BANFF – The M.O. to Canmore’s Caleb Brooks at last weekend’s provincial race series was to build confidence before U16 Canadian Alpine Nationals.
With four trips to the podium for two gold and two silver medals at the Sporting Life Series 3 at Sunshine Ski Village from (Feb. 27 to March 1), it’s safe to say that mission was accomplished for the 15-year-old.
Representing Lake Louise Ski Club (LLSC), Brooks was excited following Sunday’s final day of racing at the provincial series, which was only giant slalom (GS) and slalom, saying a smart game plan was key at the local races.
“Instead of sending it in and being rowdy, I skied smart because smoothest is fastest and cleanest,” Brooks said.
In February, Brooks got some international experience under his belt as part of the Alberta Alpine U16 European Project in Slovenia and Croatia.
He won bronze during one of the competitions and said his team overseas helped make him a better skier.
“It definitely changed my mindset and it brought out my intensity, it changed the way of seeing skiing and it told me that whatever you do, keep pushing,” he said.
Brooks and two teammates qualified for nationals at Sun Peaks Resort, B.C., northeast of Kamloops, from March 9-14 and will include super-G, GS, slalom and ski cross races.
“I’m going to have to bring up my intensity in my runs [at nationals] because it’s a lot harder with a lot more people there,” Brooks said.
Phil Pike, U16 coach at LLSC, has been pleased with Brooks this year and said last week’s provincial race series was all in preparation for nationals.
“We really wanted [Brooks] performing as well as he can and as hard as he can to build confidence for nationals, so the fact that he did really well this weekend was great, but it’s not necessarily the results we were looking for, it was the good skiing and confidence building, and clearly it worked out,” Pike said.
At the wrap-up race before nationals, Brooks finished impressively with silver at Sunday’s slalom race on ScapeGoat, his fourth medal of the four-day race series.
While Brooks had already qualified for nationals at a previous series, it was many racer's last shot to make it at Sunshine’s races with expectations and emotions sky high.
“The main thing I’ve been happy with over the weekend is our finish rate,” said Pike. “To be able to make it to nationals, you need five strong finishes, so our guys have been able to finish almost all their runs this season, which is a rare thing in ski racing.”
LLSC's Baptiste Cais from Field, B.C. finished in fourth place on Sunday, just missing the podium for a second time. He finished fourth in GS on Feb. 28.
LLSC’s Jacob Baggott finished sixth in GS on the first day of racing, and followed up with a pair of top 15 results.
Cais and Baggott qualified for nationals.
Canmore’s Pele Christoffersson of Sunshine Racers was the only other local to land on a podium during the four-day series, winning bronze at Feb. 28’s GS race. He is on his way to nationals on March 9.
On the women’s side, Sunshine Alpine Racer Chloe Lawson scored seventh in GS on Feb. 28 and 13th in slalom the next day. Lawson's solid racing has qualified her for nationals.
LLSC’s Lucy Schmidt finished 12th in GS on the first day and 16th and 18th on Friday and Saturday.
Local qualifiers have an opportunity to qualify for the Whistler Cup, the only international race, at the end of the season.
Jordan Small, RMOToday.com
Follow me on Twitter @jordiesmall
