January
Len Valjas broke Canada’s recent cross-country medal drought with a bronze medal performance on Jan. 1 in Val Müstair, Switzerland during the Tour de Ski.
Aaron Gilmour and Scott Gow ruled the men’s team sprints while Rocky Mountain Racers Andrea Dupont and Zoe Roy cleaned up in the women’s category during the Bow Corridor Regional Race team sprints on Dec. 22 at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Biathletes Julia Ransom and Christian Gow will lead Canada’s contingent at the World Junior and Youth Championships in Obertillach, Austria from Jan. 23 to Feb. 1.
The Canmore Nordic Centre hosted three races to select the Canadian contingent for world juniors on Jan. 5, 6 and 8. The best two out of three results were used to select the team.
This is the year of the Eagle. The Canmore Eagles ran their win streak to seven with a pair of incredible victories last week, including a 3-2 shootout road win over Brooks on Jan. 11.
“I feel like I’m in a Jerry Seinfeld episode. If I had a pimple, I would have won.”
It was that kind of weekend for Banff cross-country ski racer Dasha Gaiazova, who made the quip on Twitter after a Jan. 12 race. She finished fourth in an extremely tight photo finish in Liberec, Czech Republic.
Slopestyle snowboarder Robby Balharry’s meteoric rise up the world cup rankings hit another stratosphere. The 22-year-old Canmorite placed sixth at the FIS snowboard world championships in Quebec City on Jan. 19, beating the world’s best on a tough course.
On the strength of a sparkling performance, Mark Arendz is now the best ParaNordic biathlete on the planet. Four podium finishes powered by extremely fast ski times have powered the Canmore-based skier to the top of the world cup rankings.
He won the 7.5 km men’s standing ParaNoridc biathlon race on Jan. 18 by five seconds over top rival Erik Nils Ulset in the race to claim gold.
It was only a matter of time before biathlete Sarah Beaudry showed she’s one of the best youth athletes in the world. After a few jet-lagged races and a helping of homemade apple strudel to get her back on track, Beaudry powered her way to a fifth place finish in the individual race at the Biathlon Youth World Championships in Obertilliach, Austria on Jan. 29. Beaudry clocked a time of 34:37.4 in the 10-kilometre race. Russian Uliana Kaisheva won with a time of 32:41.1.
February
Canmore’s long tradition of Olympic medal winners continued in Pyeongchang, South Korea, when cross-country skier Shane Stewart and figure skater Meg Ohsada both medalled at the Special Olympics World Winter Games,Feb. 2-3.
Ask a cross-country skier to double pole 55 km, mostly uphill in soft snow with absolutely no kick, and they’ll laugh in your face. Unless that skier is Brian McKeever. In what some called the worst conditions in 25 years, McKeever and Erik Carleton finished first and second, respectively, in the Canadian Birkebeiner Ski Festival in Edmonton, Feb. 9.
Cross Country Canada has a message for biathlete Zina Kocher: put down the gun and come with us.
Fresh off a tough biathlon world championships, Kocher did just that for a brief cameo appearance with the cross-country ski team, competing in a world cup race in Davos, Switzerland.
Kocher was the fastest Canadian on the day, finishing 36th in the women’s 10-km race on Feb. 17. Most of Canada’s regular world cup athletes skipped the distance race, which allowed Kocher to suit up.
It says something about the calibre of Canada’s ParaNordic cross-country ski team when they use the world championships as a training event – and still win gold. Canmore ParaNordic star Brian McKeever and guide Erik Carleton climbed to the top of the podium on Feb. 25, overcoming a 30 second gap to win the classic sprint in the visually impaired category in Solleftea, Sweden.
Three tenths of a second is nothing more than the blink of an eye, but it will likely agonize Canada’s cross-country skiers for years. Devon Kershaw and Alex Harvey were booted off the podium by a Kazakhstan toe length on Feb. 24 at the Nordic World Ski Championships in Val di Fiemme, Italy.
March
Releasing a primal scream that echoed through the Solleftea biathlon range, Paranordic biathlete Mark Arendz told the world he was the man to beat at the IPC championships in Sweden. Arendz struck gold in the sprint event and followed that up with two bronze medals in the pursuit and 15 km individual races on March 1.
