Skip to content

Volunteers needed for B.C. Cup downhill

BC Cup downhill organizers are still scouring the area for volunteers to ensure the race goes off without a hitch.

The Red Mountain Racers (RMR) welcome the Miele B.C. Cup to Red this weekend in one of the ski hill’s biggest events of the year.

But while racers get set to hit the starting gate for slalom and giant slalom on Red Face and Back Trail, organizers are still scouring the area for volunteers to ensure the race goes off without a hitch.

“We are a small club,” said chief of volunteers Christine Andison in a release.  “As such, in order to put on a race of this magnitude we really look to the community to help out.”

Close to 200 downhill ski racers from western Canada and the United States as well as competitors from Spain, Italy, Great Britain and Eritrea will compete in the four-day event that starts Saturday.

The FIS event will be running simultaneous races with two separate race crews on the slopes monitoring eight races over four days, a huge undertaking that requires about100 volunteers per day.

With the Nancy Green racers away at Phoenix ski hill, RMR is even more shorthanded than usual and need some help with this exciting race.

“It’s a huge community event,” said RMR spokesperson Linda Shulze. “It benefits the entire community when all these people come and eat at our restaurants and shop at our stores. And it’s so great to watch these skin-tight clad kids hurtling down the mountain.”

While the key positions have been filled, the committee is still looking for gate judges, course workers and finish controllers for each day.

“Some of these jobs are great for people who are new to volunteering and they offer a great view of the track and all the race action.”

Saturday and Sunday  the men’s giant slalom and the women’s slalom events take to the hill while Monday and Tuesday the women tackle the GS and the men the slalom.

RMR’s Una Travanovic and Jesse Galay will be competing but Kali Butler and Stephen Fry are both out with injury.

Travanovic is skiing with the Montana State University team this year but will make the trip to Red for the FIS event.

Galay is also competing in what is his first year as a FIS racer.

RMR’s Sasha Zeitsoff will not compete at Red this weekend as he continues to race on the World Cup circuit.

Whistler’s Blake Ramsden leads the men’s Miele points standings with 740 while Stephanie Gartner of Fernie narrowly leads Charley Field of Whistler in women’s standings with 622 to 617 points respectively.

This is the third of four Miele B.C. Cup events with the last one staged at Panarama in April.

To volunteer for the Miele B.C. Cup contact Christine Andison at Christine@redmountainventures.com or call 362-5135.

RMR Results: The K1 skiers, led by Jane Andison, made their mark in Fernie earlier this month. Jane won all three of her slalom races as she has for the entire season.  There were top 10 finishes at the same event by Isaac Lunn, Orion Humphries, Gavin Patterson, Kaysa Panke, and Matthias Hofmann.

E2 racers Sage Stefani, Heiko Ihns, and Kristof Panke also competed. Heiko and Kristof placed first and second in the slalom respectively and Sage snagged 7th  in the Ski Cross.

On the same weekend at the E2 Race in Summit Lake, Hanna Schulze continued her winning ways.  In her first year of E2 competition, Hanna has raced to a second place finish at all three races so far.

At the U16 provincials at Apex, Soleil Patterson led the K2 contingent with a 6th and a 13th place finish, a very respectable placing considering she is 13 years old competing against athletes who could be two years older.

Jacob Lunn came in with three top 20 finishes (19th, 11th, 15th),  Rowan Stevens placed 37th, 29th, 27th and 34th while Jesse Galay 49th, 42nd, 30th, 35th and Ella Meyer 39th, 32nd, and 30th.

.



Jim Bailey

About the Author: Jim Bailey

Read more