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Sports Briefs 1613

Sharpen your edges and wax your board/boards, as the second Atomic Ski and Snowboard Cross of the season takes place this weekend on Blackcomb.

Sharpen your edges and wax your board/boards, as the second Atomic Ski and Snowboard Cross of the season takes place this weekend on Blackcomb.

The event is open to skiers and snowboarders of all ages, and early registration is recommended as categories are limited. Early registration, available at Whistler Blackcomb Guest Relations, is also cheaper at $35 per person, compared to $40 on Saturday morning, until 9:45 a.m. in the Rendezvous Lodge.

It's a two-day event. Saturday is the training and time trial day, where participants are seeded in their age categories for Sunday's competition ladders.

Helmets are mandatory and other forms of protection are encouraged. Skiers and riders under the age of 18 also need a waiver signed by a parent or guardian.

All participants are eligible to win draw prizes, including a pair of Atomic skis. The awards are at 4 p.m. at 18 Below.

Whistler Gymnastics hosting zone championships

After years of going on the road for meets the Whistler Gymnastics Club is hosting the Zone 5 Championships and Interclub Invitational at Whistler Secondary School March 28 and 29. Zone 5 includes Pemberton, Squamish, Bowen Island, Flicka (North Vancouver), West Coast Dynamos (West Vancouver), Phoenix (Vancouver), Arbutus (Vancouver) and Renfrew (East Vancouver).

The Interclub event is for boys and girls at the recreational level who will perform their routines before evaluators. The Whistler boys trampoline program will be performing evaluated routines as well.

It's also an important meet for Whistler's provincial Level 2 athletes who will be competing for spots at the B.C. Championships in April. Only the top six athletes from each age category will move on.

This is the first time that Whistler Gymnastics is hosting a championship, as well as the club's first full meet with all the apparatus.

Admission is $10 for a family of four, or $5 for adults and $2 for children, and Whistler Gymnastics members and parents are half price. Ingrid's is catering the event, and there are food donations from the community at the concession.

The KIPs (age 7 and 8) take to the gym at 10 a.m. on Saturday, as well as boys and girls Interclub athletes 11 years and up. At 2 p.m. the boys and girls Interclub athletes aged 6 to 10 perform.

The provincial Level 1 athletes compete on Sunday at 9:30 a.m., all age groups. At 2 p.m. the Level 2 and Level 3 athletes compete, all age groups.

It will be a busy weekend with 189 athletes taking part, as well as 20 coaches and 18 judges on the sidelines.

Volunteers are working to make the weekend memorable, and to raise money for the club to help replace damaged equipment and prepare for the move into the new full-time facility at Cheakamus Crossing in fall of 2010.

Final Salomon Biathlon this Sunday

The third and final event of the Salomon Biathlon Series takes place Sunday, March 29 at Whistler Olympic Park, with an open invitation to skinny skiers of all ages and levels of experience, both classic and freestyle.

Held to promote the event of biathlon, there will be two categories this weekend, elite and sport. Elite athletes will do a one-hour ultra, seeing how many laps they can make of a 2.5 km course, stopping at the firing range in between each lap. For every target missed, racers will have to ski one penalty lap up to a maximum of three penalty laps. The sport racers will do a half hour enduro.

Registration gets underway at 1:15 p.m. at the biathlon range for a 2 p.m. start. Organizers are asking people to get there early, as the first event brought out over 130 participants.

The cost is $10 to enter, which includes the event, bullets, and an after party. Bring water, and warm clothes for after the race.

Landry looking for support

Whistler's Lisa Landry has signed up to do this year's Ride to Conquer Cancer, riding from Vancouver to Seattle to support the B.C. Cancer Foundation for research, treatment and services. She has agreed to raise $2,500 for the cause, and is looking for donations from the community.

You can find her web page www.conquercancer.ca - click on British Columbia, then Sponsor a Participant to do a search for Lisa Landry.

The ride takes place June 20 and 21, and riders will go more than 225 km from start to finish.

Team Whistler away to the races

Team Whistler entered its first road races of the season in recent weeks, the first and second events in the dEVo Spring Series.

On March 15, riders took part in the River Road race. Despite the fact that the race was two weeks later than last year riders found themselves in rain that turned to snow. Although they got into some breaks, Dustin Gordon, Tony Routley, Mike Charuk and Joe Maika did not finish in the top five in any categories.

Conditions were better for the March 21 Zero Ave race. Tony Routley placed fifth in the Men's B category, with Mike Charuk and Joe Maika also having solid rides.

GearJammer registration open

Registration for the seventh annual Squamish GearJammer opened this week, an invitation for riders to take part in the most technically challenging of the three races of the Squamish Triple Crown.

The GearJammer, which takes place Saturday, July 25, is 47 km in length, with roughly 80 per cent of the race taking place on singletrack trails, including Squamish classics like Middle Power Smart, ReCycle, Pseudo Tsuga and the Powerhouse Plunge. While it's about 20 km less than the Test of Metal, finish times are roughly the same.

More information and registration is available online at www.gearjammer.ca.

Registration for the first event of the Triple Crown, the second annual OreCrusher, opened on March 7. This is a classic cross-country lap race on trails in the Cheekeye Fan Trail, taking place on Saturday, May 16.

The course is roughly 6 km in length, and each age category will do a different number of laps. While it's not as technical as some races, there are no sections where you can rest or cruise. Proceeds go towards the Don Ross Secondary School Outdoor Leadership Program.

For more information or registration, visit www.orecrusher.com.

Just do it...

Registration for the Whistler Kids of Steel Triathlon and Adult Try-a-Tri is available through the Whistler Triathlon Club, www.whistlertriclub.ca. Both events take place on Saturday, May 23, with a pool swim, road cycle and run on the Valley Trail.

Registration for the annual Whistler Valley Trail Run, taking place on Sunday, May 24, is at www.whistlervalleytrailrun.ca. Both 5 km and 10 km courses are available.

Registration for the 25 km Comfortably Numb Trail Run, taking place Saturday, June 27, also opened recently. More details and registration is available at www.comfortablynumb.ca.

The early bird registration deadline for the 5 Peaks Trail Running series is up next week at www.5peaks.com. The Whistler event is on Aug. 22 this year.

Registration is also underway for the annual Cheakamus Challenge Fall Classic Mountain Bike Race on Saturday, September 19. Visit www.cheakamuschallenge.com.