Opening New Doors for Red Mountain Racers
By CBT
Members of the 2018 Canadian Olympic ski team will be able to compete at Red Mountain in Rossland during spring break thanks to the addition of new racing equipment.
With $25,000 from Columbia Basin Trust, the Red Mountain Racers have purchased homologated ALGE dual start doors – an electronically timed gate approved by the International Ski Federation (FIS) that will now allow the Racers to host multi-lane ski and snowboard race events at Red Mountain. The new gates will be highlighted during the 2018 Sport Chek Canadian National Technical Championships and 2018 Canadian National Ski Cross Championships taking place at Red Mountain March 17-25.
“From its beginnings, the success of Red Mountain has been tied to its innovations around ski racing, a history defined by a pioneering spirit and punctuated by many firsts in Canadian competitive ski racing from the first national recorded ski competition in 1897 to its hosting of the first World Cup event in Canada in 1968,” said Brian Fry, Race Chair for the 2018 Canadian National Championships. “With this addition at Red Mountain, Canada now has the only three sets of FIS homologated start doors in North America. Red Mountain and the Red Mountain Racers are continuing their leadership in innovation and are once again at the forefront of ski racing in Canada.”
The installation of the gate opens up a world of possibility for racing activities going forward that will have positive impacts beyond Rossland.
“This is very exciting for not only the Red Mountain Racers, but for the region as a whole,” said Christine Andison, Vice Chair for the 2018 Canadian National Championships and Director for the Red Mountain Ski Academy. “Athletes from other clubs will have access to training and racing with our team utilizing this equipment. It certainly opens up some very exciting doors for the future.”
“The Trust is very proud to support the incredible legacy of the Red Mountain Racers with the addition of this new equipment,” said Johnny Strilaeff, Columbia Basin Trust President and Chief Executive Officer. “It’s exciting to contemplate the scale of new competitive and training activities that will be supported going forward at Red Mountain.”
“The Red Mountain Racers of today and tomorrow will benefit incredibly from the dual start gate,” said Linda Schulze, President of Red Mountain Racers. Not only will our racers rub shoulders with Canada’s top alpine athletes, names that they heard while watching the Olympics just a few weeks ago, but they are also going to be standing in this start gate at future races and know that Canadian champions, and maybe even Olympic champions and world champions ran that very same chute.”
Columbia Basin Trust supports the ideas and efforts of the people in the Columbia Basin. To learn more about the Trust’s programs and initiatives, and how it helps deliver social, economic and environmental benefits to the Basin, visit ourtrust.orgor call 1.800.505.8998.
