Squamish mountain biker receives Premier’s Award
Squamish’s own Meghan Kindree was one of 80 athletes in 42 sports to be recognized at the 2007 Premier’s Athletic Awards this week. The top male and female in each sport participating in the B.C. Athlete Assistance Program were recognized.
Recently the government of B.C. doubled its contribution to the AAP program, to $1.4 million, through the Ministry of Tourism, Sport and the Arts.
Pipe Dream back by popular demand
Filmmaker Liam Walsh is hosting a third screening of Pipe Dream on Saturday, Feb. 17 at Millennium Place, starting at 8 p.m.
Pipe Dream follows local athletes Dan Raymond and Crispin Lipscomb for almost five years as they pursue their goal of representing Canada at the 2006 Olympic Winter Games in Torino. The film captures the progression of the athletes as they made their way onto the national team, as well as the humour and heartbreak that goes with being an elite athlete.
The film presentation is sponsored by the Whistler Arts Council as part of Celebration 2010.
Walsh says that there has been a lot of interest in the film, and that he has been fielding a call a week from other film festivals looking to include it in their lineup.
Ullr contest now well over 400 names
As the Feb. 19 deadline approaches, Whistler-Blackcomb’s If Ullr Was a Girl contest has already attracted 421 entries, with girls across Canada, North America and Europe making their case on the www.ifullrwasagirl.com website.
The second phase of the contest continues on Feb. 21 when the votes are tallied, and three Amateur and three Open athletes are selected for a seven-day, six-night trip to Whistler where they will battle. The numbers will be bulked up by Whistler-Blackcomb with up to 10 more athletes, and on March 1 the website will be showcasing the finalists for another round of voting. Those votes until the close of the contest will count for one-fourth of their final marks. Other marks will be awarded during the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival based on their results in a big mountain event, the second annual Stompede, and a mountain culture contest where Ullr wannabes will display photography, film, art or music.
The top Open athletes will be competing for $25,000 in cash, and the top amateurs will be competing for a pro sponsorship package.
The athletes are on their own to generate votes, and some have gone to extraordinary lengths to get their names out there. Whistler’s Alison Pasemko managed to get herself featured on the MuchMusic 969 program, televised across Canada, while others have pledged the money to charity to draw media attention.
For more information, or to vote for your favourites, visit www.ifullrwasagirl.com.
Whistler boarders solid on snowboard tour
The Canadian Open Snowboard Tour wrapped up for the season at Big White this past weekend, with slopestyle and halfpipe contests. Members of the national Project 2010 team were on hand to compete, as well as the top riders from other COST events held across Canada. Both Big White events sold out.
In Saturday’s slopestyle, Catherine Rochette of Quebec took the gold, edging out Raewyn Reid and Megan Chamberlain.
For the men it was Stephen Burchill, followed by Dan Longo and Jonathan Versteeg. Tamo Campos of the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club placed fifth.
In the halfpipe, Alexandra Duckworth was the top woman, followed by Jaclyn Anderson and Taryn Cowling. Whistler riders Koko Wright and Darcie Goodman were fourth and sixth respectively.
On the men’s side, Brendan Davis was first, Dustrin Craven second and Dan Longo third. Whistler’s Douglas Monfree-Smith placed seventh, T.J. McKay was 11 th , Rob DeBari 17 th , Yannick Goulet 23 rd and Tamo Campos 34 th .
Behind The Grind sponsors Nordics Twoonie
It will be easy to “Spot the Quinnie” tonight as Behind The Grind sponsors a Whistler Nordics Twoonie Race. The theme is tropical, with prizes for the best outfits.
Sign-on is at the Lost Lake ticket booth, starting at 5:30 p.m. The race gets underway at 6:15 p.m. Bring your headlamps, as you’ll be going outside of the loop once again.
To take part you must be a member of the Whistler Nordics (memberships available at start), have a valid ski pass, and pay $2 in the pot.
The races are bringing out a large number of younger skiers. At last week’s race, sponsored by Whistler Fire Rescue Services and Ingrid’s Café, kids did a 4.2 km lap of the park.
Seven, by any other name
After discovering that the Seven mountain bike race infringed on an international trademark, organizers have changed the name of the seven-stage team race to the B.C. Bike Race. Aside from the possible litigation, the name change will also be better when it comes to hosting future races — while this year’s race ends on July 7, 2007 or 7/7/07, future races won’t have that kind of symmetry.
The race, which will cover about 600 km of trail on Vancouver Island, the Sunshine Coast and Sea to Sky, will finish in Whistler on July 7. At this point it’s about 70 per cent full, and organizers are expecting to sell out long before the start of the race in Victoria on July 1. So far teams have entered from across Canada, as well as England, Mexico, and throughout the U.S.
As well as a new name the race has a new website. For more information and the latest course details, visit www.bcbikerace.com .
For the Record
In last week’s coverage of the Peak to Valley race, the writer inadvertently made reference to Randall Carpenter. In fact it was her teammate Grace Oaks who competes in the 60-Plus category in Kokanee Valley Race Series events, and finished the Peak to Valley in 6:24.67 to help her team, Babes with Age, to place first in Category VI for teams with combined ages of 250 and up. In fact the whole team was impressive, winning their category by over four minutes and eight seconds.
Further, the author erred in listing the top teams for Category V for ages 225-249. The top team was Jules’ Jewels in 24:30.31, followed by the Fabrictime Cruisers in 25:27.61, and the Georgian Peaks Bombers in 25:55.54.
We regret the errors.
