The snowguns have been hard at work all week, and conditions should be good on Saturday night, Dec. 27, for the first King of the Rails rail jam at the base of Blackcomb.
Up to 100 skiers and snowboarders are expected to take part, hitting one of two rail lines under the lights in a jam session that lasts an hour and a half. The athletes themselves judge the winners, who will win a share of the entry fees based on the number of entries in each category.
As well, all participants are eligible to win draw prizes from sponsors at Showcase, Glacier Shop, Atomic, Nintendo, Telus, DNA and others.
Registration is from 5 p.m. to 6 p.m. at Whistler Kids for $15. The rail jam runs from 6 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. before heading inside for prizes and refreshments.
Helmets are mandatory, and other forms of protection recommended. Kids under the age of 18 will need a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.
The next event in the series is on Jan. 10.
Test of Metal registration draws near
With all 200 locals registration spots being snapped up in just over two hours earlier in December, that leaves 800 spots for everyone else in the 2009 Test of Metal. Registration gets underway at 6 p.m. on Jan. 1 with an online free-for-all that could be over in two hours or less.
Some ways to improve your chances include finding a good high speed connection, and working with other riders to get through. Everyone can register up to four names for the race, so you might want to coordinate with other riders by telephone.
The slightly harder route to get into the race is to turn pro, as the pro elite riders can register pretty much until race day.
There is no waitlist again this year, and no refunds for people who drop off the list. The new system was created to make things easier for organizers, who had to balance a long waitlist with a long list of registered riders to fill the gates. Now, if someone drops out they are not replaced.
Registration is at www.testofmetal.com.
The race is 67 km long, and includes over 1,200 metres of climbing and 35 km of singletrack trails. The race day is June 20, 2009.
This year the race will also be part of a Test of Metal Series, along with the Brakendale based OreCrusher and July’s GearJammer.
Tri Club steps up for KidSport
The Whistler Triathlon Club is celebrating Christmas with a gift to young athletes in the community, presenting a cheque for $1,500 to KidSport Whistler this week.
According to Marie-Anne Prevost of the tri club, the money was raised over the years by hosting Kids of Steel triathlon races, as well as the Adult Try-A-Tri triathlons.
“Kids of Steel and the Adult Try a Tri are not only races for the community, but it was also a way for us to give back to the community,” she said. “After four years we had enough in the bank to give something to the Whistler community, and KidSport is a great organization because it goes right to the kids.”
KidSport Whistler provides grants to families to help cover up to $300 of the cost of participating in approved sports and culture organizations, as well as money to help local organizations provide those sports at lower fees. Grants are available locally through the Whistler Community Services Society, www.mywcss.org.
Tickets on sale for Telus Winter Classic
Tickets are on sale for the 17 th annual Telus Winter Classic, an annual fundraiser for the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation that includes a variety of events both on and off-mountain. Tickets are available to the individual events, including the Whistler Winetastic wine tasting reception on Friday, Jan. 23 and the Fire and Ice Gala and auction at the Roundhouse on Saturday Jan. 24.
Teams can also enter, enjoying all the events including a “Match Your Time” race classic on Saturday. Events include a chance to ski with a pro, an après party, lift line priority on Saturday and a breakfast buffet.
To purchase tickets or book a team, call 604-938-7321, or visit www.whistlerblackcomb.com/wbfoundation.
Kishindo awards two more black belts
Twin brothers Cooper and Jackson Bathgate earned their black belts at Whistler Kishindo over this past weekend at the age of 10. The brothers have been training for six years, and in the past few years have been competing in tournaments in everything from sparring to Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
They did their physical and forms testing over the week, and their final test was a self-defence demonstration with 60 other members of the club and parents watching. “Basically, they had to fight 10 people at once, 10 against one,” said instructor Cole Manson. “It’s a controlled fight, not everybody attacks at once, but they have to defend themselves against different kinds of attacks.”
Rachel Brett, 15, also got her black belt after six years with the group.
As well, others went up in rank with various board breaking demonstrations, with more boards and different techniques required for every belt.
Lugers get through first B.C. Cup
The Whistler Sliding Centre hosted the first of two planned B.C. Cup events a week ago, giving members of the fledgling provincial luge team a chance to compete.
More experienced sliders from the track at Calgary’s Canada Olympic Park were faster, but B.C. managed to stay competitive thanks to a friendly race format.
Because of the difference in experience the organizers went with consistency over speed in ranking athletes, with awards going to the sliders with the smallest difference between their two race times. With that system the B.C. team took four of the top seven spots.
Tim Stone and Brendan McDonald of Alberta were first and second in Youth B Boys when it came to speed and time — Stone was clocked at 98.16 km/h — but it was Whistler’s Jackson Bathgate in first place with just three one-thousandths of a second separating his first and second runs. Stone was second with a 0.162 differential, followed by B.C.’s Caiden Thompson with a 0.174.
In Youth B Girls, Rachel Klassen of Alberta was first with a differential of 0.185, while teammate Valerie Harbour was second. B.C.’s Elainah Andrew was third. In Youth A, Jenna Spencer was second for B.C., right behind Tara Disturnal of Alberta.
The older “B” sliders started seven curves from the bottom, while the younger “A” sliders started five curves up.
