SRC WEEKLY WRAP Dec. 15, 2008

Monday, Dec. 15, 2008

SRCmag.ca

the source for canadian snowsports news

Don't blink or you might miss a thing or twenty.

The season is in full swing with a plethora of snowsports activities over the past week. Some of the Canadian teams appear to be on the right track, some even exceeding early-season expectations. The Canadian snowboard team are setting the tone early with a serious medal haul in Italy this weekend.

On the XC side of things, Canada's most famous ski mom, Sara Renner, looks to be back to her Torino silver-medal form after a great start in Europe.

But perhaps the most impressive story this early season comes from the biathlon team, where Canadian Jean-Philippe Leguellec matched the best-ever result by a Canadian male in a World Cup competition, finishing eighth on Saturday in Austria and then the men's biathlon team finished seventh on Sunday in the team event. Biathlon is a notoriously poorly-funded snowsport and LeGuellec's results are reminding the OTP folks that they might want to reconsider them as a 2010 medal sport.

Email me your thoughts anytime to editor@srcmag.ca.

-- SRC Editors

SRC Vid Pix

GARAGE SALE: Kelly VanderBeek has a wild ride in Lake Louise last week. She went into the opening speed races with limited summer training (recovering from an injury), changed boots a week before the races and then had this full-blown garage sale crash in the first training run. Kelly V is one tough cookie and still found herself in the top 15 in both races.

Canadian Matt Morison started the season in a familiar position - the top step of the podium - after winnnig the opening men's parallel giant slalom snowboard race in Limone, Italy. (Courtesy CSF)

CANADIAN BOARDERS STRIKE EARLY - Morison keys Canadian snowboard haul

Canadian riders Mathew Morison and Jasey-Jay Anderson earned gold and bronze in the men's parallel giant slalom while teammate Kimiko Zakreski took silver in the women's races Sunday at a World Cup snowboard competition in Limone Piemonte, Italy.

>>> for more

	SRC Wrap: Alpine team needs to climb the charts and bring back the swagger
The grind is on in the Alps, with hardly a breather for World Cup alpiners until after World Cup Finals. One-third of the way through this World Championships season, what have we learned thus far about the Canadians? We've learned that this is a Canadian team with vast potential, yet with tremendous improvement necessary to become a legitimate Nations Cup contender... >>> for more

	Lindsey Vonn reclaimed her lead in the women's overall with a second place finish in La Molina, Spain. (AGENCE-ZOOM)
Riesch nips Vonn, Goodman 21st in slalom Maria Riesch won her first World Cup slalom in more than four years when she claimed victory in La Molina, Spain, on Sunday, beating American Lindsey Vonn by 1.48 seconds. >>>for more

	OTHER ALPINE HEADLINES
Janka scores Swiss win at Val d'Isere Poutiainen fastest in La Molina GS Stefan Guay leads sweep in NorAm super-G Helie, Simmerling, McBroom podium at Lake Louise

	SNOWSPORTS HEADLINES
Renner, Canadians savor scintillating Saturday LeGuellec nets historic finish in Austria biathlon Nighbor, Gaiazova tops in XC NorAm Babikov, Renner strong in XC mass start Innsbruck to host first Winter Youth Olympics

The Green Issue -
January 2009

The world has gone Green. Everything is green-this or green-that. It is on the minds of just about everyone these days, some with honourable intentions and others for market or economic gain. SRC's rationale for going Green for one issue is simple: to examine the snowsports environmental footprint and offer some outside-the-box solutions to our readers and to the snowsports community (namely FIS) itself.
We've looked at what the snowsports industry is doing right and wrong, who's leading the way and small steps all ski families can all take to reduce our waste and footprint.