Cross Country Skiing in Spectacular Fernie
A group of board members is hard at work planning the new season while we continue to deal with the pandemic conditions. A detailed protocol will come out shortly to address the kids program, adult lessons and other activities. For a general preview, please visit the CrosscountryBC website and look at its Return To Sport Plan.
Sunday March 15 was a perfect day to run the event. Three team members of Fernie Nordic Racers took part together with 34 adult skiers – 17 women and 17 men – how is this for equality? Everyone rushed from the start at 10:40 am to follow the course along the trails of the Nordic Centre and the Fernie Alpine Resort. A short chair lift ride was also included!
Five adult skiers completed two loops for a total of 50 km. The fastest 50K adult skiers were Naomi Lentz in 4:22 hours and Mike Bragg in 4:13 hours.
Thirty-two skiers did one loop of 25 km. The fastest 25K adult skiers were Virginia Robinson in 2:22 hours and Aaron Glover in 2:49 hours. In the Under 16 – 25K category, Wes Robinson-Shaw was the fastest with 2:20 hours. Click the icon below for the full results.
Photos of the event are posted on our page here.
A big Thank You! to the event organizer Sam Sedlowsky who was also participating in the 25 km category. Volunteers were on hand at a food station at the ski hill and at the warming hut where there was more hot food, snacks and beverages for the skiers. Fancy wooden medals and prizes were waiting for participants at the finish. Thank you also to our generous sponsors of this event: RCR, GearHub, Heaven Boutique, Elevation Showcase and the City of Fernie.
Important Change: The event has been rescheduled to Sunday March 15 at 10:30 am. Registration now closes at 3 pm on Saturday, March 14. The event returns to Fernie for the third time. It takes place on Sunday morning March 15, 2020 at the Elk Valley Nordic Centre. The start time is set for 10:30 am. Looking for a challenge? This is the one, a long one but very casual. Excellent prizes, ride(s) on the Deer chair, a lot of yummy food and drinks. Prizes will be awarded for best costume and then as door prizes! You have the option to do either the full 50 km yourself (2 loops to the ski hill trails and back) or you can choose to do a single loop of 25 km. More details on our event page HERE
All Fernie welcomes the Griz from March 6 to 8. Among the local activities, the SNOW-TO-ICE(cream) challenge is back again this year. Take a selfie at four different locations on the trails around Fernie inside of 72 hours from Friday to Sunday 7 pm. More details HERE.
A special Griz Days Full Moon Ski & Social event closes the weekend. Meet at 7 pm at the Nordic Centre.
The club invites all skiers, young, adult, families, to our annual Fernie Community Fun race event on Saturday Feb 22 at the Nordic Centre. It is open to club members and non-members alike. The fun starts at 10:30 with the Hot Chocolate Run followed by relay and solo races plus short sprints to finish. It is totally FREE to participate. Read the details on our page (click to open).
Fernie skiers were very active in the past weekend of February 8-9 with a few events.
On Saturday twenty skiers gathered in the hut before starting on the trails under a very bright moon. The evening ended back at the hut for snacks, refreshments and a good time.
The race weekend in Kimberley was the Teck Kootenay Championships, a tier 2 points qualifying race, so it was a higher level event than usual races for the team. The Fernie racers competed against other racers from several clubs, including Telemark, Sovereign Lake, Revelstoke, Canmore, Foothills, the Kootenay teams – Nelson, Kimberley, Black Jack and Toby Creek – plus Montana teams, Glacier Nordic and Seeley Lake. The weather was perfect and excellent snow conditions.
Eleven young skiers from the Fernie Nordic Racers team took part in the two-day event together with nine adult skiers from Fernie. Our team is coached by Jeff Williams. Overall the team had 28 starts in the classic and skate races. Race results may be found HERE. The current cup standings are HERE.
Saturday was also the day of the 2020 Canadian Birkebeiner in Edmonton. Two skiers from Fernie completed the challenging course. Ron Lentz finished the 31 km tour race while Naomi Lentz did the 55 km race with a 12 lbs pack (5.4 kg) on her back. Congratulations to both!
from the Full Moon Ski:
from the Kootenay Cup races:
