As this Sunday's forerunner, Canadian Ski Team athlete Dustin Cook, effortlessly wove his way down his home hill at breakneck speed, we were briefly reminded of just how artful skiing can be when executed at levels of precision most of us will only achieve in our sleep. In fact, my own personal reflection of this artistry left me juxtaposing the beauty of giant slalom to an ancient method of Japanese painting, one in which the painter dips his brush heavily in ink and then, without lifting the brush from the canvas, uses a single uninterrupted stroke to complete the desired illustration. The difficulty therein lies in the execution, for the painter can ill afford hesitation as the slightest of pause along the stroke would immediately cause the ink to run, thus ruining the canvas. Now consider giant slalom; an attempt on the participant's behalf to draw the cleanest uninterrupted line from top to bottom, building momentum as the set and hill permit, all the while avoiding jarring movements or halting pauses, for both will inevitably incur the dreaded; "how am I two seconds behind, everyone said I looked fast". Now imagine maintaining that precision when you are unable to feel your face, toes, fingers and possibly larger body parts, because that is how our racers' weekend began.

More...

Dustin Cook (Lac Sainte Marie, QC) won a Northwest Funds Coupe Nor-Am Cup race for the first time in his career, finishing in top spot in today's men's super-G at Panorama Mountain Village.

Cook powered through a softened piste, after even more snowfall overnight, to record a winning time of one minute 15.62 seconds.

"I was pretty stoked when I came down. It felt amazing. I haven't had a great week and it just felt like 'finally'," said Cook, who did have a giant slalom podium earlier in the week to go with a few results that were outside the top 10.

"It was pretty rough from all the snow that has accumulated in the past couple days," said the 20-year-old from Mont Ste-Marie Racing Club. "But I know the track really well so I knew what I needed to do and pretty much put the hammer down and went as straight and quick as possible."

"I basically talked myself into it, telling myself I was going to win the night before. So I was pretty happy that it came to be," he added.

Cook was followed by American Travis Ganong in second 0.1s back with Travis Dawson (Calgary, AB) third (1:16.38).

Cook made it two podiums in one day, finishing second in the super combined, which added a slalom run held later in the day, in a two-run time of 1:52.99. American Will Brandenburg won the super combined (1:52.85) with USA's Nolan Kasper third (1:53.15).

The Northwest Funds Coupe Nor-Am Cup event in Panorama Mountain Village wraps up tomorrow with a ladies super-G and super combined.

COMPLETE EVENT RESULTS: http://www.fis-ski.com/uk/604/1228.html?event_id=27134&cal_suchsector=AL

For those interested in joining Club Mont Ste Marie please email: registration2009_2010@clubmsm.org

The link is at the top right of the menu.

Mont Ste Marie did incredilby well with all of our club athletes scoring in the top 25 and, a number of personal bests accomplished. The most exciting day had to be the Friday morning slalom with Camille Sigouin placing 12, Taylor R 10th and Monica 1st. Then we had to wait for Raf who, laid down an awesome run which had Cris, Ilya and, I on the edge of our seats, he won the boys race. Not bad for a club from the Outaouais, first in the girls and first in the boys in slalom.

Leveraging several outstanding performances, Steph Gould captured the overall women's title of the 2009 K2 Criterium. Gould won races at Mont Ste. Sauveur, as well as Mont Garceau en route, to become the overall champion.

Earlier this season, Gould won a bronze medal at the Taschereau, another provincial event which was held at Mont Tremblant in December. She easily bettered that result at the provincial championships. 

Despite the heavy rain on the first race day, she captured the Super G title by besting her nearest competitor by a slim 25 one-hundreths of a second on the short speed track at Mont Garceau. Although the race organizers were able to complete the women's race, they canceled the men's race that day, as well as both the men's and women's Super Combined Super GS due to the inclement weather.

More...

Dustin Cook (Lac Sainte Marie, QC) powered his way into the top 10, finishing ninth in today’s FIS Alpine World Junior Ski Championships men’s downhill on a very busy day in Garmisch-Partenkirchen, GER.

Cook, who was on the podium at a Coupe Nor-Am Cup for the first time in his career earlier this season, finished today’s downhill in a time of one minute 40.18.

“I was pretty surprised but also extremely stoked because downhill is my worst event, so getting a result like that in something I am usually not that strong at and haven’t done that much, is great,” said Cook, who described the course in Garmisch as to his advantage because it was a highly technical and turny.

More...

The Mont Ste Marie team had an incredible weekend at Le Relais! The highlights of the weekend include:

I2 Girls - 1st Overall - Julianne Leduc 

I2 Boys - 2nd Overall - Ben Beaudoin

I1 Boys - 3rd Overall - Aidan Marler (He overcame his dad's suspect tuning)

As well as these incredible provincial podium finishes, there were many top ten.

The entire Outaouais region did very well occupying 70% of the top ten and 40% of the top ten was from Mont Ste Marie. Overall just an incredible weekend.

The results can be found here:

http://www.skiquebec.qc.ca/view_event.php?event_id=192

Club Mont Ste. Marie athletes battled the bitter cold during their second race weekend of 2009, and came out on the podium on both Saturday and Sunday.

