COLLINGWOOD, ON (March 14, 2018). Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA) will be sending eight athletes and two coaches to France to compete in the Barcelonette FIS International Children’s Races. The four day event runs March 22nd, 23rd, 24th & 25th and will take place over the two spectacular resorts of Pra Loup and Sauze Super Sauze situated in the Ubay Vallée in France’s south east region.
ONTARIO ATHLETES SELECTED:
Annie Deeks (Toronto), Craigleith Ski Club
Emma Gosselin (Collingwood), Osler Bluff Ski Club
Sarah Graham (Toronto), Georgian Peaks Club
Lauren Hunter (Toronto), Georgian Peaks Club
Kyle Blandford, (Oakville), Toronto Ski Club
Zachary Hyland (Wasaga Beach), Craigleith Ski Club
Oleksa Mojsiak (Etobicoke), Georgian Peaks Club
Aleksas Valadka (Oakville), Georgian Peaks Club
COACHES:
Andrew Holba, Town of Blue Mountains
Bebe Zoricic, Toronto
These athletes were selected after their success at the recent 2018 Sport Chek U16 National Championship hosted in the Town of Blue Mountains March 6th-10th. AOA selected four athletes aged 15 (born in 2002) and four athletes aged 14 (born in 2003).
Robyn Skinner, AOA’s Competition Director comments, “This is a new project for Alpine Ontario compared to past years when we would send just one or two athletes to Topolino, Italy with Alpine Canada. We are striving towards programming that equals that of our Provincial counterparts that sends teams to Europe at various times through the winter. The project is designed to expose some of our top athletes in the U16 category with the world’s best venues and competitors. Europe is the ski racing capital of the world – not unlike hockey in Canada – and we hope these kids will have an amazing experience with memories to last a lifetime.”
The group will arrive in Lyon, France to train and do homework for a few days before the races. After the competition the group will do some sight-seeing in the Lyon area while also enjoying some free skiing in the vast mountain resorts and enjoy a private tour of the Rossignol Race Factory. The Rossignol group is one of the biggest manufactures of skis in the world and based in this region of France.
This project is being partially funded by the NZ Foundation and the Goodman Family.
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Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA) is the provincial governing body for the sport of alpine ski racing in Ontario. Alpine Ontario’s newly refined mission is to provide leadership and structure for high quality, sustainable and affordable programming and to communicate the competitive, recreational and lifestyle benefits of ski racing to the community. AOA represents four divisions, 44 member clubs and over 30,000 active athletes, coaches and officials (volunteers). AOA coordinates several successful programs across the province and continues to foster the development of “state of the art” ski-racing programs from the grass roots level to the elite level.
For more information contact:
Kristin Ellis
Communications Manager
Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA)
705-444-5111 x132
communications@alpineontario.local