General

The 2019 Kelowna Toyota Western Canadian Championships and Teck Okanagan Cup  were a big success!

The snow conditions were incredible, the racing was competitive and  racers, coaches and volunteers alike  had big but tired smiles by the end of the weekend.

Thanks to all the volunteers.  Without dedicated volunteers this event could not have happened.

Special thanks to the grooming crew –  especially staff groomer Colin Thomson –  for all the late nights and early mornings and for  consistently great trails and grooming.

Thanks to all the racers, coaches and support people for coming to Telemark to contribute to an exciting,  competitive and fun event.

Thanks to all the Telemark Nordic Club members and public skiers for your patience as the event took over the Telemark Nordic Centre for the weekend. Back to normal now.

The Telemark Nordic Club sent a strong contingent of over 50 athletes to compete in the Western Championships and Okanagan Cup. Our Telemark Team athletes had several amazing performances over the weekend including many individual and team relay medals.  Team Telemark contributed greatly to  British Columbia dominating the event and winning the overall Aggregate title over the other Western provinces.  Click here for full Results.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Today (Sunday Feb 3) midnight is the early registration deadline for our TECK Okanagan Cup race next Saturday.  This is a low-key fun race geared to young first-timers or adults who are not still trying to make the National team!  It is your last chance this year to try out racing and to pick up one of those big beautiful TECK medals to show your classmates at school.  Click here to register.  (Missed early registration?  You can still register at regular prices until noon Wednesday Feb. 6!)

This race happens Saturday afternoon after Westerns racing has wrapped up for the day.  Come up and watch some of the top Canadian cross country ski athletes compete in Westerns in the morning and then go do it yourself in the afternoon Okanagan Cup. Here is the OK Cup race schedule:

Teck Okanagan Cup

1:30 PM Atoms Boys & Girls (age 6-8) 1 km

1:45 PM Pee Wee Boys (age 9-10) 1.5 km

1:50 PM Pee Wee Girls (age 9-10) 1.5 km

2:00 PM Bantam Boys (age 11-12) 2.5 km

2:05 PM Bantam Girls (age 11-12) 2.5 km

2:15 PM Masters Men (age 20+) 15 km

2:20 PM Masters Women (age 20+) 10 km

Telemark is hosting the Western Canadian Championships race next weekend.  We anticipate welcoming over 500 of the most competitive cross-country skiers along with their coaches and support teams from across Canada and western United States.  A small race committee of club members has been working on this event for several months.  Now it is time for the big show and we need a whole lot of more people to help us make this a memorable event.  Setting up, tearing down, setting up again, stripping bibs… all sorts of fun. If you are able, please sign up for a few jobs and we will put you to work. There will be some perks! No experience necessary — we will train you!  Even if you can only offer a couple hours, it all helps.

Click here to sign up.

Telemark’s own Gareth Williams and Hannah Mehain are currently competing at The World Junior/U23 Championships Jan 19-27, 2019 in Lahti Finland.  To represent Telemark and Canada at the World Championships is a big deal and big feather in the cap of the Telemark Nordic Club programs, coaches and athletes.  We are all extremely proud of Gareth and the Hannah and their accomplishments.  Hannah and Gareth are 2 of only 3 athletes from BC to represent Canada at the Championships.  Gareth is a long time Kelowna resident and grew up skiing at Telemark.  Hannah lives in Vernon but works with Telemark Head Coach Adam Elliot and represents Telemark when racing.  The World Junior/U23 Championships is an annual major competition in all the ‘Nordic’ Sports (Cross Country Skiing, Ski Jumping and Nordic Combined) for the best Juniors age (16-19) and U23 athletes (age 20-22) in the world. These are the next World Cup stars.

Follow Gareth and Hannah and the other 16 Canadians at the Championships – Results on FIS Website

What a great weekend up here at Telemark. It was a busy day on Saturday and everyone was smiling including the “Snowmen”. With 10 cm of snow over the last couple of days conditions are at their best yet.

We are getting excited for the Western Canadian Championships coming up in less than 3 weeks – Feb 8-10. 500 Athletes from Across North America will be competing at Telemark. Volunteers still needed – Contact

Do your skis seem a little slow sometimes? Maybe its not just you. A good glide waxing can help make sure your skis are working their best and you get the most enjoyment out of your skiing. Leave your skis with us. We will glide wax them for you and you can pick them up when you come to ski next. $15 for a classic ski wax and $20 for a Skate ski wax.

 

Near perfect conditions and a record 248 racers from 3 years old to 80 years old took on the Telemark trails today.  And we had a sweep with both the fastest male and fastest female.

Fastest Female, Telemark’s Julia Ransom completed the 30 KM skathlon in 1:29:37.  Julia also won the hill climb in 3 minutes 31 seconds and ALSO the downhill challenge in 5 minutes 58 seconds.

Fastest Male, also from the Telemark club, Ian Williams was fastest male with a finish time of 1:16:45.  Ian also won the hill climb in 2 minutes 48 seconds and ALSO won the downhill challenge in 5 minutes 21 seconds.

Congratulations Julia and Ian.  Complete results are available on Zone 4.

Photo credit Olaf Dijkstra.