Contributed by the Summit Lake Racers
Snow finally fell at Summit Lake January 13, greatly improving training conditions for The Nancy Green Ski League Summit Lake Racers.
After two practice sessions the Nancy Green Racers headed to Red Mountain in Rossland on Sunday, January 22 for the first of five exciting West Kootenay races.
The mountain weather was cool and a bit foggy on the top, but clear lower down where the course was set up. Fortunately for everyone the snow conditions were perfect with freshly fallen groomed snow.
The Red Mountain race course has a reputation for its steep start which can be challenging for the younger racers, and which also makes the first couple of gates critical. The two Summit teams of mixed E1, E2 and E3 racers launched themselves into a dual giant slalom course in two back to back runs with little trepidation. Calista Mackintosh a new E1 racer, said she liked it.
“It was fast!” said Mackintosh.
Racer Everett Harrison said, “I really enjoyed my second run after getting his very first run out of the way!”
Racing with teams from Red Mountain, Salmo, Phoenix and White Water, our local racers posted some very good team and individual results: SLR Team 1 placed second and SLR Team 2 placed third. In the E3 Division Ivy Tourand took the gold medal and Solomon Tupper took home the Silver medal. Solomon said that now that he is older he really likes the competition and that Red is a fun mountain because it is not too big.
The Summit Lake Racers really appreciated all the encouragement they got through the day from parents and coaches, and the Red Mountain hosts made the race a terrific season opener. The next race will be in Salmo on February 7, and the zone race will be held at Summit Lake Ski Area on February 12. Be there at 10 a.m. to catch all the action.