Ski-Cross Canada

Today was a perfect day for racing. Clear and sunny, and the course was in great condition after yesterdays snowfall.
The racing was intense and aggressive because it was a fight to get to the first turn in the lead. Every heat had its share of rubbing and leaning for position out of the start.

In the women’s event, Julia Murray had a very French initiation into her first World Cup event with Meyrll Boulangeat (#2 in the World) and eventual winner Ophelie David (#1 in the World) in her first heat. She had a slow start , but is realizing that she might have the ability to compete with those girls. Julia finished with 9th place in her first World Cup Ski Cross. She’s fired up for Flaine.

Ashleigh was strong all the way to the final, but endured a hip check in the quarter-final a separated shoulder in the semi to get there. She was unable to make it to the start for the final and finished in 4th. We will be evaluating her condition over the next 2 days.

Davey Barr had one of his best World Cup races ever. Hole shots in the first round and quarter finals carried him to the semi-finals with heat wins, but unfortunately, what we now call a “Davey Barr-ge,” caused his elimination in the Semi’s. His false start allowed Stan to time the start perfectly and follow Casey Puckett to the finish for a birth in the final. Stan then jumped the gun a bit in the final, but managed to hang onto third, behind Thomas Krauss, and Casey Puckett for his second podium in the last 2 events.
Davey was able to survive a shot in the nose from a gate in the consolation final to finish 6th. It looked like he had just come from a “Grateful Dead” concert when he crossed the finish in his newly “tie-dyed” blood red and orange Columbia race suit. The wound in his nose required 3 stitches to stop the bleeding.

Del Bosco was sitting in second place during his first round heat, but went down in “yardsale” fashion when he came up to quick on the heat leader and left his equipment behind in a cloud of snow. He finished 17th on the day, and is absolutely convinced that his luck is about to turn. He is fine, but the snow down his pants “froze his decals.”

Bennett had some trouble getting out of the start in the first round, and was unable to make up the difference. He ended the day where he started, in 20th.
RESULTS

WOMEN

1. Ophelie David (FRA)
2. Hedda Berntsen (NOR)
3. Meryl Boulangeat
4. Ashleigh McIvor

9. Julia Murray
15. Anik Demers-Wild

Allysa Willson – DNS

MEN

1. Thomas Kraus
2. Casey Puckett
3. Stanley Hayer

6. Davey Barr
17. Chris Del Boscoe
21. Brian Bennett

Dave Duncan – DNQ
Cam Culbert – DNQ

It was one of those days were Mother Nature can really try your patients. You’re up, your ready, and you can’t see a bloody thing! These were the conditions that met the Canadian SkiCross team at the Airwaves Games held at, the usually beautiful, Tignes Resort in France. Just over the pass from Val d’Isere, Tignes boasts year round training in the high alpine and is a customary two-week stop for many of Canada’s junior racers come summer training season. This week however, it played host to one of the biggest “X-game” style events in Europe providing the best spectacle around for all things extreme.

Tuesday had been scheduled as the day for all the competitors to train on the course and familiarize themselves with the terrain and features. Wednesday was to be an inspection, qualifying and the race day. However, at the conclusion of Tuesday’s training it was decided that some changes needed to be made to the features on the course.

Wednesday morning saw amostly overcast day with periods of snow and the mercury hovered around 0 degrees Celsius. It was a new day and a new course that faced the competitors today. The changes that took place the day before resulted in a condensed schedule that included another session of training, giving the athletes an opportunity to re-familiarize themselves with the course. By all reports, the “new & improved” course was demanding. Bigger air, changes to the rhythm and a packed schedule all made for a long day of racing.

Being an invite only event, based on last seasons results, the Canadian Ski Cross team was running with 6 out of the customary 10 athletes for today’s event with the 4 new members already training in Les Contamines, France, the site of the first FIS event of 2008. The format for the Airwaves event is identical to the format used during the X-games, each heat sees 6 athletes in the start and the top 3 from every round advance. This differs from the FIS or Jeep Tour events that have just 4 competitors in the start and only the top 2 advancing to the next heat. In the start today for the Women was Anik Demers-Wild and Ashleigh McIvor. For the Men were Stanley Hayer, Chris Del Boscoe, Davey Barr and Brian Bennett.

For our women’s team,today’s race was an exercise in maturity and restraint. Anik Demers-Wild along with the coaches decided that she be withdrawn from the race given the poor visibility. The light did improve for Ashleigh McIvor’s run, however, she was flagged during the training run and was not given the opportunity to challenge the biggest feature on the course. When it came time to qualify this would be her undoing. Unable to find her line inshe was forced from the track and did not finish the run. Both athletes were frustrated but physically fine.

On the men’s side, all 4 athletes were off to a strong start with everyone qualifying in the top 10. Thanks, in part, to the dynamic tuning duo of Josh and Willi Wiltz, and their tireless efforts in the wax room.

The quarter-finals saw Hayer and Del Boscoe in the 1^st heat and Barr and Bennett in the 3^rd. Hayer was able to find the hole shot and won the run while Del Boscoe got pinched out the back of the pack and had rally his way back into contention by making a series of miraculous passes to end up in 3^rd spot and advance to the next round.

