Team BC’s Mel Pemble captures silver in alpine for an excited Prince George crowd

By Julianne Zussman, Team BC Mission Staff

All members of the Team BC alpine team were in action today at Purden Mountain.  Mel Pemble (Victoria) earned a silver medal in the ladies’ para-slalom, her second piece of hardware from the 2015 Canada Winter Games.  Chelaine McInroy (Armstrong) was the only sit-skier to complete both runs of the day, finishing in fifth and earning important flag points for Team BC.

Frances MacDonald (North Vancouver) and Kasper Woolley (Squamish) both narrowly missed the podium in their respective races.  Many Team BC athletes were within reach of the podium in an exciting spectator sport that comes down to fractions of a second.

“We don’t get a lot of crowds at most of our races, and it was cool to have people cheering,” said Woolley.  “I don’t really hear anything when I’m on the course, but right as I cross the line and I look up, it’s pretty cool.”

A big section of the noise was coming from a group of Prince George U12 ski racers.  Prince George Ski Club is running a 3-day camp in conjunction with the Games, targeted at the next generation of Games’ athletes.  The group is a combination of the Alpine Development U12 skiers and the Nancy Greene group, all of whom are eligible for the Red Deer Games in 2019.  Alison Hoskins, VP Finance at Integris Credit Union and a parent of a club athlete, came up with the idea for the camp and organized funding. Alice Muirhead, U12 Development Coach, wrote the curriculum for the camp, which focuses on six factors that influence performance: technique, tactics, equipment, environment, physical and psychological.

“Those six factors remind them that it’s not talent or luck that will separate them from other athletes at the next level, but specific facets that they can train,” said Muirhead.

The young athletes also spent time watching and learning from the current Team BC athletes.  At the end of the day they crowded around McDonald, Woolley, Kristina Natalenko (New Westminster), Ella Renzoni (West Vancouver), Nicole Mah (Vancouver), Katie Fleckenstein (West Vancouver), Sierra King (West Vancouver), and Brooke Lukinuk (Kelowna) to ask questions about their ski experiences.  Muirhead drew attention to the fact that both groups could take something away from the experience.

“I think it reminds [the older athletes] of where they’ve come from, and keeps them connected to the roots of ski racing,” said Muirhead.  “For the younger kids, it’s totally inspiring, it really brings it home that this is possible for them to achieve this level of performance.”

The final event of alpine competition, ski cross, will start tomorrow with qualification runs beginning at 1 p.m. at Tabor Mountain.

See Canada Games live streaming at www.canadagamestv.ca and follow live updates on Twitter from @GoTeamBC with the hashtag #TBCAlpine.