Revelstoke FIS racers placed consistently in the top-30 at the third race in the Miele Cup series at Apex Mountain near Penticton last week, not long after attending a speed camp there the previous weekend.
The speed camp took place from Jan. 29-31. There, the Revelstoke FIS team got lessons in downhill and super-G from former national team members Kerrin Lee-Gartner, Rob Boyd and coach Don Lyon.
“It was a great introduction to speed training and it felt great to be skiing fast again,” said Lachlan Hicks, who is a rookie on the FIS team.
A day after the speed camp, the team raced in the Miele Cup event against some of the top young skiers from B.C., Alberta and the US – including one fresh of a World Cup race in Europe. The competition featured two days of super-G races and two days of giant slalom (GS).
On the girls’s side, Emily Unterberger finished 14th and 23rd in the super-G and 19th in the GS; Noemi Petit finished 30th in the super-G; Jamie Park had a 19th place finish in one super-G race and was 21st in the GS; and Alix Petit was 13th in the super-G and 21st in the GS.
“It was a fun week and I look forward to going back next year,” said Unterberger.
On the boys side, Lachlan Hicks finished 17th in the super-G and 18th and 13th in the GS; Peter Behncke recorded a 26th in the super-G and 19th in the GS; Cole Smith finished 24th in the super-G; and Dominic Unterberger finished 25th in the super-G.
“This week was great,” said Behncke. “It felt amazing to feel the speed again. It was a great experience for all.”
Team coach Milan Arsovoski said he was proud of the progress and results the team showed from the camp and races.
“It was lots of fun and a great experience to see them skiing next to Canada’s alumni ski champions,” he said. “The team morale is high and I hope we will have more good results in the near future.”
You can watch a video from the camp above.