In the heat with Barr and Bennett, Barr was able to grab third spot off the mark and held it to the finish, Brian Bennett settled into 4^th spot off the mark and was unable to gain any ground ending the race in 4^th spot and out of contention.

The semi-finals saw Hayer and Del Bosco matched again in the 1^st heat with Barr running in the 2^nd heat. Through a series of tangles out of the start both Del Boscoe and Barr found themselves out of the top 3 and out of contention. Del Boscoe finished the day in 7^th place and Barr ended in 9^th. There were no injuries and both athletes walked away unscathed. Hayer managed to finish in second spot and secured himself a spot in the final.

By all accounts the final was tight. Michael Schmidt of Switzerland squeezed the hole shot from Stanley out of the gate and maintained his lead throughout the race. Stanley, in a fierce battle for second place that went right down to the wire, was able to fend off Casey Puckett of the United States to hold on to second spot.

“Given the nature of the course and the weather conditions we had to contend with, we had a pretty good day,” said Eric Archer, Head Coach of the team. “We’re really happy with Stanley’s performance and the other guys fought a good fight, we are also really proud of Anik and Ashleigh for having the wisdom and maturity to make the tough decisions, it’s never an easy one to make when there’s pride on the line.”

Mother Nature played a huge role in today’s event. The snow moved in early this morning and grew steadily heavier throughout the training and qualifying races. About 15 cm fell before noon, and only the late starting men had decent vision for the qualifying trial. The accumulation of snow resulted in a single-track race with little passing.

For the Canadian men in qualifying, Davey Barr led the men in 6th position, Stanley Hayer in 15th, Chris Del Bosco 18th, and Brian Bennett in 31st. The two Rookies, Dave Duncan and Cam Culbert attacked from the back of the pack and qualified 23rd and 24th respectively.

Cam Culbert had an impressive first heat, getting out of the start well and positioning himself behind the eventual winner, Tomas Krauss, and following him down for a birth in the quarterfinals. He was eliminated in the quarterfinal and finished the day in 14th.

Chris Del Bosco also tucked into second in his first round heat behind Enak Gavaggio and moved onto the quarters.

In Heat 8 of the men’s first round, saw an unlucky match up with 3 out of 4 competitors being Canadian team members Stanley Hayer, Dave Duncan and Brian Bennett. Unfortunately, the 4th skier was Michael Schmid who qualified 2nd and had just won at Tignes Airwaves Games. Stanley Hayer battled teammate Dave Duncan into the first turn for second in the heat. Schmid had a great start and Stan settled into 2nd place. Dave and Brian Bennett finished 3rd and 4th in the heat and 26th and 31st on the day.

Davey Barr had lane choice in his first round heat, but chose wrong and ran into some soft snow off of the first jump. He had a great start, but was slowed down and was passed on the landing. He was disappointed in third for that heat and his day ended early in 18th. “I can’t believe I chose that lane for the start. I should have picked the lane that we started out of for the qualifying heat with all the soft snow around. I thought I had a better line to the first turn, but the snow was slow there. I learned a lesson today and I won’t do that again.”

Chris and Stan met each other in their quarterfinal heat along with Enak Gavaggio and Michael Schmid. They came out of the start with Chris in 3rd and Stan in 4th. Further down the course, Chris made a daring pass on Schmid and held on to move into the semi-finals behind Gavaggio. Stanley was unable to find his energy in the quarterfinal and ended his day in 11th. “I felt sluggish and had no energy. I was tired today and just couldn’t get it going.”

Del Bosco’s run to the final ended in the semi’s by finishing 3rd in his heat. “I was all over him (Richard Spallinger) the whole way down! I just couldn’t find the room to get by him this time,” said Chris after his semi heat. He went back around and fought it out with Lars Lewen in the consolation final and bird-dogged him all the way to the finish, but couldn’t lay down the pass there either. He had a strong day finishing 6th in only his 2nd World Cup.

Ashleigh McIvor decided to give it a go, despite her sore shoulder, and at least try for another qualifying result to go with her 4th place finish in Les Contamines. She qualified in 7th position and was happy to get down the course. Julia Murray was a solid rookie again with 9th. Anik Demers had trouble on her qualifying run and finished outside the top 20. Gillian McFettridge shook out the cobwebs and made it to the finish today, but missed qualifying for the heat racing by .2 of a second in 19th. Alyssa Wilson had a crash during her run, but jumped back up and made it to the finish. She was 30th in qualifying.

Julia raced hard today in her first heat getting out of the start in 3rd. She was following Magdelena Iljans when Iljans crashed in front of her. When asked what happened Julia said, “I’m not sure, I think Magda crashed and then I skied over her helmet and then I think I crashed too. I don’t know for sure, but I’m a little sore.” Julia finished the day in 12th.

