Beaumont's Jorja Ottenbreit, 13, competed this weekend in the slalom events at Canyon Ski Resort as part of the 2020 Alberta Winter Games. (rdnewsNOW/Josh Hall)

By Josh Hall (Twitter: @Vancan19)

alberta winter games

Red Deer’s Canyon Ski Resort hosts Alberta Winter Games ski events

Feb 9, 2020 | 7:00 PM

Some of the best and brightest U14 athletes on the alpine and freestyle ski scenes were at Red Deer’s Canyon Ski Resort this weekend.

Approximately 200 of them were there to unofficially kick off the Alberta Winter Games, which technically get underway Feb. 14 in Airdrie.

Slalom, giant slalom and ski cross events had to be moved ahead and to another venue because of conflicts with the Family Day long weekend.

For 13-year-old Jorja Ottenbreit of Beaumont, competing in the Alberta Winter Games is the culmination of a lot of hard work and sacrifice.

“This is pretty awesome because you get to challenge yourself and watch others who are on a different level than you,” said Ottenbreit, whose favourite national team member is Marie-Michele Gagnon.

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“It takes a lot of work. You’re constantly skiing, and you have to miss some school for training and races. Then you’re constantly doing homework after skiing, but it’s really enjoyable.”

Rob McCloskey, president of the Alberta Alpine Ski Association, the organization helping host this weekend’s competition, said Canyon offered the event a great atmosphere.

“Especially since the Red Deer Canada Winter Games, Canyon has become a big stop on our circuit. We’re really grateful to have this facility,” he said.

“This weekend is neat in the sense that we’re running the Alberta Winter Games event on behalf of Alberta Sport, so it allowed us the flexibility of inviting all U14 athletes, rather than just the top eight from each zone.”

Slalom and giant slalom medals were handed out Saturday night at the Cambridge Hotel in Red Deer, and ski cross medals were awarded at Canyon on Sunday.

“This is the pinnacle race of the year for our U14s, and there are four races per season for U14,” McCloskey added. “They’re all incredibly well run; one is in Castle, then another at Nakiska, and then we wrap up at Panorama in the spring.”

For more information on the Alberta Winter Games, visit AlbertaSport.ca.