The Batawa Ski Racing Club had another busy racing weekend hosting a U8/U10 Panel Slalom race on January 26 at Batawa Ski Hill. The U12 team was at Mount St. Louis Moonstone while the U14 team competed in Quebec at Camp Fortune.
In the U8 Girls race, Rayanne Hurley finished 2nd with Serenity Lake capturing 4th. Ahna McRae, Ella Empey, Stella Fry and Ava Noronha also had great races. In the U8 Boys race, Batawa took 4 of the top 5 places with Koby Hunt in 1st place, Lucas Allan in 2nd. Avery Forrest was 4th and Seth Bell finished 5th. Eli Cantelo also had a great race.
The Batawa Girls U10 team swept the podium with Olivia Bush finishing 1st, Remy Dullard-Krizay 2nd and Spirit Lake in 3rd. Annika Hirt was 4th and Peytra Papakiriazis was 5th. Marlie Wright, Lily Hunt, Ginny Blancher, Linnea Himberg-Larsen, Myla Empey, Olivia Fry and Lily Langlois all had great races. In the U10 Boys, Batawa captured the top 3 places on the podium with Milo Del Grosso finishing 1st, Tyler Brooker 2nd and Finn Nadolny 3rd. Jesse Nadolny was 4th. James McIlreath and Marcus Bowyer had fast races as well.
The Batawa U12 ski racing team had a great start to the season with 21 racers participating in the race at Glacier Ski Club this past Saturday. With over 150 racers participating our female racers had a strong showing with Kaelin Hearn finishing 11th, Maya Bianchi in 12th place and Madeline Fry in 25th place. Rachel Brady posted the second fastest time in her second run. The male racers were also a force led by Elio DeLuca placing 10th followed by Linden Forrest 17, Keith Bentley 18 and Luca Duchesne in 24th place. Great job everyone and congratulations to Quinlan Hurley, Ava Gravel, Tabitha Bentley, Luca Duchense and Callum Moore who all participated in their first race ever!
This past weekend, the Batawa U14 team travelled to Camp Fortune to train and also compete in an out of province race in a highly demanding Giant Slalom against some top Quebec teams. Unlike Ontario where Division 1 and 2 circuits exist to allow racers to compete at different levels, in Quebec they all compete at Level 1 events. With a field of around 180 racers and a highly challenging course setting, the attending ten Batawa racers had the excitement of dealing with some features found at the highest level of competition. After getting on the hill before dawn and experiencing the second run start order re-arranged by the reversal of the fastest 30 times in run one, they all gave their best effort. After the first run, Batawa placed one boy in 2nd place and two girls in 22nd and 26th positions with their times very close to the Top 10 in a tightly contested race. Unfortunately for Spencer Dullard-Krizay (2nd) and Alexia Bianchi (22nd) the second run went sour on a very challenging gate on the steep and icy pitch. Mia Del Grosso finished both runs and gained many positions to finish 19th. Ian Isbester, Zoe Osborne, Olivia Bell, Ruby Crews, Bodin MacDonald, Elliott Hirt and Elena De Luca all had strong races. The coaches are very proud of how all team members carried themselves in this event. Next Sunday, the U14 team travels to Snow Valley in Barrie for their second regular division race, competing in the first Slalom of the season.
For more information about our ski racing programs, please visit www.batawaskiracing.com.
(Press Release from Batawa Ski Club)