Whistler Mountain Ski Club racers Robbie Dixon and Manuel Osborne Paradis, both of North Vancouver, were among the six skiers named to the 2002-03 men’s B.C. Alpine Ski Team last week.
Scott Anderson, a former member of the national junior team, will lead the team. Other members include Dustin Fraser of Quathiaski Cove, Graham Kraft of Vernon and Marcus Waring of North Vancouver.
The team also has two new coaches, Dale Stephens and Darren Thorburn. Stephens was the head coach of the U.S. speed team for the past three seasons, producing 18 top-10 athletes on the World Cup circuit, including two gold medals and four podiums. Some of the athletes he coached include Daron Rahlves and Chad Fleishcer, who have a combined four World Cup podiums and two World Championship podiums.
Previous to that, he spent seven years with the Canadian Alpine Ski Team where he coached racing legends Rob Boyd, Edi Podivinsky, Brian Stemmle, Cary Mullen and Roman Torn, among others.
Thorburn was most recently the North Zone head coach for Alberta. He was a World Cup athlete for nine years, was with Alberta for two years, and spent a year coaching men’s downhill for Canada.
"B.C. Alpine is excited," says general manager Bruce Goldsmid. "It is not often that one can hire coaches with 20 plus years of World Cup and international experience. Dale and Darren will be a powerhouse coaching team that may well yield one of the best quality men’s programs in the country, if not North America."
