Mike Edwards

The BC X-C Championships are being held this Friday, Saturday and Sunday. 650 athletes are registered, so our parking lot will be very busy until about 2:00 PM.

Forest Lane and Memory Lane will be open. Telemark and Panorama can be accessed via Telemark trail, during race times. Stay to the right on the first hill of Telemark trail and be careful of race participants. Recreational Skiing access will be closed on the Fern Creek side until 2:00PM each day. All trails are open after 2:00 PM. The Doggy Ski trail is open during race times.

The Chalet Loop and Doggy Snowshoe trails are open all weekend. Pine Forest, Jack Creek and Crystal Rim snowshoe trails are closed until 2:00 PM on race days, this weekend.

Phil Klotz and his experience grooming team will be in the stadium from noon to 02:00 PM on Saturday February 24th to answer any questions you have about Telemark’s grooming. They will be rolling out all the grooming machines and equipment if you would like to learn more about Nordic trail grooming. Who ever asks Phil the best question wins two free trail passes.

Special Olympics Kelowna and Telemark Nordic Club  will be hosting the Special Olympics Regional Games for skiing and snowshoeing on Saturday February 10, 2018 at Telemark. Sixteen of our skiers and seven snowshoers will compete against athletes from every region of BC. Tracey Melesko and Francis Stanley, both gold medal winners at the 2017 Special Olympics World Winter Games, will join. This is a small event and will not impact skiing and snowshoeing. The left side of Rabbit trail will be closed for an hour or two during this event.

Telemark has a good problem. The four snow gauges are buried. Lots of snow to groom, for great skiing.  The first person to tell Ron Earle the depth of the Crystal Rim snow gauge receives two free trail passes. There has been powder on the snowshoe trails for two weeks. Come and get above the clouds.

On Friday the stadium gauge was buried. If anyone can find the one on High Country let us know. It is warmer, and there is mucho snow. No events on Saturday afternoon, or Sunday. Come up for some great skiing and snowshoeing. Tickets and rentals are available.

The new Telemark Post Secondary Program (TPSP) is in it’s first year. Establishing the program — with the help Kelowna Toyota, its main sponsor — is an attempt to address the decline of skiers graduating from high school, but unable to continue competitive racing. The TPSP is providing professional training and allowing athletes from across Canada reach their full athletic and competitive potential for high-level racing. Click here for a Kelowna Now article about the new program.

Congratulations to our athletes, Gareth Williams and Julia Ransom who are really making an impact beyond our club. Gareth Williams, who is currently the youngest of 8 male athletes on the Cross Country Canada National Ski team, last week was the top U23 skier at Canadian WJT, automatically qualifying him for the World Junior/U23 Ski Championships in Switzerland.

Julia Ransom is likewise proving she belongs on the Canadian National Biathlon Team having already achieved two top-10 finishes this season racing in Europe on the World Cup circuit. She is currently the top ranked Canadian biathlete and — BREAKING NEWS — has just been selected to the Canadian Olympics team for the Big Show in South Korea next month.