This past weekend, Foothills Nordic Ski Club and the Rocky Mountain Racers co-hosted the Alberta Provincial Championships and last Alberta Cup races for this season. On Friday and Saturday, over 170 racers enjoyed sunny skies for a free technique mass start race and a classic technique individual start race.. Many Foothills athletes were on the podium both days and congratulations to all racers, young and older.
On Sunday, 44 teams from Atoms to Masters competed on 3-person team relays. Despite soft snow conditions, good racing was still enjoyed by all. Strong efforts and great participation by the many Foothills teams enabled our club to capture the Alberta Cup Team Relay Aggregate award. Plus, based on cumulative points for all the 2015/2016 Alberta Cup events, Foothills was also awarded the 2016 Aggregate Club Champion banner and accompanying trophy on Sunday!
The race Organizing Committee would again like to send out a heartfelt thank you to all the volunteers who helped to make this such as successful event. Without your efforts we could not host this type of event for so many to enjoy.
These races were the first ones in many years that Foothills has been a host club. The feedback received was that Foothills and RMR provided a fun racing experience. This could not have been possible without a number of Foothills members on the race organizing committee. I would like to personally thank Dave Gammie, Elliott Steinberg, Karen Holmes, Kathleen Fraser and Greg Hofer for being “Chiefs” and of course Kevin McLean for making my role much easier.
A final thank you to our many generous sponsors (Subway Canmore, Lifesport, Salomon, Transports, Whoosh, Grizzly Paw and the Alberta World Cup Society) for the donation of great draw prizes and other supplies. Apparently I caused a little mayhem during the distribution of some of these prizes. Please remember to support these local companies.
Our club had a lot of fun and learned a lot this past weekend so look forward to the next time we host an Alberta Cup. Thank you for your continued support. Check out the banners next time you are in the team room at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Masten Brolsma, Chief of Competition