After enduring a season that began with questions of relocation, then slid into frustratingly depleted lineups, long hot streaks and even longer cold streaks, the Canmore Eagles’ 2012-13 AJHL season is over. For several months, coach Andrew Milne preached patience, telling his players and fans the Eagles just needed to get into the playoffs where they could make things happen.
The fans are still waiting. Following a final 4-3 overtime loss on March 9 and falling victim to a first-round sweep, Milne struggled to explain how his Eagles lost three straight games to the Drumheller Dragons, a team they were supposed to match up well against. “We deserved a better fate in two of those three games (also 3-2 and 4-0 losses),” Milne said.
When Drumheller Dragons forward Ryan Bloom scored at 8:02 in overtime Feb. 9, he ended the junior A careers of six Canmore Eagles hockey players. Zack Rassell, Riley Point, Stephen Phee, Alex Barnes, Ciaron Driscoll and Ty Swabb all took their last skate in the AJHL as the Eagles were eliminated by the Drumheller Dragons in three straight games.
After years of pouring his guts out on Canadian ski slopes, Paul Stutz finally earned the glory. Stutz earned a trip to the world cup NorAm finals in Calgary on March 16 to secure one of two Canadian slalom spots by winning the overall NorAm slalom title. Michael Janyk scored the other spot.
Simply unbeatable. Undefeated through 2013, Brian McKeever and Erik Carleton were unstoppable again on March 18 as they captured their second gold medal at the IPC World Cup finals in Sochi, Russia. The duo won gold in the 20-km visually impaired classic race, winning in a time of 58:48.3. That was more than a minute faster than their chief rivals, Nikolay Polukhin and Andrey Tokarev of Russia.
On March 24, the Canada West Short Track Championships wrapped up at Alex Kaleta Arena, sending 103 skaters home with a collection of medals and memories of a good time in the Rockies. The controlled chaos of the Sunday relay event followed gruelling 3,000 m points races, with Banff/Canmore Speedskating Club members showing well in the final two events of the weekend. The event was the largest the local club has hosted in its 10-year history.
Speed merchants Jesse Cockney and Brent McMurtry conquered big climbs and dodged spectacular crashes to kick off the 2013 cross-country Haywood Ski Nationals at Whistler Olympic Park in controversial fashion, March 23.
April
In Whistler, cross-country skiing is a summer sport. Temperatures soar to 18 C, tank tops and shorts are the norm, trail crews salt the snow while biathletes and retiring skiers win the Haywood Ski National crowns. Such was the case on March 30, when Brent McMurtry and biathlete Zina Kocher won the distance races to close out the 2013 Canadian championships. McMurtry closed out his career with a Canadian title, finishing the icy 50-kilometre race in a time of 2:04:55.2, half a second behind American Torin Koos. Only Canadians can win national titles.
Standing on the same trails where he made his Olympic debut in 2010, cross-country skier Brent McMurtry announced his retirement on March 30 in Whistler. Fresh off a Canadian championship win in the open men’s 50-km race, McMurtry told the Outlook he was leaving skiing to pursue a career in engineering. “I’m super honoured to have represented Canada and it’s pretty special to end it here, the site of my one and only Olympics,” McMurtry said. “I’ve been out of school for almost 10 years, ski racing full time, so it’s time to get into the real world, I guess.”
Summer hockey schools, women’s hockey and booze in the stands. Those are the lynchpins of the Canmore Eagles’ new strategy to pay down its $60,000 debt to the Town of Canmore. The Eagles brass outlined their new financial plan at the Town of Canmore Committee of the Whole meeting on April 9, stating the club needs to be a 12-month a year business in order to become viable in the Bow Valley.
After taking a year off to rehabilitate after ankle surgery, Stacey Weldon wasn’t expecting much at the 2013 MEC Canadian Bouldering Championships in Edmonton, April 6-7. But, after competing against 35 other women from across Canada, qualifying in sixth place, then finishing second overall, Weldon feels much better about her next competition – the IFSC Bouldering World Cup in Hamilton, Ont., June 1-2.
Another season of Bow Valley Basketball League action has come to an end, with Boston Pizza downing the PEKA Warriors 75-65 in the final, April 20 at Canmore Collegiate High School.
“It was good from the start, we did our plan, we pushed the ball and it seemed to work,” said Boston Pizza’s Khris Alcorn. “We beat them 3-0, but every game was close. We played well this game, we stepped it up, and did our job.” Alcorn was the game’s highest scorer, with 18 points.