The story of the day was Ashleigh. 3 days ago, it took doctors 20 minutes to get her shoulder back into place after separating it in the semi-finals in Les Contamines. She was only going to try to get a good result by qualifying well today. In round 1, she found herself in 2nd out of the start and decided to go with it, moving into the semi-finals. After a slow start in the semi’s, she pulled off the course and decided to regroup for the consolation final. She pulled out of the start and somehow managed the hole shot and pulled away from Karin Huttary to win the heat, and finish 5th on the day. Erik Archer had this to say about Ashleigh, ‘I really didn’t think she would want to race but I thought if we could get her to just get to finish in qualifying, she’d keep a decent FIS rank for next year. Adrenaline carried her through today and she kept going around for more. She showed me some incredible guts today.”

MEN’S RESULTS

1ST THOMAS KRAUS
2ND ENAK GAVAGGIO
3RD RICHARD SPALINGER

6TH CHRIS DEL BOSCO
11TH STANLEY HAYER
14TH CAM CULBERT
18TH DAVEY BARR
26TH DAVE DUNCAN
31ST BRIAN BENNETT

WOMEN’S RESULTS

1ST MERYL BOULANGEAT
2ND JENNY OWENS
3RD NORIKO FUKUSHIMA

5TH ASHLEIGH MCIVOR
12TH JULIA MURRAY
19TH JILL MCFETRIDGE
21ST ANIK DEMERS-WILD
31ST ALYSSA WILSON

CHRIS DEL BOSCO & ANIK DEMERS-WILD CROWNED CANADIAN CHAMPIONS AT FIRST CANADIAN SKI CROSS CHAMPIONSHIP HELD AT RED MOUNTAIN RESORT, BC.
RED MOUNTAIN RESORT, BC (April 1st, 2008) – Fresh off a pair of podiums at the final Jeep Tour event in Sun Valley, Id, Chris Del Bosco (Sudbury, ON) and Anik Demers-Wild (Lac Beauport, QB.) kept their streak alive yesterday when they were crowned Men’s and Women’s Canadian Ski Cross Champions for 07/08 season.

A gorgeous blue bird sky with just a skiff of new snow was the order of the day for the first Canadian Ski Cross Championships held at Red Mountain Resort, BC.

When the dust finally settled in the Men’s Final Heat, Chris Del Bosco (Sudbury, Ont) took top prize followed closely by Davey Barr (Whistler, BC) finishing in 2nd spot and Dave Duncan (Golden, BC) in 3rd Stanley Hayer (Calgary, AB) finished the day in 4th.

“It was a great final, we’ve been battling all season long and it just felt good, it’s a pretty big honor to crowned the first ever Canadian Champ and I look forward to defending it next year.” – Chris Del Bosco

In the Women’s Final Heat, Anik Demers-Wild (Lac Beauport, QB) held off advances from Kelsey Serwa (Kelowna, BC) who ended the day in 2nd place, Alyssa Wilson (Whistler, BC.) in 3rd and Maris Lush (Burlington, ON) rounded out the heat in 4th place

“I’m really proud, I’ve been involved with the sport for a lot of years so it’s really good to see the growing enthusiasm for the sport in Canada and it’s nice to be recognized in your home country.  Training all summer on conveyor rollers really helped.” – Anik Demers-Wild.

MEN’S FINAL RESULTS

1. Chris Del Bosco (Sudbury, ON)
2. Davey Barr (Whistler, BC)
3. Dave Duncan (Golden, BC)
4. Stanley Hayer (Calgary, AB)
5. Eric Archer (Aspen, CO)
6. Alain Bovet (Montreal, QC)
7. Ben Thompson (Invermere, BC)
8. Mathew Torrie (Lynnwood, WA, USA)

WOMEN’S FINAL RESULTS

1. Anik Demers-Wild (Lac Beauport, QC)
2. Kelsey Serwa (Kelowna, BC)
3. Alyssa Wilson (Whistler, BC)
4. Maris Lush (Burlington, ON)
5. Justine Parent (St. Sauveur, QC)
6. Julia Murray (Whistler, BC)
7. Andra Nedelcu (Vancouver, BC)
8. Sarah Floyd (Burnaby, BC)

JUNIOR MEN’S FINAL RESULTS

1. Ross Nevison (Prince George, BC)
2. Mackenzie Bailey (Calgary, AB)
3. Jake Muffly (Rossland, BC)
4. Patrick Gibson (Calgary, AB)

JUNIOR WOMEN’S FINALS

1. Sarah Floyd (Burnaby, BC)
2. Katie Gibson (Calgary, BC)

We would like to extend a big thanks to all of the people at Red Mountain Resorts because without their tireless efforts the event would never taken the shape that it did. A BIG thanks to Erik Kalacis, General Manager and Ski Cross Guru, Gilles Bellerose the man with a savage eye for detail. The band of gypsy Swedes, Mataus, Fredrick, Tobius and Yan (not a Swede but still a good guy), who worked like a damn to  make sure there was no powder on the course and finally, Sean Kavanagh, who’s moves were slicker than grease behind the stick of the cat and created a great course that was perfect for all levels. Again, we can’t thank you enough for you generosity and hospitality.

On a side note to the Swedes, Gentlemen, we are working on the telemark cross event for 2014, but the IOC won’t go for it without more Pyrotechnics. Next year flaming Tele-Cross we just need to work on an insurance provider.

Have a great summer