Games to Include U19 Dual, SX & Slalom Races at Craigleith and Blue Mountain
(Collingwood, ON) November 14th, 2017 – Alpine Ontario athletes registered in U19+ programs have the opportunity of a lifetime this winter to participate in the exciting Ontario Winter Games. The host city of the games will be Orillia and will host over 3,200 participants in 25 sports over a 4-day period running March 1st to the 4th. The Alpine events will include Para, snowboarding and alpine and are scheduled for Craigleith and Blue Mountain on February 28th, March 1 and 2nd.
The Ontario Winter Games was founded in 1970 in Etobicoke and today is Ontario’s largest multi-sport event showcasing amateur sport, including both team and individual sports. The Games take place every two years and are awarded through a bidding process and are supported by the Ontario Ministry of Tourism, Culture and Sport (MTCS) in collaboration with host communities.
Provincial level athletes from ages 12 to 18 qualify through a regional selection process conducted by various Provincial Sport Organizations (PSOs). For many young athletes, the Ontario Winter Games is the high point of their sporting career, while for others the Games are a stepping stone for the Canada Games, Pan Am Games or even the Olympics.
AOA’s U19 Athletic Lead, Joey Lavigne comments, “This event represents a wonderful opportunity for our sport. The retention of athletes past the U16 age group remains a significant challenge for all sports not just ski racing and this event demonstrates a big effort being taken to help combat this trend. Over the Summer months, AOA’s new Athletic committee took a deeper dive into athlete retention so the timing is great to see the MTCS providing these athletes with a major event opportunity to focus on for the season. We know graduating skiers look back on major events such as these as a highlight of their competitive career. Our goal is to have athletes and coaches from across the province come together to build a strong legacy event for this age group and to build upon this legacy in years to come.”
Craigleith is excited to be hosting the Dual Slalom and Ski Cross on Feb 28 and March 1 respectively, with Blue Mountain hosting the Slalom on March 2nd. This is an open event with a quota of 130. The registration fee per athlete is $160 + HST and will include all expenses: race entry fee, accommodation, meals and transport to and from the opening ceremonies for the 3-day event. The deadline to register for the race series will be late January 2018. Registration is not yet open but will be available online at www.orillia2018.ca
Athletes who want to compete in the Ski Cross (SX) event must have competed in a minimum of one event in the SX schedule to be eligible. Ontario Winter Games Coaches are required to be DL certified (or CSCF Level 2).
About Games Ontario
The Orillia 2018 Ontario Winter Games is supported by the Ontario Government, through its Games Ontario program. This program delivers or supports multi-sport events, including the Ontario Winter and Summer Games for youth, the Ontario 55+ Summer and Winter Games, the Ontario Para Sport Games, the 2017 North American Indigenous Games and the 2017 Invictus Games.
Supporting Ontario sporting events is part of Game ON – The Ontario Government’s Sport Plan, which is encouraging as many people as possible to play organized sports, helping Ontario’s high-performance athletes pursue excellence and promoting increased tourism and economic development. www.orillia2018.ca
About Alpine Ontario
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.
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For more information contact:
Kristin Ellis
Communications Manager
Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA)
705-444-5111 x132
communications@alpineontario.local