By Andrew Mitchell
The 2007 Pontiac GMC Canadian Championships wrapped up last week with a FIS downhill event, taking place the day after the national championship DH race.
Held as a FIS race, the event brought out more competitors at the club level who were looking to earn points, although most of the national and development team skiers stuck around to give the Dave Murray Downhill course another go.
On the women’s side, Britt Janyk bettered her silver medal from the day before to place first, followed by Larisa Yurkiw of the development team and Shona Rubens — a triple gold medal winner at the championships, and the new national downhill champion.
Whistler’s Victoria Whitney, racing with the B.C. Ski Team, turned heads with yet another solid day of racing, this time placing fourth — ahead of several national and development team members.
From the Whistler Mountain Ski Club, Julia Murray was 19 th , Jennifer Mah 25 th , Calindy Ramsden 28 th , Shannon Smith 31 st and Brianne Ormerod 32 nd .
On the men’s side, Erik Guay followed up his national title with another downhill win, well over a second faster than Francois Bourque. Jeffrey Frisch was third.
Manuel Osborne-Paradis, a Whistler Mountain Ski Club alumnus, was sixth, while Robbie Dixon pulled down seventh. Michael Janyk was 14 th . Other Whistler skiers to finish include Brian Bennett 17 th , Stanislas Rey 20 th , Conrad and Morgan Pridy 28 th and 29 th , James McLean 36 th , and Simon Timoshenko, competing for Australia, 50 th .
The FIS contest marked the official end of the season for most racers, although the national team, development team and para-alpine team will be holding camps in Whistler this spring to take advantage of the good snow conditions and to test new equipment.
