2016 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships - initial information

Greetings folks,

We are pleased to announce that XC Bragg Creek Ski Club will once again be hosting the Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships.  This year's youth champs will take place the weekend of March 4-6, 2016 on the recently improved ski trails at West Bragg Creek in Kananaskis Country.

Registration will be live on zone4.ca by Wed Dec 23, 2015.  As in previous years, an early registration fee is in effect to encourage people to register early so that we can confirm the number of camp buildings we need at Kamp Kiwanis.  This year's early registration fee is $140 and includes accommodation and five meals and event and trail fees.  The early registration is in effect until Jan 15, 2016, afterwhich the registration rises to $190.  Please register early, as Camp Kiwanis would like us to be able to tell them with some degree of certainty how many buildings we need for our event.

Since 2012,  the AYC has grown into the largest children's provincial level event for cross country skiing in Alberta.  We regularly have had over 150 children in the four year age group of minimidget and midget participating (compared to about 80 athletes in this age group at Alberta Winter Games).  AYC has become an important event for our club in Bragg Creek to host and we are pleased to be able to pull this event together.

race notice and event updates will be posted on our event blog http://albertayouthchamps.blogspot.ca/   You can also follow updates on our club twitter feed @xcbraggcreek and also on our website - xcbraggcreek.ca

This year the event chiefs will be Roy Strum and Erik Anderson.  Roy has been the chief of event at many of the AYC since 2009.  Erik was the chief of course the last couple of years at AYC and will be sharing the chief duties with Roy this year.

AYC 2016 will be the fifth edition of the event in Bragg Creekand is for children born in the calendar years 2002-2005.  Our trails are 1400m above sea level, the same elevation as the Canmore Nordic Centre.  The local trails association and Kananaskis Country do an excellent job of grooming.  You may recall last year, when there was no snow anywhere in southern Alberta we were able to successfully host the AYC at West Bragg.  

XC Bragg Creek is a small town ski club serving the communities of Bragg Creek, Redwood Meadows, Cochrane, and Priddis.  We are a growing club led by our head coach, CCA Coach of the Year 2014, Flora Giesbrecht.

Please share this information with anyone and everyone who you think might be interested in reading it.

thanks

Roy Strum 

CoChief, AYC 2016

Bragg Creek

a last update - 2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships

Hi folks

 

 

condtions are great in bragg creek - two days out from the event and we have lots of fresh snow and -10 in bragg creek today.

I have attached the rooming list - you can print this off if you want and bring along your copy so you know where you and your kids are staying at camp kiwanis. I went through the confirmation list this morning and am pretty confident i didnt miss anybody. - let me know if i did.

Arrival

- please plan to arrive between 630 and 700pm - Camp Kiwanis is at the intersection of higways 8&22 north of bragg creek, west of calgary, south of cochrane.

- please plan to be all moved in and settled in time for our welcome meeting at 8pm - this will be a short 10 minute welcome followed by snack - there will be some bowls of fruit set out.

this meeting will take place in the dining hall of Kiwanis lodge (the big building).

coaches - we will have our coaches meeting directly following the welcome meeting.this meeting will take place in the upstairs multipurpose room in Kiwanis Lodge

relay teams - please register your teams for the relay before you arrive at Kiwanis on friday - https://zone4.ca/reg.asp?id=8909

official relay teams are 2 boys, 2girls, at least 2 minimidgets (born 2003, 2004) all from the same club

unofficial teams are any any combination of boys/girls/midgets/minimidgets from any combination of clubs

lots of teams have already done this - thank you very much! As you will notice when you register your teams our relay has returned to the 2012 format of two legs of classic to start followed by 2 legs of skating. The organizing committee decided this to recognize our sport has two disciplines and at a provincial championships we should have both skating and classic legs. we realize this creates some more work for coaches, but the event is about the kids, and creating opportunities for success. we think doing 2 legs classic and 2 legs skating will provide opportunities for success for some kids, plan to wear a costume!

waxing spaces - Roper is the name of the cabin that we have as an indoor waxing space at Camp Kiwanis - it is heated, with lots of plug ins - bring your own forms, etc.

waxing at west bragg - there is no electricity, water at west bragg - come prepared with a generator. also, bring lots of water.

busing information - new this year we are providing buses for transportation of kids and chaperones on saturday. we realize many of the coaches will head off earlier in their own vehicles to west bragg. there will be two bus pick ups at kiwanis

815 - intended for the midgets who start at 10am

915 - intended for the minimidgets who start at 11am

minimidgets can ride the first bus, but push comes to shove, the midgets get first priority as they start first.

it is a 20 minute bus ride from kiwanis to west bragg.

245-300pm buses will depart west bragg for camp kiwanis

430pm coaches meeting

6pm - ayc banquet - followed by program at 645 - in keeping with our tradition of having a successful athlete present at ayc each year, this year we are pleased to have Annika Hicks, former alberta ski team, cdn jr team athlete sharing her story of becoming a ski racer.

we will also present awards during our program

- medals to 10th place in each of single year, single sex categories

- medals for 1st - 3rd in official relay

- medals for 1st place in the unnoficial relay

8pm - dance for kids in venturer lodge; coaches/chaperone social in mulitpurpose room in kiwanis lodge

followed by bedtime - dance will shut down about 845-9pm

We are very pleased with the response by clubs in AB, SK, and NWT to this event. we have 145 kids registered, 15 ski clubs, including some new clubs joining this year who havent participated in teh past including Fort Smith Ski Club from NWT. Welcome! Our hope is that the event continues to grow each year and becomes the biggest, most important event on the yearly calendar for the four year age group of minimidget and midget.

