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Parsons Memorial something to remember

Whistler Mountain Ski Club on podium in every event The 25 th Annual Bob Parsons Memorial races gave a new generation of skiers their first taste of speed competitions last weekend with a pair of downhill events and a super G on the Lower Cruiser run

Whistler Mountain Ski Club on podium in every event

The 25 th Annual Bob Parsons Memorial races gave a new generation of skiers their first taste of speed competitions last weekend with a pair of downhill events and a super G on the Lower Cruiser run of Blackcomb.

The Whistler Mountain Ski Club K2 athletes (age 13 and 14) figured prominently in every race as they took on the top skiers from their competitive region, including the Lower Mainland and Vancouver Island.

The boys took seven of nine medals up for grabs, and the girls took six of nine. More than 80 athletes took part in this year’s event, which was originally created by Bob Parsons in 1969 to give young athletes a safe opportunity to try downhill racing. In recent years the downhill has been changed to a super G, but the downhill was brought back this season.

K2 head coach and former World Cup downhiller Rob Boyd was ecstatic with the race and his team’s performance.

"I think it was a great thing to give downhill back to that age group, and that hill was the perfect hill for a lot of the different elements of a downhill," said Boyd. "They were getting airborne, there were some long turns, some sidehills, some rough terrain, some flats. It wasn’t super fast, but the kids did get up over 100 kilometres an hour, so…"

Boyd says the goal was to get the kids used to longer skis and higher speeds because many of the racers will go on to FIS where speed training begins in earnest.

"Getting them ready for the next step is important. We don’t want to overload them with too many races at this stage of their development… but it’s really good to get them up to speed and give them a taste of what downhill is all about," he said.

"It’s way too early to try and pigeon-hole them or anything. The kids who are strong and have a little more weight were doing better, but of course skill was certainly part of it and Dan Penn came out on top on the guy’s side, Ben Podborski was second in downhill and third in super G and it was really great to see him popping in there, it was really great to see. On the women’s side, Jen and Sarah and Katrina, they really stepped up as well."

The team had a little training on their long skis the weekend before, and did a small speed camp during the week to get used to the equipment.

"It was nice to see them pulling ahead like that and to take advantage of the long skis training we’ve been doing," said Boyd.

In the first downhill on Friday, Georgia Simmerling of the Grouse Mountain team continued her domination of K2 races this season with a time of one minute, 7.04 seconds and the first of two gold medals in the downhill events.

Whistler skiers finished second through sixth with Jennifer Mah taking the silver in 1:08.67 and Sarah Marshall winning bronze in 1:09.46. Brittany Cameron, Victoria Whitney and Kirsten Dekur were fourth through sixth respectively.

Another seven spots in the top-15 went to Whistler skiers. Catherine Rose, Brittany McGovern, Deborah Bayliss, Calindy Ramsden, Katrina Dekur and Suzanne King were eighth through 13 th and Rachelle Morris was 15 th .

In the men’s downhill, Whistler’s Daniel Penn took the first of his pair of gold medals with a time of 1:06.57. His teammates Morgan Pridy and Michael Kearney came in second and third with times of 1:07.95 and 1:08.80 respectively to make it a Whistler sweep.

Also from the WMSC, North Jones was fourth, Ben Podborski fifth, Smith Milner eighth and Benjamin MacLean 12 th .

The second women’s downhill on Saturday was a replay of the day before with the top three spots going to Georgia Simmerling, Jennifer Mah and Sarah Marshall in times of 1:07.12, 1:08.51 and 1:09.07 respectively.

Victoria Whitney was fourth, and Calindy Ramsden, Catherine Rose, Brittany Cameron, Deborah Bayliss, Katrina Dekur and Brittany McGovern were sixth through 11 th . .Rachelle Morris and Brooke Milne rounded out the top-15 in 13 th and 14 th .

In the men’s race, Daniel Penn was uncatchable once again with a time of 1:07.02. Ben Podborski came closest, winning the silver medal with a time of 1:09.00. Matt Lively of Grouse was third in 1:09.44.

Morgan Pridy and North Jones were fourth and fifth, Michael Kearney seventh, Benjamin MacLean eighth, Smith Milner ninth, and Alec Kibblewhite 11 th .

Things got more interesting on Sunday when gates were added to the course for the super G. Almost 20 racers missed gates or were put off course as a result of a challenging course that included tight turns after speed sections and jumps.

In the women’s race, seven of the contenders didn’t finish and two disqualified, including Georgia Simmerling. The men’s race saw 10 skiers not finish, including Morgan Pridy.

The women’s gold medal went to Whistler’s Katrina Dekur in 1:20.73 followed by teammate Calindy Ramsden in 1:22.71. Julia Peters from Mt. Washington was third in 1:22.82.

Also for Whistler, Brooke Milne was fourth, Catherine Rose, Rachelle Morris, Kirsten Dekur and Brittany Cameron were sixth through ninth. Meriel Gibson, Abbie Cameron, Sarah Marshall and Sara Berkes were 12 th through 15 th .

The men’s super G went to Whistler skier Smith Milner in 1:19.27. Matthew Bowe of Grouse won the silver is 1:20.02 and Ben Podborski picked up his second medal, bronze, with a time of 1:20.25.

Daniel Penn was sixth, Christopher Green eighth, North Jones 11 th and Sean Smith 15 th .