Hotel Vancouver victorious once again
The sun was out for the 2001 Mouton-Cadet Spring Festival ski and snowboard race on April 8 which was not necessarily a good thing if you were one of the many competitors who wined and dined at the gala Select Wine Merchants of Vancouver product tasting reception the night before. It was bright out that day. Very, very bright.
More than 1,000 people attended the reception, consuming 80 cases of wine (960 bottles) in a about two and a half hours thats more than six bottles for every minute, and almost 200 more bottles than last year.
"We had to get someone to run to the liquor store at one point and pick up another eight cases," says Lara Mickel, the marketing manager for Select Wine Merchants. "Our numbers were up a little from last year, but we had a great band with Davey Jones Locker, who were fantastic, and things were very festive. It was extremely successful, and the numbers seem to get bigger every year."
The event raised more than $10,000 for local and regional charities, specifically the James Hustvedt Fund for disabled skiers, the Dave Murray Foundation which supports junior skiers, and the Whistler Health Care Foundation.
A wide selection of restaurant and media staff from Whistler and the Lower Mainland competed in the annual race the following day, racing in teams of three on either the slalom or snowboard slalom courses.
In the Vancouver restaurant ski race, Hotel Vancouvers Team A made the top of the honour roll with a combined time of 1 minute 5.61 seconds. Joseph Schefer, who posted the fastest time in last years race, anchored the team once again with a time of 19.48, or the sixth fastest time of the day.
Calvins Café was second by a little more than five seconds, and Hotel Vancouvers Team B was a close third out of nine entries.
The fastest time in the category belonged to Takehiro Hosoi of the Four Seasons Team B.
In the Whistler restaurant race, Trattoria di Umberto took the top spot with a combined time of 59.30, and times of 19.79 for Sophia Lofstrom, 19.78 for Walter Walgram, and 19.73 for Christian Laplante. Earls Nightmares 2 finished a close second at 1:00.03, with 19.45 for Cara Dolan, 19.40 for Al Bedingfield, and 21.18 for Kevin Wallace. "Tell Chef My Snapper Is Delicious" (the Rim Rock Cafe) finished third by a heartbreaker a combined time of 1:00.04, one one-hundredth of a second back of Earls. Kenny White anchored the Rim Rock team with the days fastest time of 18.65, Bruce Midgley came in at 19.34, and Sue Clark finished in 22.05.
The Speed Piques were the team to beat in the media ski race, posting a combined time of 1:07.02. Bob Barnett led the team with a time of 19.24, Jason Wright finished in 22.94 and Kathy Barnett crossed the line in 24.84.
The Mountain FM Team 1 finished second with a time of 1:10.98, led by Scott Roberts time of 22.95. North Shore News Team A was third, led by Paul McGrath (22.64).
In the snowboard restaurant competition, the Spicy Spaggers (Old Spaghetti Factory) was first with a combined time of 1:32.21. The Moister Oyster was second at 1:33.97, and Umbertos Bambolos finished third in 1:34.74.
Pique also won the Media Snowboard race, with the Pique Paper Shredders beating Mountain FM Team 2 to the line.
The top snowboard times belonged to Geoff Mott (31.82) from the Spicy Spaggers, Anton Fruehwirth (30.47) from Umbertos Bambolos, and Chris Noaro (30.60) from Ulis Flipside.