We will see you soon - we are very thrilled to host the event and to have such excellent conditions with mild temperatures forecast for west bragg on the weekend!

give me a call or email if you have any other questions.

Thanks

Roy Strum

Chief of Event

2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships

5 days till 2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships

Things are looking great in Bragg Creek for this coming weekend's AYC.  While it snowed very little in Calgary and Canmore the past week, Bragg Creek has received 4 days of snow and conditions are great!  This morning, we are receiving another big dump of snow - at this point we are very confident we will be skiing at West Bragg Trails this weekend.  Here are a few images from my ski there on Sunday March 1, 2015.
S

West Bragg Meadow - this is our Stadium - start-finish area

this is West Crystal line - a new trail we will use as part of this year's AYC

our trail groomers, Carver and Jeff, on the new West Crystal Link Climb that will be part of the 3k skate course and 2.5/5k classic courses

top of stairway to heaven descent that will be used as part of 3k skate course and 2.5/5k classic races

at the bottom of the toboggan hill about 1k from the end of the skate race course

another view of West Bragg Meadow Stadium

Stadium Maps - AYC 2015. West Bragg Ski Trails

Here are the stadium maps for the 2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships in Bragg Creek.

Saturday March 7, 2015 - Individual Start - Skate race - Stadium map

Saturday afternoon, Mar 7, 2015 - 4x1km Relay - Stadium map

Sunday morning, March 8, 2015 - Wave start Classic race - Stadium map

Race Trail Maps - 2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships

3k skate - 2001, 2002 - saturday march 7, 2015



http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=6BF4C1F4-010A-3135-5E20B440E3A1001D&success=1



2k skate - 2003, 2004 - saturday march 7, 2015



http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=6BF8F58B-BA87-7CC4-BCFCDB452598C0D2



4x1km relay - saturday march 7, 2015



http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=6BFEFAD4-B593-09FB-C908E70365811571&success=1



5k wave start classic - 2001, 2002 - sunday march 8, 2015



http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=6C024B19-DB56-B25F-57A890E35CAD2124&success=1



2.5k wave start classic - 2003, 2004 - sunday march 8, 2015



http://www.walkjogrun.net/routes/current_route.cfm?rid=6C024B19-DB56-B25F-57A890E35CAD2124&success=1

Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships - 2 weeks out!

With the cancellation of numerous events in southern Alberta this winter, there has been lots of inquiry about what snow conditions are like at West Bragg Ski Trails and whether we will be able to host the 2015 AYC in Bragg Creek in 2 weeks - the short answer is YES!  If the event had been held this weekend, the competitions would have gone ahead, we are confident that the 2015 AYC will happen!

Here are a bunch of photos taken Sunday, February 22, 2015 at 6pm.  As you will see - good snow coverage - very skiable - in fact I skied the whole race trail and was pleasantly surprised at how good it was!  Bragg Creek rec'd snow last week - lets hope it stays cold and snowy!

We are planning back up locations - saturday possibilities include Canada Olympic Park or Mt Shark, and sunday possibilities include Canmore Nordic Centre.  Be prepared that you may have to drive on the saturday to the venue with your group if we are not at West Bragg.

These are real pictures - not photoshopped - of West Bragg Creek on Sunday Feb 22.  Very skiable today!  Lets keep our fingers crossed that we can ski at West Bragg at AYC 2015!

Roy Strum
Chief of Event
2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships
Bragg Creek

West Bragg Meadow - start finish area

200m bridge going over Bragg Creek

west crystal line - at about km 500m out on 3km loop

west crystal line at about 1km out on 3km loop

West Crystal Link Climb - this is new big climb to the high point on the race loop - beautiful conditions today!

Stairway to Heaven decent - at about 1.5km

Sundog trail at about 2km

mountain road - warm up trail

AYC 2015 - full steam ahead!

Plans are well underway for the 2015 Alberta Youth Cross Country Ski Championships being hosted by XC Bragg Creek ski club and Canmore Nordic Ski Club.  Its been an unusual winter in southern Alberta.  Lots of snow, no snow, ultra cold, uber warm.  All of this has left our ski trails in Bragg Creek looking somewhat bare.  We are confident that we will have snow to ski on in 3 weeks time at West Bragg.  However, we are working on back up plans including using other ski venues.  Our plan is to count on snow, but if it doesnt happen, we will find snow somewhere within driving distance of Bragg Creek.  2015 AYC will happen!

A few tasky things for you to do:

- make relay teams - we will be posting relay sign up on zone 4.ca for you to enter your relay team - look for a follow up notice about this.
- food restrictions - please contact Matt Prosser, chef at Kamp Kiwanis with any dietary restrictions that you (if you are a coach or chaperone) or your athletes have - 403-686-6325
- check back to this site for updates.
- we will stay at Kamp Kiwanis for sure - and bus or drive to ski site. http://kampkiwanis.ca/
- what you need to bring:  bedding, toiletries, towel


If you have any questions - you can post them here as others might have questions - or email roystrum@gmail.com  403-862-1042

see you soon!

Roy
Chief of Event
2015 AYC Bragg Creek