Maja Interviewed by News Reporter Bill Payment

2010-2011 Season!

Maja's second season of competitive skiing is already underway. This will be Maja's second season at the K1 Level. The entire competitive level group has been taking part in dryland training and fitness testing starting in early September with weekend and midweek sessions. On-snow training will start with a week of training at Apex Resort as soon as the mountain opens for team training. Apex is located close to Penticton and is one of the first mountains to open in B.C. It is a very popular training location with many alpine ski teams. The first official event of the seaon will be at Whistler in December.
As many of you know we have also been fundraising and again we are overwhelmed by the positive response from the generous businesses and people of Campbell River, especially in todays tough economy. Thank you to everyone for your support. We will keep you up to date throughout the season with the blog and e-mails. Think Snow!

Mudbowl

Maja's Junior Development Soccer team took part in the

annual Mudbowl tournament in Port Mcneill on May 1-2.

It rained most of the weekend as expected but it was a

good time and a fun tournament. The Campbell River

team took home the title for the U-12 division, winning

all of their games.

This video clip can also be found on YouTube

in slightly better quality.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8fhepVA0XI

Entrepreneur Fair

Maja has been working hard on her project for an

Entrepreneur Fair at her school. The students

had to come up with an idea for a product, then

produce the product and sell it at the fair,

trying to make profit after expenses. Maja's

product line was based around stones she collected

of varying sizes which were polished, lacquered and

drilled as needed to make necklaces, earrings,pocket

rocks and garden rocks. The fair was held

on April 23rd. She made $81 after expenses.

The profits will offset the cost of a field trip

to Strathcona Park in June towards which each

student needs to raise $175.

Speed Camp

At the end of the season the race program members get the

mountain for themselves for three days for a speed camp.

This is so they can set a Super Giant Slalom course they can train

on safely without other skiers on the hill. They start at 7am

and ski until noon to take advantage of the early morning icy snow.

Once the snow softens they can't make use of the snow due to ruts

forming and it simply gets too slow to be worthwhile.

They use a radar gun on the kids to check their speeds.

Maja's fastest speed was 86 kph coming into the first of two jumps.

She was skiing on Super G skis borrowed from her coach.

They were 175cm! Her longest skis, for Giant slalom are 155cm.

The fastest speed was put in by Gabe Pare at 98 kph.

Gabe is 15, in his 2nd year of K2.

Maja had to miss the last day of the camp due to her

entrepreneur fair for school being held that day.

Maja and her 175's

Maja cruising through the air at 86 kph

Rearview of Gabe at 98 kph

Ski Club Year End Awards and Banquet

The Mt. Washington Ski Club held their year end awards
presentation and banquet on April 3rd. It was a fun evening
and the food was excellent. There were numerous awards,
speeches and presentations throughout the evening.
Maja was presented with the K1 Fastest Female Award.
Kole Harle received Fastest K1 male.
Probably the biggest award of the night went to Lindsay Frame.
She received the Ben Bellamy award which is given to an athlete
based on sportsmanship, mentoring , teamwork and a supportive,
positive attitude toward everyone around them.
Ben Bellamy was a member of the race program who died tragically
and is remembered for his positive attitude towards sports, his
team mates and coaches.
The award was presented by his brother Lucien Bellamy.

Free Skiing with Pappa

With the last race of the season done and the season almost

over the girls took a Monday morning to ski with their dad.

It's pretty cool to see these young girls skiing gnarly terrain.

Not too sure if anyone but pappa likes this steep terrain though.

Coast Zone Finals

The Coast Zone Finals were held on Mt.Washington from April 2-4.

The club worked tirelessly to pull off this event but the weather just

wasn't going to cooperate. Friday April 2nd saw volunteers arriving

on the hill as early as 6:30 am with racers from around the province

waiting to compete. The snow had been pouring in all night and it

wouldn't let up all day with winds as high as 95 mph, that's right

mph, recorded at the summit. The entire mountain was without

power most of the day with no skiing operations and obviously no

racing. This spelled the end for the Super Giant Slalom which the

K1's would have been skiing for the first and only time this season.

Saturday brought a break in the weather but with all the new snow

the course was very soft and difficult to maintain. It was a lot of

work to clear all that new snow and set and maintain a slalom

course but a successful day of slalom racing was accomplished.

Sunday morning there was 15-20 cm of new snow with snow still

coming down to the point the race coaches decided the Giant Slalom

could not safely go on. It is impossible to hold an Alpine ski race in

fresh powder. At least the visiting skiers got to sample some of

Washington's fresh snow which we've been fortunate to have an

abundance of this season.

The Mt. Washington skiers did post some excellent results for the

slalom event and it was nice to see the race season end on such a

strong performance at home.

Maja finished 10th overall for the K1's and 3rd of the first year

racers, just a second behind her team mate Keegan McCooey who

placed 6th overall and 2nd of first years. Awesome!

