Cross-country skiers from the Okanagan region will be at Nickel Plate Nordic Centre for the sixth and seventh races of the Teck Okanagan Cup Jan. 31 and Feb. 1. It’s expected that approximately 100 skiers from Penticton, Salmon Arm, Kamloops, Vernon, Kelowna and Revelstoke will compete in the regional the BC Cup race.
Saturday features a free-skate style technical race with distances of one kilometre for the youngest age group starting at age five, and increasing based on age category up to 15 km for adults. Sunday’s race is a classic ski sprint event. As an all-ages event, these races will offer both fun and competition. Of the athletes competing, about 30 will be from the Nickel Plate Nordic Club.
“I think we can do relatively well in a regional race,” said Nickel Plate Nordic Ski Club coach Jerome Jang. “The conditions are going to be pretty fast. There is no new snow. It’s going to be hard and fast conditions.”
Jang added the importance of the events to the skiers is for their development. It will help them move on in the racing scene to provincial and national events.
“There will be some top notch skiers competing,” said Jang. “Some skiers are making a name for themselves provincially.”
Also, this season’s Teck Okanagan Cup races provide the club the opportunity to learn to host higher-end races. This experience is in preparation for the 2016 B.C. Winter Games in Penticton with the Nickel Plate Nordic Club set to host the cross-country ski events.