Canadian Youth Championships

Last weekend our younger group of racers traveled up to Quebec for their Championnat Jeunesse. We teamed up with strong contingents of BKL skiers from the West River Nordic Club, Frost Mtn Nordic Club, Mtn Top Nordic and NYSEF. We went to have fun and race, and by all accounts it was a smashing success.

On our way up in the van, sporting the new NENSA headbands for the event!

Sleeping accommodations – one classroom for the boys, one for the girls.

The race site. Not a big setup, but the trails were wonderful and the event was very professionally run.

We’ve gotta give a huge thanks to Jim Levins of Toko for making the wax calls and supplying top coats, structure, and kick wax. Our kids had great skis! John Ogden also made the early morning trip up to the race site with Jim (good thing they went early cause they got lost the first day 🙂 But these guys put in some serious time prepping the kids skis on both days and it showed!

So, we’ll jump right to the awards because the coaches were busy on race day so no pics of actual skiing, but… Here is Miss Mae Chalmers atop the podium in the 11 yr old girls race, sharing the stage with her teammates Emma Perry & Mehana Koch. On day 2 Mae was 6th and Emma 10th.

I don’t have pics of every podium – I know I’m missing Charlotte Ogden who finished 10th both days.

11 year old boys made a huge impression with their presence. On stage are Sam Hodges (5th), Tom Hussey (4th), Eli Eppolito (2nd) and Ben Ogden (1st). Whew! Actually, on the second day of competition, these boys went 1,2,3,6!

Russell Boswell and Everett Sapp kept the theme rolling in the 12 yr old boy category with 3rd and 4th. On the second day Everett finished 2nd and Russell 5th.

13 yr old girls podium! Chloe Levins made a huge impression with the fastest time of the day (outpacing the boys too). Mackenzie Rizio shares the podium with her in 3rd and Alex Cobb had a fabulous race ending up in 8th. On day two, Chloe won again and Mackenzie was 10th.

Of the 12 races we entered we won 5 gold medals, 3 silver, 3 bronze, and had 13 top ten finishes. Wow!

Cheers!

One last fun note, last year Jim Levins and I went and we were certainly upstaged by the Canadians at the coaches’ dinner on Saturday night. This year we were prepared – table cloth, candles, 4 bottles of wine and real wine glasses. As you can see we had 6 coaches/parents (Randy Sapp took the pic). We worked together and the kids raced together as team NENSA/USA. That was special. I hope you’ll consider joining us next year. The Canadians were very pleased to have us there.