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Mosher nets two medals in France

After realizing a seven-year dream of competing for Canada at the Paralympics in Nordic skiing, Whistler's Tyler Mosher is refocusing his energies on the sport of snowboarding where he hopes to represent Canada once again.

This season, Mosher competed in a new test event at X Games where he finished second before heading to Orcieres, France where the World Snowboard Federation - with support from the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) for the first time - held a pair of World Cup events. Mosher finished second in both those races to Evan Strong from the U.S., the below-the-knee amputee who also won the X Games gold.

The format in France was slingshot, which is best described as a snowboardcross time trial. After two runs Mosher was 0.4 seconds back of Evans to place second in the first event. On day two it was even closer with just 0.06 seconds difference.

"I made a couple of little stupid mistakes, but that's racing," said Mosher. "The standard was pretty good, with a field that's comparable to what I've seen on the Nordic side over the years. There were nine or 10 countries in the race, and 22 good men."

As well as sanctioning the event, the IPC has also benchmarked adaptive snowboarding. IPC classifications are based on the athletes' level of ability, and determine what - if any - factor will be deducted from an athletes' time in order to level the playing field.

For example, a snowboard athlete missing a hand might get a slight time deduction because they are slower starting out of the gate, while an athlete with a lower limb injury may get a larger factor because of their ability to steer or pump on the track.

Slingshot has been picked as the default sport for adaptive snowboarding because it's timed, making it easier to factor athletes, as well as for the fact that it combines elements of both racing and freestyle snowboarding.

Next up for Mosher is a pair of World Cup events at Lake Louise from April 7 to 9. The IPC will decide in the spring whether to add snowboarding to the list of Paralympic events held at Sochi in 2014.

 

Parsons Super G races this weekend

This weekend marks the 31st running of the Bob Parsons Memorial and the 42nd season since Parsons created a juvenile speed race to give older skiers a chance to race downhill.

The format was changed to Super G recently, but the basic concept remains the same over four decades later - namely giving juvenile athletes under the age of 16 a safe and fun opportunity to race speed events and prepare themselves before speed events become a regular part of the competitive calendar.

Parsons himself ran the event until his death in 1979, and the following year the race was held in his honour as the Bob Parsons Memorial Downhill.

For many racers now competing at the World Cup level, including Britt Janyk, Manuel Osborne-Paradis and Robbie Dixon, the Parsons Memorial represented their first opportunity to race a speed event.

This year's event also doubles as the K2 Provincial Championships for kids aged 13 and 14, as well as a zone race for skiers at the J1 (15 and 16) level.

Training takes place today (Thursday, Feb. 10) and over Saturday and Sunday all of the racers will get three competition runs down the course. The course itself is a combination of Raven, Old Crow and Ptarmigan.

There will be awards at 4 p.m. in Creekside on race days.

 

Nordic twoonie gets back to basics

After classic races, sprints and last week's relay, tonight's (Feb. 10) Whistler Nordics Twoonie race is back to basics with a headlamps-mandatory course through Lost Lake Park.

Registration is at 5:30 p.m. at Lost Lake Passiv Haus, with the race getting underway at 6:15 p.m. The cost is $2 for members and a $5 "Try a Toonie" rate is available for first-timers. As well, racers need a valid pass to ski at Lost Lake.

Tonight's race is sponsored by the Wild Wood, Scandinave Spa and Ryders Eyewear.

The relay of Feb. 3 was challenging with stormy weather, but the racers that did show up gave it their all. The winning team was Andrea Peiffer, Dave Burch and Matt Bodkin.

 

Local skiers Wrangle the Chute

A group of local skiers made the long drive to Kicking Horse this past weekend to take part in the Wrangle the Chute big mountain competition.

Locals Daryl Treadway and Logan Pehota from Pemberton were second and third respectively, with the win going to Calgary's Matt Montadon. The top three women were Wendy Burns, Emma Whitman and ski jumper Zoya Lynch.

 

Segger second in Costa Rica ultra

Squamish's Jen Segger settled for second place with fellow Salomon athlete Monica Aguilera in The Coastal Challenge: Costa Rica, a six-day, 250 km ultra run through the rain forests of Costa Rica with heat, humidity and thousands of feet of vertical gain on some days.

Segger started out with a lead of one minute and 20 seconds after the first stage, then finished day two about 17 minutes behind Aguilera. She made up over three minutes on the third stage, but called a truce on day four after they decided to run the last section together.  They kept the truce alive for the next two days of racing.

Seger finished the race in 29 hours and 15 seconds, about 12 minutes back of Aguilera, who hails from Spain. The next competitor was Luz Perez, another Spanish runner, who finished in 33:38:12.

Complete race reports are posted at www.jensegger.com.

 

Sigge's P'ayakentsut going big

The last time racers went a full 50 km on trails at Whistler Olympic Park, Canada's Devon Kershaw came within a fraction of a second of winning an Olympic bronze medal.

Sigge's P'ayakentsut is being billed as the first big event in the Callaghan since the 2010 Games, with a variety of categories for the main event as well as a number of side events for the nordic community.

The main race includes distances of 5 km, 15 km, 30 km and 50 km. As well, there is a ski cross race for kids 12 to 14, mad dash sprints, team relays, and other fun events for kids aged 5 to 11.

The event takes place on Saturday, Feb. 26, getting underway at 9:30 a.m. It is being organized by Callaghan Valley Cross Country Ski Club, with the support of the Squamish Nation, cross-country clubs from Vancouver and Sea to Sky, and other sponsors.

The word "P'ayakentst" is taken from the Squamish Nation, and means "A place to train oneself physically." Historically, the Callaghan Valley was a place where Squamish warriors went to train.

Depending on your category, early bird race entries are $5 to $35 until end-of-day on Feb. 16. Online registration is available until Feb. 24 at www.zone4.ca.

For more information on the race, visit www.payak.com.