The Whitewater Nancy Greene ski team made a strong showing as they hosted their second and last local race of the season on Sunday with 180 athletes from five West Kootenay teams.
Whitewater and Red Mountain were the top teams in the U6 to U10 ages where 15 teams of mixed ages competed. Teams from Salmo, Summit Lake in Nakusp and Phoenix Mountain near Grand Forks were in attendance.
Whitewater boys and girls covered all the podium places in the new competitive U12 category. In the regular U12 category, Red Mountain racers dominated.
Whitewater coach Dylan Henderson said it’s the kids’ training and travelling to races that’s bringing them to the top of a “vibrant” ski racing zone.
“In my biased opinion, it’s one of the best in Canada,” he said. He attributes it to the fact that West Kootenay teams travel to other hills in the zone with their coaches for races, when Nancy Greene racers don’t typically travel.
Usually Nancy Greene racers train once a week but the Whitewater team is training up to four days per week and have high level coaches.
“With dry land training and five days on snow at the Legacy Training Centre at Red Mountain in November, they were fast by December 1 and they’ve just improved from there.”
“The hard working athletes are starting to catch the natural athletes. As a coach it’s good to see because they are working hard.”
Henderson said Nancy Greene is more about training, becoming a good technical skier, and rewarding the process rather than race results. “It’s not about chasing the podium,” he said. “It’s about personal goals and skill development. These races, we use them to measure that but we don’t put a lot of weight on that.”
The next Nancy Greene race will be at Phoenix Mountain on February 7 and 8.
Nancy Greene is an entry level ski racing program for children across Canada.