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U.S. national team skier to join Brotherhood in Whistler

Summit to bring thousands of black Americans for week-long event Speed skier Andre Horton, one of the few black Americans at the top of the ski racing game, is getting excited to come back to Whistler for the National Brotherhood of Skiers Summit.

Summit to bring thousands of black Americans for week-long event

Speed skier Andre Horton, one of the few black Americans at the top of the ski racing game, is getting excited to come back to Whistler for the National Brotherhood of Skiers Summit.

This place, specifically the Dave Murray Downhill, has nothing but fond memories for the 23-year-old racer.

It was here about four years ago when he ripped down that run to get his first ever Nor Am podium. It was a pivotal moment for Horton.

"That race was what helped me get on the national team," said the Alaskan native who is a member of the USST Development Team.

"Every time I go there I’ve had success on that hill. I just love the hill. It’s designed well for how I ski."

He’ll be back on the Dave Murray Downhill again on Feb. 5-6 when the NBS and the Whistler Mountain Ski Club hold the first international open invitational super G.

The top black American ski racers associated with the NBS like Horton, his sister Suki and Errol Kerr will compete against Whistler’s best, including Rachel Walker, Chris Colpitts and Kendall Benbow.

The super G will be just one part of the NBS festivities going on in the resort Feb. 1-8 during the 30 th anniversary celebrations of the largest ski organization in the United States.

The NBS is dedicated in part to promote winter sports among people of colour in urban areas. One branch, the western region, has been coming to Whistler for three of the past four years to celebrate its Winter Carnival event. Each time between 500 and 1,000 black skiers came to visit.

It would seem the western region relayed a positive experience to head office and now the NBS is coming for their bi-annual summit, a national event combining all four regions and bringing in about 4,500 members.

"I think that Whistler of course appeals to this organization because it’s the number one resort in North America," said Schone Malliet, executive vice president of the NBS.

"The other part of it is at this time there is truly economic value. The value of the dollar goes a long way in Canada these days."

He expects that between $4 million and $5 million in revenue will be generated in Whistler through this year’s summit.

Perhaps more importantly though for the young black athletes in the organization, the Summit is the key time to raise most of the money for the NBS Olympic Scholarship Fund.

This year Malliet is expecting to raise a couple of hundred thousand dollars for the fund. This money supports the primary mission of the NBS, which is to identify, develop and support athletes of colour who will win international or Olympic winter sports competitions representing the United States.

Their success with this mission is evident on the slopes. Andre Horton can testify to that.

Horton most likely would not have been training with the USST development team had it not been for the NBS.

He remembers a pivotal point five years ago when he was graduating from high school in Anchorage, Alaska. He had the choice then to either go on to college or try to keep ski racing.

"The National Brotherhood of Skiers assisted me with financial support to further me with my ski racing at that point," he said.

"From a financial point of view it’s been critical."

But more importantly the organization gave Horton a second family away from home stretching across the country. There are over 80 clubs in American urban areas now with a member list growing upwards of 20,000 people.

"I’ll be in any one state and you can call a club and meet up with people," said Horton.

It wasn’t always like that.

Almost 10 years ago, when Horton was 14, he was competing in a FIS race in the Pacific Northwest where there were two other NBS racers there. It was an eye-opening experience.

"For me that was my first time actually seeing black Americans at a race," he recalled.

Horton admits that skiing is not a culturally diverse sport but over the years he’s seen more and more black Americans getting involved.

"I’ve been doing ski racing for so long that I’m used to it but to see more black Americans enter the sport and enter the sport with excitement is pretty cool," he said.

"People ask me how come there are not more black Americans skiers and that’s because you have to have an icon of sorts. People like basketball because of Michael Jordon; they like golf because of Tiger Woods.

"When you have more black American skies succeeding and skiing well you’re going to have more black American skiers coming up underneath."

Now his sights are set for Turin for the 2006 Winter Olympics and maybe there his previous luck on Italian courses will hold out. It was in Italy at Sella Nevea that Horton won his first FIS downhill in the winter of 2001.

He has been injured for the past year but is currently in Park City competing in the Utah Winter Games, which is an international series of racing. His sister Suki is also racing in Park City. She placed second in a Nor Am downhill in Whistler in February 2001.

He said he’s looking forward to the NBS races in Whistler as well as the NBS events in town that week.

"The last time I was there we actually had time off to go cruise around which was a first because we rarely have time to go free ski," he said,

"(Whistler) is absolutely massive. I didn’t know it was that big. It was foggy the first day I was there so I rode up thinking ‘Oh sweet, I’m there’ and thought it was the top and then I looked up and there were three more lifts."

Along with the super G race the NBS will be hosting a number of events for their members during the first week of February.

There will be a Picnic-on-the-Hill, Happy Hour in the Roundhouse, a Taste of Whistler with samples from restaurants around town, pool parties, a movie screening and concerts, among many other things to do.