Sovereign Lake had a record opening weekend, with 1,001 day tickets sold, and all three days of the long weekend setting records.
As usual in the early season, there are visiting teams. The BC Talent Squad was here for the weekend, along with Telemark and Larch Hills. The Alberta World Cup Academy arrived on Monday for a week of skiing.
The ski trail conditions are great. Snowshoers are still waiting for a bit more snow. Do your snow dance!
Get ready to be inundated with ski pictures in your social media feeds because SLNC is open for business for the 2018-19 ski season. With 15km of great skiing for classic and skate skiers, there is something for everyone. Check out our Webcams for current images as well as our Trail Report Page for the latest trail offerings. More trail will be opened as snow conditions permit.
Please be aware that our snowshoe trails are not yet open due to a shallow snowpack in the trees.
Season Passes are still on sale HERE. If you have kids in Programs there is a high chance that they will be getting onto snow very soon. Check your child’s Program Notification page on the website for the latest news.
Sovereign Lake is hiring for a number of seasonal positions at this time. Be a part of our tight-knit team.
Please review these job opportunities.
Let Sovereign Lake be your next winter escape. Get a jump start on the season by purchasing your Individual or Family Season Passes now and be entered to win an $850 Thule Ski Box, donated by club sponsor Cap-It Vernon. There are a few exciting new Season Pass options this year including an all-new FAMILY SNOWSHOE PASS for just $120 (for up to 4 Family Members). We can’t wait to see you out enjoying our ski, snowshoe and backcountry trails.
Skiing Season Pass Pricing: https://www.sovereignlake.com/season-passes-2/skiing-season-passes/
Snowshoeing Season Pass Pricing: https://www.sovereignlake.com/season-passes-2/skiing-season-passes/snowshoe-season-passes/
Register Here: https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=18415
Contact Troy Hudson (SLNC General Manager) for more information on any of our programs, season pass options or registration issues at [email protected] or (250) 558-8916.
While we are in the heat of summer we never really stop dreaming about snowy days at Sovereign Lake. 2018/19 Program Registrations are now open. There are many new and exciting program options for this season so have a read through the program details and let us know if you have any questions prior to registering.
Join us today!
Website Programs Link: https://www.sovereignlake.com/programs/
Zone4 Registration Page: https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=18415
Contact our Programs Director Eric de Nys for more information at [email protected]
Sovereign Lake Nordic Club and Vernon can be very proud of the 8 athletes who recently traveled to Thunder Bay, Ontario to compete in the Cross Country Ski Nationals that took place March 10-17. These athletes train year round with this being the culminating event of the season. Despite being one of the smaller groups of athletes, this mighty and determined group of skiers displayed some excellent skiing and results over the week. The high school aged athletes train as part of the Snow Sports Academy, coached by Eric De Nys here in Vernon, while Hannah Mehain trains with the Okanagan Racers, a regional post-secondary team.
Torin Andrews on a warm day at Nationals in ThunderBay, Ontario.
To kick off the week Clara Hardy and Hannah Stocker, a German exchange student who skis with the Academy, competed in the Team Sprint event making it to the semi-finals but not advancing. The next race, a classic technique interval start was part one of a two part, Pursuit style race which would take place over two separate days. Hannah Mehain took the gold in her category the first day, while others having strong finishes were Paige Latta, 11th, Lucas Sadesky 17th, Torin Andrews 25th, and Hannah Stocker 30th. Start positions for the second race were determined by the results from race one, with each racer starting behind the leader according to the amount of time behind they finished the previous race, yet now on a different course and distance, using a different technique. The ensuing excitement and scramble for position at the start of day two races in the close categories, where racers had literally finished tenths of seconds apart on day one, was nail biting to watch. In the second leg of the race Paige Latta finished an excellent 7th, Clara Hardy 17, and Lucas Sadesky a strong 12th, with teammate Torin Andrews 21st in their category. Other strong finishes were seen from Mehain, in 17th and Ian Oliphant 22nd. In the two day event Latta held onto 7th, Mehain finished 12th, and Sadesky 13th.
Highlights from the very exciting Skate Sprint event, the second last event of the week, were Ian Oliphant taking 1st in the B final (7th overall), and Mehain with a bronze medal. The final event of the week was a longer distance classic technique race; Sovereign’s top skiers for that race were Mehain with another bronze, Latta 10th, and Sadesky 13th. Andrews showed great determination while having to ski a portion of that race with a broken pole.
The excellent overall performance of these skiers was evidenced in how they stacked up in the coveted aggregates awarded by birth year at the conclusion of the week. After recently being awarded with the first place aggregate in BC, Lucas Sadesky was 2nd overall at the National level for 2003 boys, Torin Andrews followed closely in 4th, as well as 3rd in BC. Hannah Mehain added another 3rd place award in this category, as well as 1st in the College and University aggregate category, while Latta finished 6th nationally after receiving 1st in BC, Oliphant 13, while 1st in BC, Hardy 15, while 3rd in BC, and Madison Land 28. One more athlete, Danica Ariano, a local biathlete who also trains with the Ski Academy is attending her national event in Charlo, New Brunswick March 20-25-good luck to her!
