By Dan Schellenberg

Get ready, Kimberley, to be the host for three outstanding ski races, scheduled to take place during this winter’s ski season.

The first race, the 2014 International Paralympic Committee (IPC) NorAm scheduled February 4 – 7, has been held in Kimberley for the past three years. Chief of Race, Lloyd Steeves says the high level IPC race (one step below World Cup status) will feature approximately 40 disabled athletes plus coaches, hailing from North America, Australia, New Zealand and Japan.

We will need about 35 volunteers in order to make this a successful event, says Steeves. Some of the volunteers will be coming from outside of the Kimberley area.

Steeves, a resident of Kimberley for the past seven years, brings along a wealth of experience, which includes over 30 years of participation in ski racing. Some of his more notable tasks include being Assistant Chief of Course for the past 10 years at the Men’s World Cup in Lake Louise. Also, Steeves was a section chief at the 2010 Vancouver Olympics. In addition, he received BC Alpine’s volunteer award of the year for 2010/11 and ViaSport BC’s Alpine volunteer of the year for 2012/13.

Steeves shows his enthusiasm when he talks of the 2014 Osisko Speed Camp and Keurig Federation International de Ski (FIS) Downhill/Super G Race planned for February 27 to March 7. This nine-day event is especially exciting, says Steeves because this age group has not been allowed to run speed events for the last three years due to Alpine Canada’s moratorium on speed events for athletes less than 19 years of age.

Speed is now returning for the under 19 years of age category due to a change in Alpine Canada’s policy. The newly reinstated event is coming to Kimberley and promises to be a crowd pleaser. Steeves estimates that 80 to 100 athletes and their coaches will participate in the speed event. Participants will mostly hail from B.C. and Alberta. Some of the racers are expected to come from the Prairie Provinces.

Again, volunteers are crucial to the success of the event. Steeves figures about 60 volunteers will be required and are expected to come from both Kimberley and outside of the Kimberley area.

“Make no mistake, this is a big deal race – nine days of racing,” says Steeves. The race schedule is as follows: Osisko Speed Camp, February 27 – March 1; Keurig DH/SG race – DH Training, March 2 and 3; two Keurig DH races on March 4 and 5; two Keurig SG races on March 6 and 7. The nine-day event will be organized by a partnership of the Kimberley Disabled Skiers Association and the Kimberley Alpine Team.

The third and final of the three races, traditionally held at Silver Star is headed for Kimberley Alpine Resort this year and will take place from March 27 – 30.

Last year the Master’s organization decided to move the race to different locations and subsequently, Kimberley was chosen as the host for 2014.

“Now, it’s Kimberley’s time to shine,” says Steeves. Furthermore, he says: “We can expect racers (men and women) from 75 years young and down. These racers are people who love fun competition skiing, but not at the level of the World Cup, NorAm or FIS events.”

Master’s athletes will come from all over Canada with the possibility of some U.S. entrants. About 45 volunteers will be required, again some being from the Kimberley area and some outside of the Kimberly region.

The race schedule is as follows: March 27, two timed SG training runs; March 28, two timed SG races (a.m. and p.m.) March 29, 2 run GS race; and March 30, one 2 run SL race.

The event will be organized by the Kimberley Disabled Skiers Association for the benefit of ski racing in Kimberley.

The 2014 ski season looks to be an action packed time for the City of Kimberley and has all of the makings of being an economic generator, along with an avenue for exposure to our fine attributes as a place to live.

Many people who have never been to or even heard of Kimberley, will be descending on our fair city for which promises to be fun-filled times.

‪Lead Image: Kimberley resident Josh Dueck racing from: www.paralympic.org –

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