Sports posted Feb 12, 2018 @ 06:10pm by By KelownaNow Staff

Telemark cross country racers represent Okanagan near and far

Members of the Telemark Cross Country Ski Team have been busy representing their country and province at competitions in Switzerland, Quebec and Prince George.

<who>Photo Credit: flyingpointroad.com </who>Kelowna's Garth Williams, in his first season as a U23 competitor, finished 41st among 67 skiers at the world junior and U23 championships in Switzerland. A part of Team Canada at the world junior championships in Goms, Switzerland, Hannah Mehain of Vernon raced to 29th place in the junior women’s free sprint and Gareth Williams of Kelowna was 41st among 67 skiers in the U23 men’s 15-kilometre classic. Fran Vukonic, a Telemark teammate and member of Team Croatia, skied to 78th place in the junior men’s free sprint.

Williams and Mehain earned their berths at the world junior and U23 championships with the help of first-place finishes at the Canadian world junior trials in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que. in January.

<who>Photo Credit: Lorne White/KelownaNow </who>Ian Mayer of the Telemark Nordic Club skied to a fifth place at the BC Cup races in Prince George. Meanwhile, in Gatineau Que., nine members of the Kelowna Toyota-sponsored Telemark squad competed in the Haywood Eastern National Championships.

Highlights included third- and fourth-place finishes by Ian Williams in the 2,000 junior boys 10 km classic and 7.5 km free; fourth- and sixth-place results for Cole Turner in the 2001 junior boys 7.5 km free and 10 km classic; and a sixth-place finish by Jenna Sim in the junior women’s classic sprint.

<who>Photo Credit: Contributed </who>Telemark's Nikhil Filatow (2002) posted a seventh-place finish at the BC Cup Closer to home, 15 members of the Telemark team competed at the BC Cup Series in Prince George.

In the classic sprint, Garrett Siever (2004 Boys) and Gregor Graham (2003 Boys) raced to first-place finishes while Tristan Lee skied to third place among 2002 boys. Nikhil Filatow posted a seventh-place finish.

The next day, under heavy snowfall and in frigid conditions (- 19 C), the athletes competed in the free discipline races.

<who>Photo Credit: Contributed </who> Garrett Siever (2004) of Kelowna raced to a first-place finish at the BC Cup. Siever was second and Filatow 13th in the 2004 boys’ 5 km distance. In the 7.5 km event for 2003 boys, Gregor Graham skied to third place, Ian Mayer was fifth and Mason Hawes placed 11th.

Carolyn Shaw placed 15th among 2002 girls while Connor Hobbs finished third in the 2002 boys’ race, followed by Grayson McKinnon (sixth) and Tristan Lee (ninth).

The next event for Team Telemark is the B.C. cross country championships at the Telemark Nordic Ski Club in West Kelowna Friday through Sunday.

The event will attract more than 600 athletes from B.C., Alberta and the Northwest United States.

If you get value from KelownaNow and believe local independent media is important to our community we ask that you please consider subscribing to our daily newsletter.