New Year's Eve at Whistler Olympic Park (WOP) didn't involve a whole lot of partying or dancing but the park was packed with both cross-country skiers and biathletes getting in the final competitions of 2011.
The Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club hosted the B.C. Winter Games Trials for Zones 3, 4 and 5 at WOP on Dec. 31, with juvenile and midget boys and girls hitting the trails. Juvenile athletes took part in a five-kilometre race, while midgets battled it out over 2.5 kilometres.
Winners included: Rowan Morris (1997 Boys Juvenile), Katie Weaver (1997 Girls Juvenile), Seth Putnam-Rea (1998 Boys Midget) and Dot Forder (1998 Girls Midget).
Top local finishers included Gabrielle Smith (second in Girls Midget), Hunter Sones (second in Boys Midget), Austin Reith (fourth in Boys Juvenile), Stephanie Denroche (fifth in Girls Midget) and Erik Heilig (seventh in Boys Midget).
New Year's Eve also marked the return of the Callaghan Winter Sports Club's (CWSC) Biathlon Series. Forty racers, separated into three different distance categories, took to the biathlon course at WOP.
The format of the event was similar to a sprint competition in that participants skied three loops of the course, with shooting sessions after each loop.
Dan Buschert took first place in the 500-metre Cruiser division, finishing the course in 13:25. In the 900 m Challenge division, Bryan Kelly edged Holden Jones by 80 seconds to win the race in 16:29. Kevin Hodder, who blazed through the course in 22:07, won the 2,000 m Quest division.
The series is open to anyone over the age of eight and all shooting equipment is provided by the CWSC.
For more information on the series, visit www.callaghanwintersportsclub.com.