The boys were also impressive with Liam Gilchrist placing 3rd,

Logan Frame 5th, Cole Anderson 6th and Robbie Yelland 9th.

Kole Harle raced hard but did not finish his race.

Maja's little sister Sylvi was selected to compete in an add-on race

for the K-Star group. She is actually 6 weeks too young for this

group but was invited to compete with racers one to two years

older. She finished in second place! Way to go Sylvi.

We didn't get too many photos of this event as we were all very

busy sweeping the course and working to keep the course in shape

for the racers. It was a very busy weekend for only getting in

one day of racing.

Maja out of the start gate!

Sylvi on course.

Maja and Sylvi with Robbie Yelland.

Report Cards!

As we discussed with Maja at the beginning of the season
she has to keep up on her schoolwork if she wants
any chance of ski racing again next year. She has
done an excellent job.
Maja received her report card for the spring last week.
As of March 1st she had missed 26.5 days of school,
almost entirely to skiing. What a bum. A ski bum that is.
Maja managed to bring home five "A's and three "B's after
missing all that school during her first year in late French
Immersion. Way to go Maja, keep up the good work.
Not to be outdone, her little sister came home just one
"A" shy of all "A"'s after jumping up a grade this year.
Yes, we are proud and can't resist bragging a little.

Coast Zone Finals

Maja's next event will be the last race of the season and it will
be held at Mt. Washington! We will host the Coast Zone Finals
from April 2-4. The racers will compete in Super Giant Slalom
for the first and only time this season, first time ever for Maja.
Super G is a full on speed event, one step down from the always
risky and exciting Downhill event.
Maja's little sister, Sylvi, will also be competing. She was one of
5 skiers from Mt. Washington chosen to compete at the
K-Star level, which includes ages 9-11. Sylvi turned 9 in February.
This was unexpected and will be Sylvi's first race of this level and
first time skiing Giant Slalom.
We would love to see you all on the hill cheering them on. It will
be an exciting event and with over 600cm of snow on the hill
you'll get some great skiing in too!

Paranationals at Mt. Washington

Mt. Washington Hosted the Paranational Nor-Am Finals March 25-27.

This was a huge event put on by the Ski Club and Mt. Washington.

There were competitors from all over North America.

Maja was chosen to forerun one of the events. Forerunners race

the course right before the competitors to ensure it's ready, safe and

all systems such as timing are functioning.

The local skiers got a chance to meet with some very high caliber,

world class athletes, such as Canada's Lauren Woolstencroft, who

took home FIVE Gold medals at the Paralympics in Vancouver.

Maja and Sylvi chased her down for a photo.

Provincials at Red Mountain

The K1 team competed in the Provincial Championships at
Red Mountain March 19-21. There were six events in total,
2 slalom, 2 giant slalom and 2 kombi. Maja had a very solid
weekend, this time posting her best result in Slalom.
There were a lot of excellent racers from all over the
province at this event. There were 95 k1 females , 45 of them
first year racers like Maja. Maja's best result was her first
slalom on day one.
She finished 31st overall and 12th out of the first year racers.
Nice skiing Maja, 31st of 95 and 12th of 45 for all of B.C.
Her team mate Keegan McCooey finished 44th overall,
also a great result.
Maja's other results were well placed in the middle of the field.
I'll list her overall placing, then a backslash followed by her
placing amongst the first years, and Keegan's overall results as well.
Day one Salom#2 48/19, Keegan 46.
Day two GS#1 60/19, Keegan 64.
Day two GS#2 61/18, Keegan 72.
Day three Kombi#1 53/19, Keegan 48
Day three Kombi#2 47/16, Keegan 68.

The boys had a phenomenal weekend. Kole Harle placed
15th overall in the GS, 4th among the first year racers and
earned himself a qualification to compete at the Whistler Cup.
Awesome.
Liam Gilchrist also placed 15th in the Kombi,
also 4th among the first years.
Logan Frame placed 21st overall in the Kombi and had four
placings in the top 30 of his six events.
Robbie Yelland placed 37th overall in the Slalom,
10th out of the first year racers.
Cole Anserson placed 19th in the Slalom.
There were 101 male K1's, 42 of them first year racers.

The Mt. Washington Team Van.

Maja's 1st GS Run

Maja's 2nd GS Run

Little Sister Peaks at Sun Peaks

Sylvi Travelled to Sun Peaks March 13 & 14 for the

Nancy Greene Festival. There were team events and

some individual events for slalom, kombi, moguls

and jumping. The kids all got to meet Nancy and Sylvi's

team took home the Gold Medal for Team Slalom.

They didn't award individual times for slalom

which is unfortunate as this was Sylvi's best event.

She posted the second best result for Snow Star

level 2, for both the boys and girls!

