The Phoenix Mountain Racers ended their season on a high note, winning a team gold medal at the Kootenay Zone final race held at Whitewater Ski Resort near Nelson on March 11. This was the biggest race of the year with 135 kids competing from the West Kootenay region, including teams from Salmo, Red Mountain, Summit Lake, Whitewater and Phoenix.
“Our kids worked really hard this year and it has obviously paid off,” remarked Coach Ben Churchill. “You could feel the excitement in the air when the gold medal was announced for Phoenix.
Everyone started cheering like crazy and there were a lot of ear-to-ear smiles all around.”
Snow was falling heavily, initially delaying the race start as volunteers cleared the course.
“There were definitely some challenging aspects to the race,” Churchill noted. “It was a Kombi course – part slalom and part giant slalom and the snow just kept coming.
The Phoenix racers have been training in a variety of conditions though and we’d set up a Kombi course before so they were up for the challenge.
Everyone looked really good out there. It was a fantastic way to end the season.”
Next year our own Phoenix Mountain will host the zone finals, which could see upwards of 150 kids competing.
– Phoenix Mountain Racers