May
The newly-christened Lady Macs roller derby team battled hard, but lost their debut bout of the season against a more experienced side from Kimberley, B.C. at Thelma Crowe Arena in Canmore, April 27. Despite dropping the bout 246-132, the debut against the Bavarian Barbarians, representing the East Kootenay Roller Derby League, was an overall success for the Bow Valley team and its newfound fans.
A mere nine months before the 2014 Sochi Olympics, 2006 gold medallist Chandra Crawford has left the Canadian national cross-country ski team to train independently. Crawford informed the national team she is declining her spot on the team following the announcement of the 2013-14 squad. By doing so, she gives up her national team carding funding, training camp spots and physiotherapy support as well as her world cup start.
The springtime announcement of Canada’s national cross-country ski team tends to bring little fanfare, but for two Banff siblings, it was front page news. Roommates and siblings Phil and Heidi Widmer are now teammates on Team Canada following a Cross Country Canada announcement on April 26.
After a two-year absence, Phil Widmer was named to the Canadian national ski program following a year where he cemented his reputation as Canada’s top domestic sprinter.
Jan Hudec will again lead the charge for the Bow Valley on the Canadian national alpine ski team, but this year he’ll be joined by Canmorites Erik Read and Trevor Philp. The selection also gives the skiers an inside track on earning an Olympic berth at the 2014 Sochi Games. Alpine Canada is keeping its Olympic selection process quiet, however, athletes will need two top 12 finishes on the world cup to grab a spot, or one top five result. The team will be named in January 2014.
The prevailing wisdom in rugby is strong offence wins fans, while strong defence wins championships. Thankfully for the Banff Community High School Bears boys rugby team, they appear to have both as they chase down another provincial title. On May 27, Jordan Barrie scored twice as the Bears clinched a spot in the zone finals with a 25-12 win over the Black Diamond Oil Field Drillers on the Calgary Rugby Union pitch.
They’ve got the depth. They’ve got the skill. They’ve got the coaching and athleticism. But on June 3, the Canmore Collegiate High School boys soccer team must prove they have the desire. The boys wrapped up a perfect season on May 28 with a 2-0 win over Highwood. Jiho Chun and John Lee scored for Canmore, while Wes Rose recorded the shutout.
June
Two league titles. Two zone championships. Total domination. That’s exactly how CCHS boys soccer coach Gavin Peacock described his team’s performance June 3. The Crusaders clinched their second banner with a 2-1 win over a nasty Holy Trinity Academy Knights squad from Okotoks, which did its best to physically intimidate the Canmore squad, but could not match their skill.
There’s a special term reserved for the likes of the BCHS Bears boys rugby team: dynasty. For the fourth year in a row, the BCHS Bears stomped, sped and smashed their way to a Big Sky zone championship in dominant fashion, completing one more quest for yet another provincial title.
Pablo Ortiz scored both of Banff’s tries in the win as they hammered the Strathcona-Tweedsmuir Spartans 12-7, May 30 at the Calgary Rugby Union, as they have a tight grasp on the title of best team in southwestern Alberta.
Masters of the Iron Maiden, Liah Harvie and Matt Hadley dominated the competition at the first Canmore Nordic Centre mountain bike race at the of the season, winning gold on June 8. Hadley, the chief trail builder at the Nordic Centre and noted speed demon, battled it out with Shaun Bunnin for the win. He was able to hold off the Deadgoat racer, winning in a time of 1:32:53, more than a minute and a half ahead of Bunnin.
Cochrane’s Calum Neff and Canmore’s Sara Hewitt pushed the pace to claim gold on a tough 5 Peaks trail running race June 8 at the Canmore Nordic Centre. The 500-plus runners were greeted with dry trails and sunny skies for a kneepounding day. Neff, who recently made the Canadian National Trail Running team with a fourth place finish at a qualifying race in Quebec, handily won the 11-km race with a time of 38:50, good enough for a pace of 3:42 per kilometre.
Bigger, stronger, faster. That proved to be the theme of the 2013 Banff Bike Fest as many top teams brought high-level talent to this year’s competition. While last year Rundle Mountain Cycling Club dominated every category, their success prompted other large teams to bring out their best.