Number one for the girls!

She tied 4th in jump, 6th in Kombi, 13th in moguls

and tied 4th for speed. There were 37 girls in her

age group (8 years old as of Dec 31, 09).

The Gold Medal Team!

Sylvi, Emily Johnston, Sam Purcell and Kieran Nilsen.

Missing are Kieran Harley, Shea McCooey

and Justin Watt

Hanging Out with Senator Greene

Sylvi Skiing Slalom

Photos and Video from B.C. Winter Games

Check out the photos and video provided by Maja's Grandpa Craig
from the Winter Games in Terrace.

See the earlier post for results from this race.

The Mt. Washington K1's

The Mt. Washington K1 Girls

Course Inspection

The Giant Slalom on Slow Snow and Ruts!

B.C. Winter Games Results

Maja returned from Terrace absolutely exhausted. Sleeping arrangements consisted of 30 kids on the floor to a classroom and they were up at 5:30 the first two days and about 4am the last day. Bedtime after activities was around 10 pm so these kids were pooched. Conditions at Shames were not very good as there was so little snow that training was cut to a couple of runs on training day as the kids were skiing right through the snow into the dirt after a couple of runs. Shames usually rivals all other resorts in North America for snow pack. Maja trained again this weekend and will leave for the next race at Red Mountain on Wednesday.
It's been a busy week so we will post some results for now and add photos later.
Maja skied very well and is consistently placing in the middle of the pack for the K1 group for both first and second year skiers. She definitely prefers the speed of the giant slalom and is getting better results in this event so far this year.
The first day of racing was the GS event with two runs and a combined time. Maja placed 26th of 46 overall and 5th of 17 for first year K1's. A very good result against some great competition from all over B.C. Nicely done Maja. Her team mate Keegan McCooey finished well at 31st overall.
Day two was slalom, also with two runs and a combined time. Maja almost fell but recovered and finished her first run, then managed to put in a good time for her second run to still finish 33rd of 46 overall and 10th of 17 for first years. Keegan put in two great runs coming in at 29th overall. One first year from Vernon finished in the top ten.
Day three was a single slalom run. Maja matched her GS spot at 26th of 46 overall and 8th of 17 for the first year racers. Keegan finished right behind Maja at 9th or 30th overall. The same first year girl from Vernon again made it into the top ten. For the most part the top 15 spots were held by second year K1's for all the events.
This was a tiring trip for all the kids and for a bunch of 12 and 13 year old kids they did very well we think to make it through the event without an exhausted meltdown.

Off to the B.C. Winter games

Maja left for the B.C. Winter Games in Terrace

on Wednesday afternoon. They left on a bus for Comox

at 4pm, fly out of Comox at 7pm, arrive in Terrace at 8:30.

Their breakfast is at 6am, then dryland warmup.

They will compete in Giant Slalom on Friday and Slalom

on both Saturday and Sunday. It looks as though they may only

get a single run each day as there is almost no snow on

Shames mountain, which usually has one of the biggest

snow packs in North America.

Opening ceremonies are on Thursday evening and closing

ceremonies on Sunday at 1:30. There will be all kinds

of fun events for the athletes such as swimming,

a video dance party and a hypnotist. The kids all sleep in

classrooms in groups of 20 to 30 kids. There are over 1100

competitors in everything from Badminton to Biathlon

Maja will likely be exhausted coming home. They fly out of

Terrace at 11:50 pm Sunday, arrive in Comox at 1:25 am Monday

and into Campbell River by bus at 2:15 am Monday morning!

Only her Grandpa Craig could be more tired after this trip.

He left on Tuesday morning and is driving up and back,

all by himself just to cheer the kids on.

Now that's dedication.

We will post more information after they return.

Little Sister Steals the Spotlight

Mt. Washington Ski Club held their annual Nancy Greene Toy Race

on February 27 & 28. This event had age groups from 4 years old

to 10 years old. Every competitor gets a toy and a medal.

There were events for speed, long jump, parallel slalom

and Kombi. Sylvi competed in the 8 year old girls category

as it represents your age as of Dec 31, 09.

Sylvi had an excellent weekend, finishing 3rd in jump,

2nd in speed ,1st in Parallel Slalom and 1st in the Kombi.

Sylvi had the fastest Kombi time in her age

group and had the 11th fastest time of all the age groups for

boys and girls. There were about 8 to 12 competitors in each

age group for the boys and girls, so for the 8 year old group

and up there would be about 30 competitors her age and older.

Nice skiing Sylvi.

Lorena Joy Doyle- February 14, 2010

The family was all shocked with the sudden passing of Nana on Valentines Day. Joy had been ill for the last few weeks but no one suspected we would lose her so suddenly. Joy was Maja and Sylvi's Great Grandmother, Mother to Jenny's dad, Craig and his sister Kerry. She was a wonderful, sweet Nana and will be missed deeply by the whole family. A service and a celebration of life for Joy was held on February 23. So many family events and gatherings will never be the same without Joy.