Call for Nominations: Annual Club Awards (please attach the Criteria document and the list of past recipients to this message)
The Annual Club Awards will be presented at the end of the season event April 7th.
Nominations are now open for the following Awards:
Skier of the Year
Volunteer of the Year
Volunteer Coach of the Year
Above and Beyond
Lifetime Membership
Please see the attached Awards Criteria document.
Deadline for Nominations: March 25, 2018
Information required: Name of Nominee. Reasons for nomination. Name of Nominator.
Send to: [email protected]
Congratulations to the full SLNC race team of over 60 participants that took part in this past weekend’s BC Championships at Telemark Ski Club in West Kelowna. With a record 628 athletes registered for the three days of racing, Sovereign was able to secure some key podium positions in addition to numerous overall aggregate championship awards.
A HUGE CONGRATS to each and every participant this weekend!!!! A special shout-out to all of the helpers, coaches, and parents for keeping the team prepared. Below are all the Top 5 placements from this past weekend with links to the full results.
Day#1 Mass Start: (Full Results) https://zone4.ca/race/2018-02-16/f9bf5738/2018-teck-bc-championships-ft/results/
Day#2 Individual Start Classic (Full Results) https://zone4.ca/race/2018-02-17/965d74ca/2018-teck-bc-championships-cl/results/
Day#3 Team Relays (Full Results) https://zone4.ca/race/2018-02-18/03ca747e/2018-teck-bc-championships/results/
Aggregate Awards are presented to the best overall athletes throughout the season at CCBC sanctioned events per category. Consistency in these results are key to success is aggregate awards. Great job team! Special shout out to Paul Hardy, JD Coach and Dad for slaying it in the Master’s category.
2018 CCBC Aggregate Award Recipients: http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/teck-bc-cup-series-2018-aggregate-awards
2018 Club Championships Award http://www.crosscountrybc.ca/bc-championship-club-trophy
The Club Championship Awards are presented by calculating club participation at CCBC Sanctioned events throughout the winter including Regional (Okanagan Cup) and Provincial Cup (BC Cup) Series events. For the first time in 7 years, Sovereign Lake has moved into the TOP 3, taking a whopping 2nd Place!! Do you think we can beat Larch Hills next year??? We will need to recruit a few more kids into Programs. Great work by our Programs Director Eric de Nys and all of our coaches for getting your kids involved in racing this winter.
The Sovereign Lake Nordic Club is hosting the 37th annual loppet on March 11, 2018.
We’re reaching out to our members to volunteer and if you are not in a position to do so, perhaps you could encourage family members or friends to take your place. It takes a lot of volunteer hours to make this event a success and we are appreciative of your continued support.
What do you get out of volunteering for this event?
We would appreciate if you can join our team of volunteers by clicking on the web link here to go to the signup sheet. It’s very easy! All we need is your name, email, and phone number. Just follow the instructions on the page. It only takes a few seconds to be part of this event.
OR send an email to [email protected] and indicate which position is of interest to you.
PS If the link to the sign-up sheet doesn’t work, you can copy this link into your web browser: https://www.volunteersignup.org/8YLJY
Thank you so much for volunteering!
Jennifer Hyde – Chief of Race
Johanna Tul – Volunteer committee
The team WJC Canadian Team flew to Geneva, Switzerland and then drove to Praz de Lys, France for a training and acclimatization camp before the races in Switzerland. The sky was overcast and it dumped with snow for the first week that they were there but then the sun came out on the last two days, revealing the beautiful French Alps! “I absolutely loved the hotel where we were staying and the French host who served us the most amazing food. The mountains were beautiful and you could ski over a pass into another ski area. Everyone there was very kind to us Canadians. It was hard to leave.”
The French Alps
Hannah out for a training session in Praz de Lys, France.
The first race of the World Junior Championships in Goms, Switzerland was the Women’s Junior Skate Sprints. It turned out to be Hannah’s most successful race. She qualified 27th out of 79 competitors from around the world. Only the top 30 move on to the heats. “I was happy to have made it to the heats for the first time at an international competition. The uphills and downhills on the sprint course were very challenging and technical. The day before I skied the downhill over and over until I was confident with my line.” During the quarter-final, Hannah was on the outside and got slightly behind halfway up the first climb and couldn’t close the gap. She ended up 29th, the top Canadian Junior Women for that day! “It was very motivating to be racing in the heats with the best juniors in the world and I realized just how fast I need to be in order to be competitive with the top.”
Goms, Switzerland was Hannah’s 2nd race of the competition. “I had a great first half. I could hear the traditional Swiss cowbells cheering me on as I raced! Although I lost my focus in the second half, I was still satisfied with my race”. Hannah ended up 45th out of 83 competitors, the second Canadian women behind Natalie Hynes from Whitehorse who was 36th.