“The field depth was a lot bigger and deeper this year,” said RMCC veteran Erik Jensen. “That’s a result of how we did last year. They brought more and deeper talent, and it’s a credit to the club.”
Cyclists Liah Harvie and Sara Poidevin will join basketball player Luke Praught to challenge the best young athletes in the nation at the Canada Summer Games in Sherbrooke, Quebec from Aug. 2-17.
Floodwaters swept away several sporting events over the past week, however, the Canmore Canada Day Run received the green light for July 1 and the Canmore Gran Fondo on July 6 will still go ahead as a fundraiser for relief efforts. The inaugural Banff Marathon, Lady Mac’s Roller Derby first home game, Rundle’s Revenge and Banff Bear’s rugby’s first home game were all wiped out due to the flood damage, and The Kananaskiker mountain bike race has been rescheduled to Aug. 10-11.
JULY
Phillippe Albouy and Allison Ezzat ran 76 km over three days to win the second annual Kananaskis3 Stage Race at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
After 12 years as the biggest mountain bike stage race in Alberta, organizers announce they will pull the plug on the TransRockies Mountain Bike race, replacing it with a new event: Singletrack Six.
Brittany Webster and Graeme Killick win the Canmore Canada Day Fun Run.
Putting your body through an 80-km trail run with 3,000 m of elevation is hard enough, but to end it in a full-out sprint finish is simply unthinkable. However that’s what Andy Reed endured to win the first Wild Mountain Ultra Marathon solo race on June 29.
Alpine Canada President and CEO Max Gartner announced his plans to step down once a successor can be found to lead the governing body for alpine, para-alpine and ski cross racing.
The RMCC youth movement is forgoing baby steps and heading straight for the giant leap. Teenagers Sara Poidevin, Mitch Fennell and Reid McClure all found the top of the podium at the Rundle Mountain Stage Race on July 13-14 in Canmore.
Canmore’s Liza Pye, Lu Douce and Martha Handford teamed up with Frances Vice of Vancouver and Sarah Nossiter of Calgary to win the women’s five-person team division at 24 Hours of Adrenalin. The women accomplished the feat on single speed bikes.
AUGUST
Andy Reed breaks Phil Villeneuve’s Canmore Four Peaks challenge record, completing the 53 km, 5,000m of elevation run in 10 hours, 39 minutes.
Liah Harvie overcame serious pre-race jitters to earn silver at the Canadian National Mountain Bike Championships in Hardwood Hills, Ontario.
The Canmore Eagles traded away Alec Bechtold and Mattia Bortolotto for future considerations.
Canadian kayak legend and newly minted Canmore resident David Ford won his 18th national whitewater title, re-establishing the 46-year-old’s reputation as the country’s top whitewater athlete at Canoe Meadows in Kananaskis Country.
Leighton Poidevin won the 40-plus solo category at the final TransRockies Mountain Bike Race, stopping the clock at 16:11:23, 30 minutes ahead of Pat Doyle.
Mike Vine won his fourth straight Canmore Xterra triathlon, while Chantall Widney returned from world championships to win the women’s off-road title.
Old school cross-country and Super-D mountain bike racing made its return to the Canmore Nordic Centre. Matt Hadley defeated former world cup racer Jamie Lamb to win the third annual Kananaskiker.
Liah Harvie and Sara Poidevin represented Alberta at the Canada Games in both the road biking and mountain biking categories, while Luke Praught played for his home province on the basketball court.
Savina Somas of the Canmore Skating Club won gold at the 2013 Wild Rose Invitational in Calgary, while Banff Skating Club members Kana Noguchi, Carleigh Gorrigsen and Martha Pietrasik won gold and two silver medals respectively.
Elise Sethna, Simon Yamamoto and Sara Frangos helped lead Team Canada to its best finish ever at the Youth World Climbing Championships in Victoria, B.C. Aug. 16-19.
SEPTEMBER
Erin Morgan won her first national judo title with wins over Whitney Lohnes and Lorena Kaegi in Montreal.
Canmore’s Menno Arendz won gold in his first Banff Triathlon sprint, while Simon Schaertz of Calgary and Janet Nielsen dominated the Olympic distance through drizzling rain on Sept. 7.
The Canmore Eagles recorded their first win of the season with a 4-3 come from behind victory over the Drumheller Dragons at the Canmore Rec Centre.