The race season has been on hold mostly due to the Olympics with training three days a week ongoing but no events. Maja leaves for the B.C. Winter Games in Terrace on March 3 ,returning on March 7. It will be an exciting trip for her and the K1 team. They will be flying from Vancouver and her steadfast groupie, Grandpa Craig will be driving up to cheer her on.

Grouse Race Cancelled

The team was supposed to be racing at Grouse Mountain

for the weekend of January 30-31, but the event was

cancelled at the last minute due to lack of snow.

Unfortunately they waited too long to announce the

cancellation so there was not enough time to transport all

the equipment that travels around the Coast Zone to

set up these races. It was offered to hold this event at

Mt. washington if there had been enough notice.

Mt. Washington will host the Coast Zone Finals

in the spring as they usually do.

The Grouse race may be made up at a later date

at Norquay Resort. Due to the Olympics there is an

unusually long break during February without events, largely

due to so many of the trained and experienced race directors

and course workers from the province being employed and

utilized at the Olympic Winter games.

The team trained on hill instead.

Maja trained Friday, Saturday and Sunday

morning then travelled to play soccer

in Campbell River against Port Alberni

with her Junior Development team at 12:30.

The team won 2-0.

Hemlock Race

The second race of the season was at Hemlock B.C.

This was a Slalom & Giant Slalom event for the K1 racers.

This was another Coast Zone event with Whislter, Cypress

Grouse and others among the attending teams.

Only Maja's Grandpa was with her on this trip and we haven't

viewed actual times or results other than we were

told Maja placed in the top half of the field for all

her runs. As always this includes 1st and 2nd year K1's

so she has also placed very well at this event. We have not seen

a breakdown for her age group only for this event.

The goal at this stage in her competitive career is to place well

and reduce her points to improve her start position at these races.

Having start positions towards the bottom of the pack is the

biggest hurdle to get over for first year competitors.

It is a huge disadvantage as the course gets severly

rutted out as the field of skiers runs through.

The star first year K1 at this event was Kole Harle

of Campbell River. He placed third , which is an outstanding

achievement at this level. All of the Mt. Washington

competitors placed well in this event and were

able to reduce their points, which means they

raised their standings.

Waiting for course inspection.

Dinner time.

Couldn't leave this one out as we're

sure Mr. Logan Frame would be

very upset if it was.

King or Queen of Fashion Sense?

One of Maja's Giant Slalom Runs.

Group Photos

The Ski Club took group photos with

the Olympic Torch and an actual Gold medal

from the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona.

Local Andrew Crosby was a member of the

coxed eight rowing team which won the medal.

This is the Competitive Race Level

K1 & K2 team for the 2009-2010 season.

Somehow Maja has placed herself front and center!

Hmmm, how'd that happen?

Courier Islander Article

There was a small article in the sports section of the

Campbell River Courier Islander Friday January 29th edition.

The article summarizes the results of the Campbell River

members of the ski team. There is a photo in the actual

newspaper that doesn't appear online. The photo caption reads

as Clinton Wood but the actual racer in the photo is

Mt. Washington FIS racer Mathieu Leduc.

The following is a link to the article on the Courier's website.

http://www2.canada.com/courierislander/news/sports/story.html?id=fd174f0c-7827-4be0-8f02-42d8a1cd846e

Maja Turns 12

Maja turned 12 on January 7th, the day the team

left for their next race at Hemlock. Team mate Keegan

McCooey spent the night to leave the next morning and

the girls made cupcakes for the whole team. This is the rule,

the birthday person must supply cake for the whole team!

Maja decided last year she was done with winter birthday

parties and postponed her party till the summer, which she

decided was a good program for this year as well. We did of

course have the family get together as soon as she returned

from Hemlock.

Ahhh , the sweet life of Maja!

Surprise!

I believe Maja was surprised to get an Ipod

mostly due to her Draconian Father's attitude that

cellphones and mp3 players are evil in the hands

of youth and she will be the last of her friends to

have either. Mission accomplished.

She has waited patiently and now doesn't need

to be the outsider in the team van trying to

sit close enough to hear her friends music.

The Birthday Song and Candle Scene.

Those are big hoops on those little ears.

Whistler race Photos and Video

Olympic Rings above finish corral on Dave Murray Downhill.

Start Gate on Dave Murray Downhill. Gear Everywhere.

Pre-race Preparation. Focus and Visualize.

Be the Tuck, feel the burn.

Giant Slalom

Maja-through the safety barrier netting.

Maja going through the finish line.

Maja's 2nd GS run.

The Speed Suit. Looks fast.

Lunch Time and a well deserved break.