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WMSC K1’s on top at Cypress

K1’s win gold in every event The Whistler Mountain Ski Club K1 squad (age 11 and 12) started off their competitive season with a strong all-around performance at Cypress Bowl last weekend.

K1’s win gold in every event

The Whistler Mountain Ski Club K1 squad (age 11 and 12) started off their competitive season with a strong all-around performance at Cypress Bowl last weekend.

The skiers took part in two giant slalom races on Saturday and one on Sunday, making the most of the challenging visibility and snow conditions.

When all was said and done, the WMSC team took 13 out of a possible 18 podium positions, including all six gold medals. The club is calling it a "gold rush".

"I’m really happy with our weekend," said head K1 coach Sead Causevic. "We’ve been training pretty hard up until now, going into that first race, and we put the kids to the test."

The women’s K1 and K2 teams have been dominating their zone in racing for the last couple of years. That’s not because there isn’t any real competition from the other clubs, says Causevic, but because the WMSC girls have been training so hard. "They’ve been surprisingly focused for the last few months," he said.

"Still, it’s a challenge maintaining our edge. It’s really up to the coaches and the club to keep finding ways to challenge them so they don’t become complacent, but continue to improve."

In the first GS on Saturday, Brynne Benbow – the younger sister of Kayla and Kendall Benbow who are on the national development team and B.C. Ski Team respectively – carried on the family tradition with a solid gold medal run that put her almost half a second ahead of the competition. She followed up with gold medals in the next two races, earning the skier’s equivalent of a hat trick for the weekend.

"Her overall performance was outstanding and a reflection of the days put in on-snow over the summer and her work developing an effective race day mental management-readiness plan," said Causevic.

Alecia Willis of Cypress was second in the race. Third place went to the WMSC’s Jenny Higgins.

All but one of the other skiers in top-15 were Whistler skiers. Aside from Brynn McMillan of Cypress in the 13 th position, the Whistler skiers were, in order of rankings, Lucy Nettlefold, Nancy Bayly, Lindsay Jones, Chanelle Segal, Emily Konantz, Madison McLeish, Alexandra Fogarty, Marielle Thompson, Katyhleen Self, Maddi Podborski and Whitney Lyons.

In the first men’s race, things were a little more even with Whistler skiers taking just five of the top-15 spots – including first, third and fourth.

Ian-Spence Morrison took the gold medal, one-tenth of a second ahead of Ian Clark of Grouse. Alexander Binks was third and Isaac Penn fourth.

Also from Whistler, Simon Timoshenko was 10 th and Matthew Sawchyn 14 th .

In the second women’s GS, Benbow extended her lead over the competition with a time of 36.98 seconds, or 1.16 seconds ahead of Alecia Willis, who took the silver medal once again. Whistler’s Nancy Bayly was third.

Of the rest of the top-15, the WMSC claimed all but two spots out of a field of 58 skiers. Aside from Brynn McMillan of Cypress in sixth and Andreea Suceveanu of Grouse in ninth, the Whistler skiers were, in order, Lindsay Jones, Heidi Mah, Alexandra Fogarty, Kathleen Self, Maddie Podborski, Marielle Thompson, Taylor Green (tied for 11 th with Thompson), Whitney Lyons, Emily Konantz and Chanelle Segal.

The Whistler K1 men turned in a strong performance once again, claiming four out of the top-five spots and eight of the top-15.

This time it was the WMSC’s Alexander Binks who stepped up to win the race. Jasper Smith of Mount Washington was second and Ian-Spence Morrison of Whistler third. Isaac Penn was fourth, Ryan Ptolomey fifth, Michael Cadman 10 th , Simon Timoshenko 13 th and Ryan Allan 14 th .

Both GS races on Saturday were one run events.

In the two run contest on Sunday, Benbow’s third gold medal came after a close contest with teammate Nancy Bayly. Benbow finished just 0.03 seconds ahead of Bayly in the first run before pulling ahead by more than 1.38 seconds on run number two to take the win with a total time of 1:13.45. Bayly was second in 1:14.86 and Lucy Nettelefold third in 1:15.06 to give Whistler the sweep. Of the remaining 12 position, the WMSC took 10, with Alecia Willis of Grouse in fourth and Kelsi Francisty of Mt. Washington in seventh. The other Whistler skiers were, in order, Madison McLeish, Heidi Mah, Whitney Lyons, Maddie Podborski, Alexandra Fogarty, Kathleen Self, Lindsay Jones, Marielle Thompson, Taylor Green and Jenny Rea.

Alexander Binks took his second gold for the WMSC, finishing 1.05 seconds ahead of Jasper Smith of Mt. Washington after two runs. Ian-Spence Morrison was third once again.

The other Whistler skiers include Isaac Penn in fourth, Ryan Ptolomey in sixth, Aidan Lee in ninth, Michael Cadman in 10 th , Eric Holler in 11 th and Daniele Hasle in 15 th .

The WMSC’s next races take place this weekend at Apex, with the club’s J1 team (age 15 and 16) taking on the country in the Mars J1 Nationals.

The K1 races were a qualifier for the B.C. Winter Games in February. Several Whistler athletes are expected to be named to the Zone team in the next few weeks.

Brynne Benbow will also benefit from some extra training as she joins the K2s at their speed camp in Vernon this weekend. Rob Boyd, the head coach for the K2 program, extended the invitation after Benbow’s medal sweep at Cypress.