Phoenix racers continue to hit the podium
By Contributor
The Phoenix Mountain Racers (PMR) took home a team gold medal at the Nancy Greene League Race held in Salmo on Sunday, Feb. 3. Phoenix sent two teams of seven racers whose combined score netted them the Gold medal.
The Grand Forks ski team competed against teams from Red Mountain, Whitewater, Salmo and Summit Lake in the U8, U10 and U12 categories with 154 skiers racing overall. Individually Phoenix did very well, with 7 of their racers – Iona Carlyle, Luna Churchill, Clare Broad, Ella Churchill, Jennifer Shields, Kayden McGraw and Seamus Carlyle finishing in the top 10 in their age categories – and 5 of these racers were in the top five. Seamus Carlyle stood on the podium for the second time this season finishing third in the U12 division in one of two Giant Slalom races.
The team was well prepared for the challenging Giant Slalom course having practiced on their home hill on a variety of different courses.
“We’ve been focusing on flexibility this year – giving our racers a variety of courses on different runs at Phoenix so that they come in to these races able to adjust to varying terrain. At Salmo, we were looking at some course challenges due to low snow pack but everyone really hung in there and proved they can ski anything,” said coach Ben Churchill.
“It’s rewarding to see our kids who’ve put in such a lot of effort so far this season, come out and compete so well with some really tough competition from these other Kootenay ski hills,” commented coach Astrid Kihl. “We’ve got kids who are just starting out racing and have come a long way already, gaining confidence and skills as well. And then we have some seasoned racers now who are becoming really strong skiers on a par with the best in the Kootenays”.
For Hannah Smuland , who joined the PMR this year, the Salmo race was her first. She said that although she felt “a bit shaky at first” , she found the race very exciting and added “I had a lot of fun at Salmo – I’m looking forward to the next race in Whitewater!” (March 3).