An undermanned Banff Bears Rugby Club limped noticeably into and out of the Calgary Rugby Union Division 2 playoff picture with a 71-14 loss to the Calgary Irish on Sept. 14. With only 13 healthy bodies, the Bears were no match for their opponent.
Eagles goaltender Cam Barnes got the call of a lifetime when the New York Rangers asked him to suit up as part of their training camp in Banff. Barnes played a few scrimmages with the club.
More than 200 disc golfers competed in the Ace Race in Canmore, making it the third largest Ace Race in the world for the fourth straight year.
OCTOBER
Benard Onsare crushed the field to winn the 36th annual Melissa’s Road race in a time of 1:15:39, two minutes ahead of Dug Jackson. Former Olympian Lisa Harvey won the women’s division in 1:27:02.
Morley Community School becomes the first Aboriginal school to partner with Hockey Canada in order to create a hockey skills academy. The new program combines education with hockey skills.
Off-road specialists Mike Sarnecki and Chantell Widney blazed to victory at the inaugural Grizzly Mountain Bike Enduro race at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Jakub Sumbara smashed the 50-km Grizzly Ultra Trail Run record by 20 minutes, clocking a time of 3:45:39 at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Americans rocked the icy track, but an Austrian woman stopped the sweep at the second annual Frozen Thunder Classic at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Katerina Smutna and Dakota Blackhorse-von Jess won the race, while Patrick Stewart Jones and Alysson Marshall were the top Canadians.
NOVEMBER
The Canmore Eagles enter the month on a five-game win streak and are one of the hottest teams in the AJHL thanks to top goaltending and strong defensive play. Ryan Ferguson is awarded AJHL player of the week honours for his play, posting a 2-0 record with a GAA of 1.00.
After making history by hosting the first ever playoff game in Bow Valley Wolverines history, the team dropped a 49-14 game to the Drumheller Titans at Millenium Field.
Cross-country skiers Jesse Cockney and Perianne Jones join Beckie Scott to launch the Skifit North learn to ski program at the Morley Community School.
Ecole Notre Dame Des Monts launched its first ever sports team as Caroline Miller, Josee Jantz, Hannah St-Hilaire, Kim Lefort, Laurissa Brousseau and Jordan Olsthoorn played an exhibition volleyball match against Lawrence Grassi Middle School.
Figure skating star Jane Gray led a Canmore Skating Club effort with a gold medal performance at the 2014 Provincial Sectional Championships in Edmonton on Nov. 10. Geerthana Somas won bronze in her age category, as did Savina Somas.
Biathlete Nathan Smith won silver at the IBU Cup stop in Idre, Sweden, where Canada had its best finish ever. Marc-Andre Bedard finished seventh, while Megan Imrie was sixth and Megan Heinicke was seventh.
DECEMBER
Banff’s Jan Hudec qualifies for the Sochi Olympic Winter Games with a 10th-place finish in the super-G race at Lake Louise. Aksel Svindel won the race.
Biathlete Megan Imrie earned her Olympic qualifying spot with a 22nd place finish at a world cup stop in Oestersund, Sweden.
Brian McKeever wins a pair of gold medals in the visually-impaired category at the first ever IPC World Cup event at the Canmore Nordic Centre. Mckeever won both races without guide Erik Carleton, who missed the race due to illness.
Marie-Michelle Gagnon and Larisa Yurkiw both cracked the top-10 at the World Cup Alpine stop in Lake Louise. Yurkiw was seventh in the downhill race while Gagnon was 10th in the super-G.
Marielle Thompson wins gold at the chilly World Cup ski cross race at Nakiska. Thompson battled sub -30 C temperatures for the win.
Para-biathlete Mark Arendz won gold and silver at the IPC race at the Canmore Nordic Centre.
Nathan Smith skies to a career-best 16th place on the world cup to secure his spot on the Canadian Olympic team. Smith followed it up with an eighth place finish in the pursuit. Meanwhile, the women’s relay team of Rosanna Crawford, Megan Imrie, Megan Heinicke and Zina Kocher skied to a fourth place finish, the best ever by a Canadian women’s squad on the world cup.
Brendan Green wins the Biathlon Canada Olympic trials races at the Canmore Nordic Centre to secure his spot on the Olympic team.
Jan Hudec won World Cup silver to kick off Canada’s alpine medal haul at Val Gardena in the super-G.
