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.

Whistler-First race of the season.

Maja was pretty nervous about this one, understandably so. The week of training at Apex helped but she was feeling the pressure and she handled it very well. This race was for K1 and K2, meaning kids from age 11 to 14/15. They raced two Giant Slalom events on Saturday and the two Slalom events on Sunday were reduced to one run due to the horrible weather and snow conditions.
There was 81 female competitiors with 79 actually posting runs. Maja's times put her in 47th, 47th and 39th overall for the three events. This includes all the female racers in all age groups and categories. She placed 17th,16th and 19th in the K1 group out of 48. This includes second year K1's who are a year older and have a year of racing experience under their belts. She placed 3rd,3rd and 7th out of 18 if we compare her times only to the other first year K1's. She had a great weekend and came out feeling much relieved and certainly more confident. On her very first competitive run(ever), she was in tears at the bottom because somenone had taken her skis at the start area. Her coach finally told her to get into the first pair of skis that would fit her boots. She ended up skiing on skis that were 5cm longer than hers. In the end it turned out one of the K2 girls from her own club had jumped into her skis by accident so it all worked out in the end even if it was a little extra stress for Maja.  This event had a fairly high pool of talent and the Whistler racers dominated most of the events on the podium. The Coast Zone is considered the toughest to compete in for B.C. skiers mostly because of the strength of the Whistler team. Our club did have three boys place in the top ten in Slalom, and Kole Harle placed third overall in the boys K1 slalom, awesome.
Hope to post some photos and videos soon.

Apex Training Week

The Mt.Washington group spent a week of training at Apex Resort.

They were joined by several other Alpine Ski Teams from around

the province as well as the B.C. Masters. There were also several

International Aerials Teams there training at the same time.

Jenny and Craig(mom & grandpa) chaperoned for this event

and they thought the aerials teams were absolutely incredible

to watch. They had to prepare meals for 20 athletes every day.

The athletes were outside at 7 am each morning for

warm up/dryland training then breakfast and out onto the hill.

They also had afternoon dryland training and homework sessions.

All these athletes including the first year K1's are responsible

for tuning their own equipment daily.

Welcome to Apex!

Deluxe
Living!

Soccer at 7am?

What a way to start the day!

Pj's for early morning warmup

at minus 15degC!

A little Coaching to get things started.

Finally a little action!

...and a little attitude.

Dinner.....

homework,

...and tune the skis to

do it all again tomorrow.

Friends.

...and of course the Star

of the show.

Olympic Torch Relay in Campbell River

Mt Washington Ski Club taking part in the Campbell River Torch Relay Parade.

Maja and sister, Sylvi, with the Olympic Torch, Pretty Cool!

Cross Country Run in October

School District Cross Country Run in October

Maja's ski season schedule...so far.

Maja's ski season started in September with weekend dryland training and fitness testing. They have been training as a group most weekends since. Dryland training is a varied crosstraining program covering strength, cardio, balance, coordination and agility training.
Her on snow training started when Mt. Washington opened early in late November and kicked into high gear with a week of training at Apex Resort. The group consisted of 20 racers ranging from 11 to 15 years old , as well as coaches and chaperones. Maja was lucky to have her mom and grandpa with her as chaperones on this trip.
Maja's first race was at Whistler on December 18th and 19th......