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Crankworx Rotorua to webcast contests

Sports briefs: Pemberton Secondary at provincials; North American championships coming to WOP

It might be difficult to think about with fresh pow on the mountain dropping earlier this week, but competitive mountain biking is getting set to start next week.

The first event on the Crankworx calendar, in Rotorua, New Zealand, is set to start on March 19.

Four events will be webcast: the Mons Royale Speed & Style Rotorua at 9 p.m. on Wednesday, March 20; the Crankworx Rotorua Downhill at 7 p.m. on Thursday, March 21; the RockShox Rotorua Pump Track Challenge at 11:30 p.m. on Thursday, March 21; and the Maxxis Slopestyle in Memory of McGazza at 7 p.m. on Friday, March 22.

For more information, visit www.crankworx.com.

Stiel, Shorter top Parsons Race

Fresh off their experience at Canada Winter Games, a pair of Whistler Mountain Ski Club (WMSC) competitors performed excellently at the 40th annual Bob Parsons Memorial Race for U16 racers on March 9 and 10.

Sara Stiel and Matthias Shorter topped the women's and men's categories, respectively, as part of the four-race weekend.

Stiel won all three super-G races, as well as the alpine combined, to complete a sweep. Teammate Jaden Dawson was second in all three races while Fiona McInnes took third in the first two super-G events.

On the men's side, Shorter won two of the super-G contests while placing second in the other, as well as second in the alpine combined. Chase Burns took the other two victories while also placing third in the first and third super-G events. Other WMSC men to medal included: Duncan Ross (second in the first super-G); Sam Fuller (third in the second super-G); and John Nicholls (second in the third super-G and third in the alpine combined).

Down at Cypress Mountain, the local club saw Alexa Brownlie and Felix Shorter lock up the respective women's and men's U14 Teck Zone titles on March 2 and 3.

Brownlie won both the slalom and giant slalom races, sharing the podium in the latter with teammate Isabelle Bexton, who took second. Shorter also triumphed in both his attempts, with teammate Milan Novak placing second in the slalom and third in the giant slalom. Fellow WMSC member Alec Waldrum placed second in the giant slalom to secure a podium sweep.

For more WMSC information, check out www.wmsc.info.

Pemberton Secondary 1-3 at provincials

The Pemberton Secondary School (PSS) Red Devils finished their season on a high note at the Girls' 1A Provincial Basketball Championships in Abbotsford.

Pemberton held its entry position, as it came in ranked 15th, and held its own in a slew of tough matchups.

Pemberton opened with a 71-55 loss to No. 2 Nechako Valley, fell 58-45 to No. 10 Heritage Christian and dropped a 56-48 decision to No. 14 Fernie. However, Pemberton completed the tournament with a 56-45 win over No. 12 Agassiz.

The boys, meanwhile, were unable to win a game in the provincial tournament.

The No. 10 Red Devils opened with a 62-44 loss to No. 7 Cedar Christian, were upset 55-48 by No. 15 Gold River and 83-67 by No. 14 McBride. The squad was supposed to play Deer Lake, but the game was cancelled. Instead, Pemberton played an exhibition against No. 6 Similkameen to wrap up its tournament.

North American championships coming to Whistler Olympic Park

Some of the top ski jumpers on the continent will congregate in Whistler this weekend for the North American Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined Championships.

The normal hill competition will take place on Saturday, March 16 starting at 10 a.m. while the Nordic combined races will kick off at 3 p.m. On Sunday, March 17, the large hill competition will go at 10 a.m.

For more information, visit www.skitoskynordics.ca.

Whistler gymnasts shine in Delta

Each and every member of Whistler Gymnastics that attended the Delta Spring Fever brought home some hardware over the weekend.

In the competitive Junior Olympic program, Georgia Eccles was bronze all around in the JO 6 12-year-old category on the strength of a second-place showing on the vault. In the same category, Charlie Craig was fourth all around, boosted by a first-place performance on the bars and third on the floor. In the 13-year-old JO 6 event, Sophie Firth took third all around after taking third on the bars and beam while Gabbi Collins was fifth all around while placing first on the floor and third on the vault.

In the 11-year-old JO 7 category, meanwhile, Sofia Wright took fourth all around including third on both the bars and floor.

The Junior Olympic athletes are looking towards the provincial championships in Coquitlam next month.

In the recreational Interclub Challenge program, gymnasts perform scored routines, though they are not directly ranked against one another.

Kayleigh Sarkany and Kayna Frame earned gold ribbons in all four events: vault, bars, beam and floor.

Meanwhile, Megan Bedard, Neve Maynard, Portia Colpitts, Catriona Kilgour and Chloe Rode all took home three gold ribbons and a silver while Sammy Shelly did only three events because of injury and still earned two golds and one silver.

Two athletes received special awards, with Bedard taking the Beautiful Balance Award and Rode capturing the Brilliant Beam Award.