The Dogtooth Dash race has been the diamond on the Canadian skimo racing circuit for some time now, and it hosted the National Championships for a third consecutive year. That says it all about the passion of the organizing crew and the Kicking Horse Mountain Resort itself.

The racing

There were three race courses to choose and the main one went over numerous climbs, ridges and descents to total about 5300 feet of climbing.

Canadian National Skimo Champions for the 2011 are Reiner Thoni and Melanie Bernie. They were followed by Andrew McNab and Ian Gale, and by Julie Matteau and Billie Velisek.

The results and rest of the report will be added soon.

Race day in video

Filming and editing done by Stano Faban (feel free to embed in your blogs):

The following race report is courtesy of Skimo Canada team member Alex Wigley via www.skitheory.blogspot.com

Another race done for the Ski Mountaineering World Championships 2011, the Sprint Race.  The Sprint is a fairly new event in Skimo racing, but really encompasses every skill into one lung busting 120m climb, with a fast downhill and skate ski section. (Photo Below:  Josef Rottmoser during his insanely fast sprint race)

The course start with a 40m climb that is fairly low angle, to a 20m switchback section, into a 20m bootpack, then another 20m climb, transition and downhill into a slightly uphill skate ski.  Transitions, racing, and descending times are always expected at around 3-4 minutes.  The more technical a racer can be the more time he/she can shave off of this short course, but don’t forget the mega power endurance that comes from training for specificly for an event like this.

The race starts with racers being sent off every 30 seconds, running solo on the course, and trying to hit their top speed for a cutoff for a quarter final round, semi final, and final round devised of six heats.  The best way to describe it would be to do some long intervals, that would have bootpacking, switchbacks and transitions, at your best pace or until you taste blood.  (Photo Below:  Melanie Bernier (CAD) in the Final Heat)

The fastest times were unbelievably fast, as the long distance enduro athletes North America produces, wasn’t up to par with the Sprint Specialists that Switzerland, Germany, France, and Spain brought.  That being said, Canada’s Melanie Bernier was the exception (again).  Mel, came blasting out of the start gate, making it into the Semi Finals right off the bat.  In the Semi’s she then led out of the start, resting slightly on the bootpack, but then tearing by the rest of the women in the transition gaining three positions putting her into the Final Heat.  In the Final heat, she started out strong, but when the Women who had been training specifically for this event put on the gas she just missed a high level finish.  Coming in at 5th, is the best result for North America at a World Championships ever (which was recently broken yesterday at the Vertical by Janelle Smiley placing 7th).  A strong race for Mel, and another step up for North America!

The race ran at 9:37 a.m. on the morning of 06 Feb 2010, at Sunshine Village ski area, starting from the Gondola Mid-Station at the base of Goats Eye Mountain.

It was a beautiful day for racing, calm, with little new snow, valley fog lifting as racers moved into the alpine along the course, and finishing in the bright sunshine at minus 4 degrees.

Awards and prize presentations were held in the Gondola Base Skier Services Room shortly after 3 p.m. in the afternoon.

Winners were Reiner Thoni, of Valemount after a very close finish with Team USA skier Brandon French, and Melanie Bernier, of Revelstoke, leading the Competitive women. Sharisse Kyle and Paul Watson took the honours for the Recreational Female and Male categories respectively.

Complete results are here: mecsunshine5000results2010.doc

The third round of the Canadian Skimo Cup for 2009 season was hosted at the Fernie Alpine Resort.

Once again, during the Mountain Storm event a true snow storm hit the mountain which added to the overall challenge of the race.

Three days of snowing and the resort’s highest chairlift failure provided competitors with great powder skiing and many of them took tumbles and head-first falls.

The race was won by a Canadian fast man - Reiner Thoni - very closely followed by another fast charging competitors.

Women’s main race was won by Julie Matteau who moved this winter to Revelstoke to devote herself to full time ski bumming.

Complete results are here:

Mountain Storm - Mar 7, 2009

Whitewater ski resort near Nelson, BC hosted the second leg of the Canadian Skimo Cup for the 2009 season. The event was part of the famed Cold Smoke Powder Fest.

Good spirits and powder made this event once again a success.

The race was won by a “Bavarian machine” - Benedikt Bohm - who was closely followed by Brandon French and Ben Parsons of USA.

Full results are attached:

ROAM Randonnee Rally - Feb 21, 2009