Mount Baldy

Thunder Bay’s young skiers had the chance to compete in their own backyard as the U16 provincial championships took place at Mount Baldy.

They delivered standout performances on the familiar snow. Four Thunder Bay locals will move on to represent Ontario at the Eastern Canada Championships in Quebec two weeks from now.

“Our local athletes are doing very well at these races,” said Port Arthur Ski Club head coach and program director Dave Bradley. “It’s nice to have home hill advantage, because we’ve been training hard on these hills and they’re taking advantage of it.”

Over 160 of the top 14-16 year old skiers across the province were invited to the five-day event.

In the boy’s category, William Gerry finished 9th, Hudson Freeburn finished 7th and Reid Jones finished 3rd in the Giant Slalom event Thursday. All three will qualify for the next level.

Freeburn’s time of 35.95 in his first run topped the field, but he fell down the rankings after a slow finish in his second run. Bradley says it’s a valuable learning experience for him.

“You’ve got to look ahead and really stay on your line or you can lose a lot of time all of a sudden, which is what happened to Hudson,” Bradley said. “That can be really hard to deal with.”

Freeburn, 15, is a student at Westgate High School and races for Norwesters Alpine Ski Club in Thunder Bay.

“Second run I got a little late at the bottom, things got a little fast,” Freeburn said. “This event’s really fun though because it brings people from all over Ontario here. It’s very exciting because you see people you’ve never raced against and it’s a very high level.”

“There’s so many things I could say (to a novice skier), but the most important would be to just go out and ski and have fun. Stay in the sport. It’s really meaningful.”

Reid Jones, 16, races for TB Fast ski club. He says young skiers should keep working hard through any adversity.

“I just try to get down as fast as I can,” Jones said.

In the girl’s category, Ella Nichols of Thunder Bay finished 2nd in the Slalom event on Monday and will qualify for the Eastern Ontario Championships. She wasn’t available for interview.

Thunder Bay skiers and friends Madeline Hooke and Sophie Lechto, both 15, said they had fun and are happy with how they skiied.

“We’re hoping to continue on with this next year and see how this goes,” Hooke said.

As for advice to novice skiers, Hooke said not to let any negativity get to them.

“People chirp a lot. Don’t let the drama get to you,” she said. “Don’t get involved with it.”

Bradley says these athletes shouldn’t be too focused on results at such a young age.

“One thing about skiing, as in a lot of sports, is that every child is on a different growth curve,” Bradley said. “The playing field doesn’t really even out until adulthood. So right now some of the smaller skiers have to be patient and keep working because they’re going to catch up in strength, and some of the big guys that are winning now have to be ready to be challenged in a little bit.”

“Just keep your confidence. Keep working on your skills and having confidence that you’ll be competitive down the road.”