Prince George Citizen – January 21, 2017

Austin Boehm owes his parents, Mike and Sheila, big-time for helping him reach the top of the ski cross medal podium Saturday at Tabor Mountain. They’ve been faithful chauffeurs this season driving him from his home in Williams Lake in winter conditions so he can train and compete with his peers on the Prince George Alpine Ski Team. As a forerunner on the Nor-Am course at Tabor last weekend, the 15-year-old Boehm learned some of the intricacies of carrying his speed on the high-banked turns and tabletop jumps and that helped pave the way Saturday for his rush to gold in the under-16 men’s even at the Western Ski Cross Series event.

Boehm finished ahead of Jack Morrow, Jack McDonald and Aiden Press in the final heat Saturday. Morrow and McDonald, both of Whistler, were the respective silver and bronze medalists. “It was really fun – they toned the course down (from the Nor-Am) race, but it was still really good,” said Boehm. "It helped that I was able to see the course before when I was forerunning last weekend. (Morrow and McDonald) did really well and they were right on my tail – they almost passed me a couple times. All of us were really close. “The course was toned down a bit but the fast snow made up for that.” The fact 46 ski crossers from B.C. and Alberta were able to race at all is a credit to the Tabor crew overseen by Mitch Thibault. Tabor staff had their work cut out last week trying to overcome the unseasonably warm and wet weather. In Western Series ski cross, four skiers come down the course skiing together in tight quarters and it can be a little like roller derby on skis. “You have to have multiple skills – you have to go fast and you have to be thinking all the time,” said Boehm, now in his fourth year of ski racing. "(Of all the alpine events) I definitely like ski cross the most. “I try to get up here every weekend. It’s a lot of driving. We train at Tabor or Purden and it’s really improved my skiing this year. We all kind of pitch in and help each other and let each other know what to do on the course and where to do it.”

Prince George Alpine coach Phil Soicher, who moved to Prince George from New Brunswick in November, says he’s noticed considerable improvement in Boehm’s skiing since he started training with the team. Boehm pushes himself trying to keep up with the fastest club skiers. “They have a hill in Williams Lake (Mount Timothy) but it’s more of an issue that they only have a Nancy Greene (racing) program, so if he wants to train he’s on his own,” said Soicher. “He was with us at Sun Peaks for a pre-season camp and over Christmas he was with us.” In the under-14 women’s final Saturday, Melinda Kobasiuk of Prince George won a close duel with second-place Sage Murphy of Smithers and Charlotte Gibson of Prince George. Kobasiuk, 13, and Gibson, who turns 14 on Tuesday, are close in ability in ski cross and other alpine disciplines and it’s nothing new for them to be neck-and-neck with each other at the finish line. “It’s so much fun racing Charlotte,” said Kobasiuk. "In GS and slalom you can’t really race each other but you can in ski cross, the course is so nice. “There was a lot of pressure in the final. Even Amelie (Brulotte, the fourth-place finisher) was close. The last part of the course, the jump, is the best part, it’s so much fun.” Skiers had one day of training Friday and three practice runs before they raced each day. Gibson couldn’t get enough of the Tabor course. “The course was icy but really fun,” Gibson said. “I like how you go fast. Sometimes (it’s dangerous) when you go over jumps and you might crash into people.” For the uninitiated, there’s no doubt ski cross racing can be intimidating. “Most of our skiers are pretty fresh at ski cross and you can tell which kids enjoy it,” said Soicher. “It’s interesting on the training day, everyone is like, ‘Whoa.’ But by the end of the day their comfort level is visibly increasing.”

In Saturday’s under-18 men’s final, 17-year-old Shawn Nydegger of Prince George edged 16-year-old P.G. Alpine team member Lucas Gairns for top spot, while Griffin Brumec-Parsons of Whistler was third. Adree Brulotte topped Madyson Philbrook of Quesnel (Lightning Creek Ski Club) and Zoe Pohl of Prince George in the U-12 women’s final. In the U-12 men’s event, Isaac Hausot of Prince George won gold over Holden Doucette and Adrian Scrooby of Quesnel. Jacob Hoskins of Prince George led the U-14 men’s final until the third turn when he was overtaken by Konner Kimball of Edmonton. Hoskins ended up second and Darcy Fraser of Smithers was third. Samantha Carter of Lake Louise grabbed top spot in U-16 women over Anne Mullin and Dakota Clyde, who both compete for the Sunridge club of Edmonton. In the U-18 women’s final, Hailey Doucette of Quesnel edged Maude Cyr for gold.

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