Racing rush

Lucas Sandberg wants to see where he stands against the best 13 and 14-year-old alpine skiers in Ontario.

The 13-year-old knows he’ll be in tough when the K2 provincial championships arrive at Loch Lohmond and Mount Baldy ski areas the first week in March. But even though local skiers for the most part will be considered underdogs against tougher southern Ontario competitors, he’ll have one goal in mind when he launches himself through the starting gate.

“You can’t think that you’re not going to win. You have to think you’ll win and just go from there,” he said, taking a break during a recent training run at Mount Baldy.

“We train every week except for two days. We don’t usually take weekends off, so hopefully we have enough training to have a good chance of winning it.”

Standing at the top of the hill, the youngster said he tries to visualize the course from start to finish before barreling down the slope.

It doesn’t always help stem the nerves, he said.

“When I get in the start I just get really excited and just hope I can finish as fast as I can,” he said.

Thirteen-year-old Willa Ratz, who started skiing when she was nine, said it’s hard to temper her enthusiasm as the racing nears.

“I’m really excited, actually, to ski against some of the people, because I haven’t skied against them before,” the Vance Chapman Elementary School student said. “They’re really good skiers so I want to see how well we match up against them.”

She said don’t be surprised if local skiers just might surprise during the competition, which begins with giant slalom races on March 2 and 3 at Loch Lohmond and wraps up with a pair of slalom races on March 4 and 5 at Mount Baldy.

“I think we’re going to do pretty well,” she said.

All told there will be about 160 athletes taking part, all looking to improve their national standings, looking to qualify to advance to the Canadian juvenile championships.

While skiing doesn’t have the numbers it used to, the coach of the Lake Superior Division Alpine team said for a city this size, they do OK in competition.

“We’re not huge, but we always have a few kids that are right in there with the rest of province. We have small numbers, but that’s really good for our program,” Steve Tollafsen said.

Hosting the competition is also an excellent way to showcase the city.

“For me the people outside of Thunder Bay get this great experience of skiing on our challenging hills. They may be a bit shorter, but they’re always challenging, testing our skills. And local people get to see the talent that’s out there. So it’s a good show.”

The K2s aren’t the only high-level competition coming to town this winter.

This weekend will feature four days of racing during the LSDA’s Miele FIS Race series at Loch Lohmond, which starting Friday will pit top skiers from Canada and the U.S. against each other, all looking to improve their international rankings.

Both events are open to spectators and feature free admission.