On Saturday, January 24th, the K2 athletes competed in frigid temperatures during the GS Race at Calabogie. With a solid showing in the top-ten, the MSM girls clenched two spots on the podium, with Steph Gould in second place and Chloe Sigouin in fifth. Eric Stewart finished second overall for the boys.

Competing in the slalom race at Mont Cascades on Sunday, January 25th, MSM’s K2 athletes made an impact on the podium for the second day in a row. Eric Stewart placed first amongst the boys, and Steph Gould placed first amongst the girls. Also joining Steph on the podium were Olivia Quenneville (3rd), Taylor Suderman (4th), and Chloe Sigouin (5th).

The first race of the season for the Mont Ste Marie I2 field could only be considered a huge success. The giant slalom at Vorlage featured Mont Ste Marie athletes all over the podium, in both the male and female ranks.

There were 2 races run on the day, and Mont Ste Marie left with all 4 gold medals! Julianne Leduc won both female races and Ben Beaudoin won both male races. 

These were not the only excellent performances, as Mont Ste Marie filled nine of twelve medal positions. 

The full results are here:

Female Race 1

Female Race 2

Male Race 1

Male Race 2

Mont Ste Marie's own Eric Stewart is the overall Taschereau champion. Eric skiing through the NCO won the slalom race on the Saturday by almost a full second. Eric did not fare quite as well in the GS on Sunday when he finished 15th, but another top 15 finish was enough to clinch him the overall Taschereau title.

Eric's was not the only fabulous performance by a Mont Ste Marie athlete. Steph Gould also had a great weekend finishing third in the giant slalom on Sunday. In accomplishing that feat she won the second run (video hopefully to come). With her third place finish she clinched a 6th place overall finish. 

The complete results can be found here:

http://www.skiquebec.qc.ca/view_event.php?event_id=140

The first race weekend for the K2s went very well with multiple podium finishes on the male and female sides.

On Saturday in the giant slalom Mont Ste Marie female athletes were prominent on the podium finishing 2nd (Steph Gould), 4th (Olivia Quenneville), and 5th (Brooke Taylor).

The full podium was:

1. Mikaela Tommy (Edelweiss)
   
2. Stephanie Gould (Mont Ste Marie)
   
3. MacKenzie Reid (Calabogie)
   
4. Olivia Quenneville (Mont Ste Marie)
   
5. Brooke Taylor (Mont Ste Marie)

Female Results GS - January 10

Mont Ste Marie male athletes (currently on the NCO team) were equally succesful finishing 1st (Eric Stewart), and 3rd (Sam Rubinoff). The full podium was:

1. Eric Stewart (NCO - Mont Ste Marie)
2. Zacharie Cameron (NCO - Fortune)
3. Samuel Rubinoff (NCO - Mont Ste Marie)
4. Nicholas Dowd (Calabogie)
5. Olivier Pilon (Academie Ste Marie)

The excellent results continued on the second second day (slalom) at Camp Fortune. Mont Ste Marie women finished 1st (Steph Gould), 3rd (Brooke Taylor), and 4th (Olivia Quenneville).

The full podium was:

1. Stephanie Gould (Mont Ste Marie)
2. Mikaela Tommy (Edelweiss)
   
3. Brooke Taylor (Mont Ste Marie)
4. Olivia Quenneville (Mont Ste Marie)
5. MacKenzie Reid (Calabogie)

Results Unavailable

The MSM men were only able to capture one podium position in the slalom, but that was a win for Sam Rubinoff!

The full podium:

1. Samuel Rubinoff (NCO - Mont Ste Marie)
2. Pat Lynott (NCO - Academie Ste Marie)
3. Andrew Eagen (Cascades)
4. Scott Beirsdorfer (NCO - Cascades)
5. Alec Wright (Fortune)

New photos are up from the Mont Ste Anne camp earlier this pre-season. Please check out the photos section!

Club Mont-Ste-Marie’s own Dustin Cook has kicked off his season on the Nor-Am Cup circuit with a strong start. The nineteen-year-old finished third in yesterday’s Men’s GS at Panorama finishing in 2:24:76, sharing the podium with fellow Canadians Jeffrey Frisch of Mont-Tremblant, who finished in 2:23:05 and Stefan Guay, also from Mont-Tremblant, who finished in 2:24:03.

This has proven to be a breakthrough week for Cook who just days ago, on December 15, finished fifth overall in the Men’s Super G, also at Panorama.

The Husky Snow Stars is a skill development tool for young skiers.

This seven-step program will guide the child, coach, and parent through a progression that is aligned with the Long Term Athlete Development Plan (AIM 2 WIN).

Optimal motor skill development takes place primarily between the ages of 5 to 12. For this reason the program is aimed generally at young skiers from Entry level to the end of K1. Husky Snow Stars provides clubs and coaches guidance through the early "Windows of Trainability" where it is critical to carry out the "Right Athletic Development at the Right Time".

The goal of Husky Snow Stars is to provide a solid foundation and knowledge base – physical, technical, tactical and mental – upon which to build children’s athletic abilities.

Husky Snow Stars encourages the development of skiers and ski racers of all ability levels. It also encourages children to discover a pathway to the joy of skiing, competition and excellence in a fun and rewarding environment.

Enthusiastic and well-prepared coaches and participants play an integral role in the success of the program.

Links Page