For the nine to twelve year olds on the Larch Hill Junior Race Team it was another action packed weekend at the Teck BC Midget Championships hosted by the Telemark Ski Team out of Kelowna. This race was for kids born between 2004 and 2007. Saturday was an action packed day, starting with a 2 km interval start classic ski race. The afternoon was the highlight relay event. Teams of four are formed and the first two racers classic ski and then second two racers skate ski a 1.5 km course. There are only two categories for the relays, boys and girls. Costumes are worn and some teams make a real effort and don pretty fantastic costumes. Saturday night the host club holds a banquet for all racers and then Sunday the King’s Court Sprint races were held. This event was especially exciting to watch at Telemark as they had a 300m course for the 2006/2007 kids and a 500m course for the 2004/2005 kids. Both race courses were running at the same time, making for very exciting spectating. Larch Hills was once again the dominating team and won the overall team trophy collecting 274 points to the second place Revelstoke team with 114 points.
Top 5 Larch Hills finishers in the 2 km classic race were: 2004 girls 1st Julianne Moore, 2nd Samantha Vukadinovic, 3rd Zara Bucher, 4th Isabelle Wilkie, 5th Katie Thielman; 2005 boys 2nd Mitchell Bond, 3rd Frankie Ayotte, 4th Eric Moore; 2005 Girls 2nd Hilary Vukadinovic; 2006 Boys 3rd Jonathon Breugem, 5th Ben Milne; 2007 Boys 1st Dawson Bond, 2nd Max Calkins; 2007 Girls 1st Jeremia Bucher.
For the Relays, the top Larch Hills boys’ team, The Rainbow Unicorns, came 3rd with Jabin Zuidhof, Eric Moore, Jacob Hepburn and Mitchell Bond. The powerful Larch Hills girls took first and second place in the relays. First was the Beach Bums made up of Julianne Moore, Talia Brown, Teslyn Bates and Samantha Vukadinovic. Second was the Lucky Larchies comprised of Isabelle Wilkie, Katie Thielman, Hilary Vukadinovic, and Zara Bucher.
The Kings Court Sprint race always adds a bit of drama and heartbreak as a fall or tactical error in one of the heats can cost you the win, but you always see great racing and kids competing to the best of their ability. Top five finishers in this event by age were: 2004 girls 1st Samantha Vukadinovic, 2nd Zara Bucher, 3rd Julianne Moore; 2005 boys 4thMitchell Bond, 5th Eli Decker; 2005 Girls 1st Hilary Vukadinovic; 2006 Girls 5th Tianna Zuidhof; 2007 Boys 4th Dawson Bond, 5th Max Calkins; 2007 Girls 1st Jeremia Bucher.
This was the last race of the season for most of the younger skiers. The older skiers are preparing for Nationals which are happening over Spring Break in Canmore, AB. Many Larch Hills ski families will be making the trek over the mountain to either compete in or spectate and see the best skiers in the country compete.