FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
TEAM ONTARIO SELECTED FOR 2018 SPORT CHEK U16 NATIONAL CHAMPIONSHIPS
Collingwood, ON (February 9, 2018) — Alpine Ontario Alpin (AOA) would like to congratulate the 40 alpine ski racers selected to compete on Team Ontario in the upcoming March 6-10th Sport Chek U16 National Championships. The Southern Ontario Division (SOD) will be hosting 160 of Canada’s best 14 and 15-year old racers as they compete in Slalom, Giant Slalom, Super G and a Dual race at four venues situated along the southern shores of Georgian Bay in the Town of the Blue Mountains. The host ski hills for the 5-day competition will include Georgian Peaks Club, Craigleith Ski Club, Alpine Ski Club and the Osler Bluff Ski Club. Alpine Canada Alpin will be overseeing the entire competition led by Dusan Grasic, ACA’s Domestic Director of Sport.
Ontario, as the host province, will have the largest quota with 40 competitors; BC, Alberta and Quebec are sending 28 athletes each; Nova Scotia and New Brunswick will send 10 athletes each, PEI four athletes, Newfoundland three, and Saskatchewan one athlete. The following Ontario athletes were selected after a 5-day qualifying competition at the recent Mackenzie Investments U16 OCUP Mid-Winter series.
Team Ontario – Men:
- Kyle Blandford Toronto Ski Club*
- Christopher Burnes Craigleith Ski Club
- George Cantoni Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Brian Donnelly Craigleith Ski Club*
- Leandre Duhamel Camp Fortune Ski Club/NCD
- James Gatcliffe Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Dylan Gust Craigleith Ski Club
- Griffen Hanson Osler Bluff Ski Club*
- Liam Hickey Craigleith Ski Club*
- Zach Hyland Craigleith Ski Club
- Reid Kappele Craigleith Ski Club
- Matthew Kendall Caledon Ski Club*
- Noah Kasdorf Camp Fortune Ski Club/NCD
- Oleksa Mojsiak Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Benjamin Neylan National Ski Academy
- Ellis Reid Craigleith Ski Club*
- Jeffrey Skinner Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Ryan Turnball Craigleith Ski Club*
- Aleksas Valadka Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Aidan Walters Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Mackenzie Wood Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
Team Ontario – Women:
- Amelie Alkier Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Ashley Campbell Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Sydney Basil Alpine Ski Club*
- Lauren Brackett National Ski Academy
- Samantha Brooks Caledon Ski Club
- Cassidy Brooks Caledon Ski Club
- Annie Deeks Craigleith Ski Club
- Gabby Eastwood Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Nikki Finoro National Ski Academy
- Tessa Foote National Ski Academy
- Emma Gosselin Osler Bluff Ski Club*
- Sarah Graham Georgian Peaks Ski Club*
- Gillian Hamilton Camp Fortune Ski Club/NCD
- Lauren Hunter Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Cadence Kiss Alpine Ski Club*
- Claire Macdonell Georgian Peaks Ski Club
- Frances Macgregor Norwesters Alpine Club/LSDA*
- Emma Reid Devil’s Glen Country Club
- Penny Robinson Thunder Bay Fast/LSDA – declined the selection
- Elizabeth Sullivan Alpine Ski Club – injury status, will not compete
- Spencer Watson Camp Fortune Ski Club
Athletes with an asterisk after their name participated in the 2017 U16 High Performance Program Alpine Ontario launched to its member clubs last winter. This program was the first of its kind, with an ultimate goal to strengthen U16 performance at higher level competitions. The athletes participated in and completed an off-season dryland program with the Canadian Sport Institute of Ontario; mobility screening with Totem Wellness; a mentorship program with ex-athletes, including many alumni from the National Ski Team; spring and fall team-building weekends, and 28 of the 40 skiers attended a 12-day on snow camp in Switzerland.
Robyn Skinner, AOA’s Competition Director says, “We congratulate all our U16 athletes in the OCUP series. With the criteria coming down to a 5-day, mid-winter series we know these races represented the harsh reality of our sport – including the pressure to perform and being race-ready. AOA is encouraged to see that 20 of these athletes were part of the 2017 U16 program that was launched last winter. This was a new idea for our organization and the real test will be at Nationals as to how these kids are competing against the rest of Canada.”
Bill Reeves, the ROC Chair of the U16 Nationals events adds, “I would like to congratulate all the young women and men from across Canada on being selected to their Provincial Teams. I would also like to thank Alpine Canada and our title sponsor Sport Chek along with our presenting sponsors HSBC, Project X Ltd, CTRE Productions and Helly Hansen for helping support these championships and ski racing across the country. We are looking forward to welcoming all the athletes to the Town of the Blue Mountains and Collingwood, Ontario and hosting a very competitive event.”
Racers and families can find more information on the official event website www.u16ski.ca
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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