Local Sports

A rash of ski injuries to key members of the senior team has prompted Alpine Canada to host a ski-racing safety summit this spring in Calgary. “The most important factor is we are masters of our own destiny.

Posting the top result of his young career, biathlete Scott Gow cracked the top 10 in the 15 kilometre sprint at the world junior biathlon championships in Nove Mesto, Czech Republic last weekend.

Paul Stutz is taking on the world – all by himself. The Banff slalom expert is racing as an independent on the world cup alpine ski circuit for the second season in a row, and is posting some of the best results of his young career.

In search of help to overcome recent inconsistent play, the Canmore Eagles needed look no further than their own backyard.

Two Canadian national ski team members used the Rocky Mountain Challenge at the Canmore Nordic Centre to jumpstart stalled seasons on Sunday, Jan 30.

Bow Valley senior biathletes have posted a mixed bag of results this year on the world cup circuit and returned home to train in preparation for the final push of the season.

Robby Balharry’s ascent up the nation’s slopestyle and big air snowboard rankings continued last week with two more top 10 results. “It’s going good. I’m stoked about how the season has gone so far,” Balharry said.

Blaine Penny and Kirk Howell crossed the finish line together to win the 2011 Banff to Lake Louise Loppet in a time of 4:44:18. The two Calgarians are originally from Newfoundland and have been competing against one another for years.

The Canmore Eagles have battled injury problems all season long and the past weekend was no different. “In all my years of hockey, I’ve never seen it as bad as this,” said head coach Andrew Milne.

Just call him the collector. Biathlete Mark Arendz polished off his set of world cup medals with a golden performance on Jan. 23, capping a three medal weekend.