate officials by surprise when he lines up with his ski tips pointed downward.
At five-foot-11 he towers over most kids his age, but he's learned how to use that high centre of gravity and longer limbs to his advantage when it comes time to race for the Prince George Ski Team.
This past weekend at Purden Ski Resort, Hausot finally got the chance to strut his stuff on his home hill when the Prince George club hosted the BC Alpine Teck under-14 provincial championships.
The three-day event drew 160 skiers from 20 clubs and Hausot was at his best on the first day of competition, finishing seventh out of 80 skiers in the slalom. He clocked 49.82 seconds in his first run and 49.54 in the second for a 1:39.36 total.
They weren't asking him for ID in the staging area behind the gate but Hausot's voice has already cracked and it's easy to mistake the just-turned 14-year-old for somebody at least a couple years his senior.
"Everybody comes up to me and is like, are you U-16 or U-14, they want to know if I'm racing them because I'm so tall it's kind of intimidating for them," he said.
Felix Shorter of Whistler won the slalom with a two-run total of 1:32.60. Max Gainey of Apex (1:37.11) and Milan Novak of Whistler (1:37.55) shared the slalom podium with Shorter.
"He's really fast," said Hausot, referring to Shorter. "I don't remember anyone beating him in the last while. He's pretty crazy.
"I was really happy with first run in the morning, I was ninth in the first one and seventh overall, I was happy with that."
Hausot loves the thrill of racing with all the comforts of home close by. With that comes additional pressure as one of the hometown favourites.
"It was a little bit scary because I really didn't want mess up, I wanted to finish,"" said Hausot. "It's always better to be on your home hill because you know the terrain and it gives you a little more courage."
In speed events like downhills or super-G, Hausot says his size is more of an advantage but slalom courses with all the tight turns favour smaller, quicker skiers.
"You really have to crouch down when you're going around the gates," he said.
Shorter set the pace in the giant slalom on Saturday with a two-run time of 1:40.81. Baptiste Cais of the Black Dogs team from Lake Louise, Alta., won silver (1:43.11) and Reed Kelly of Revelstoke was the bronze medalist (1:43.61). Hausot finished his first GS run in 53.14 and was heading for a top-20 finish when he crashed in his second run. In the team slalom on Sunday his team was eliminated in the first round.
Weather conditions for the three days were ideal but heavy snowfalls Monday and Thursday forced course volunteers to pull up all the snow fencing and gates they'd erected the week before so the course could be repacked.
"The snow was good, it could have been a little bit harder, but it was really good," said Hausot.
"It was soft (on Sunday) but it was fun."
Hausot, the U-14 boys zone champion, didn't make the B.C. team for Canada Games but his clubmate, Charlotte Gibson, 15, was on the team that competed at the Games a few weeks ago in Red Deer, while 15-year-old Melinda Kobasiuk of Prince George was the alternate on the team.
Hausot will be too old for Canada Games in 2023 but says he wants to stick with racing at least until he's reached the FIS under-18 level.
In other Prince George GS results, Liam Kobasiuk finished 56th (2:06.49) and Jamey Bachand was 60th (2:08.97). In the slalom, Bachand (2:15.16) placed 58th.
In the girls' GS, Andree Brulotte of Prince George put down two solid runs and finished fifth out of 86 entrants, clocking 53.88 and 51.17 for a total of 1:45.05. Zoe Pohl was 34th (I1:53.90) and Gwenyth Bertucci was 63rd (2:09.28).
In the race for the GS podium Samantha Lawlor (1:43.93) was a spit-second quicker than her Apex teammate Sienna Blaser and Alexa Brownlie of Whistler, who each posted two-run times of 1:44.86. They both were awarded silver medals.
Brownlie captured the slalom title (1:41.50) ahead of silver medalist Erin Husken of Whistler (1:43.91) and third-place Molly Raymond of Apex (1:44.65). Pohl placed 20th (1:51.62), Brulotte finished 29th (1:53.83) and Bertucci ended up 57th (2:11.11).
They will be among a group of skiers from Prince George competing at the season-ending Whistler Cup events in April.
