Noram Cup at Le Relais, Quebec

[Seb]

Saturday 12 and Sunday 13 will be the 3rd stop for the Noram Cup. Race is been held at "Le Relais" ski station, a small hill 15 minutes from Quebec city. As Mont Ste-Anne is my local riding place, 30 minutes from "le Relais" I thought I would give you some feedback.

This season, we saw the best ever season start. We had up to 10 feet of snowfall in Quebec city area, many great powder days. Up to last weekend, everything was great. This week, we had many days of 40-50 F with heavy rain & strong winds. The snow base went down like crazy, many ski stations, including "Le Relais" closed 2-3 days to save their conditions. Yesterday, conditions changed with 30-35F temperature and 4-6 inches of wet snow...a "Waxing Nightmare".

I will try to keep you posted with the results later today.

Seb

[gburgess]

Seb, Thanks for the info. I'm very interested in seeing the results and any other feedback you can provide about the event.

We are seeing the same thing south of the border. I remind all my friends who hate snow and cold weather, that there are a lot of seasonal workers living in rural areas that depend on that snow to make their living.

As much as I love the snow for racing and riding, my heart goes out to those folks who are put out of work when warm/wet weather comes.

[philfell]

UMMMM.....Yeah the Park City ladies dominated the qualifiers (Andi Jo 1, Abby Champagne 2, Alyssa Radder seconded fastest first run but blew out in the second run.)

Final results:

Men:

1-Vic Wild (also won here last year, and won last week in Steamboat PGS)

2-Ben Fairchild (straight up riding like an animal, scary fast line he is taking)

3-Josh Whylie (another Nor-Am Podium for the US Snowboard Team athlete)

4-Mike Trapp (his personal best, he post here from time to time at Trappy)

Women:

1-Constance Bosvert (Probably spelled her name wrong, this is her home town)

2-Andi Jo Stump (second Nor-Am Podium this year)

3-Lynn Ott (this moves her into the Nor-Am points lead)

4-Abby Champagne (watch out for her in the SL tomorrow)

[Seb]

Phil was faster than me.

Spelling was close for Constance Boisvert, local rider, who please the crowd with a win. Trappy went wild in a spectacular crash in semi-final, no damage. Conditions were good, very good considering the week we had.

Seb ( 24th )

[Seb]

Sunday PSL results:

On the men side:

1st place: Joshua Wylie

2nd place: Vic Wild ( miss gate on his last run )

3rd place : Masaki Shiba

4th place : Takamitsu Shirakawa

Semi-final were US vs Japan

On the women side: Local crowd pleasure

1st place: Liliane Halme ( Quebec Snowboard Team ) who elimated Lynn Ott during first run, eliminate Abby Champagne in 1/4 final and win over Madeline Wiencke in semi-final.

2nd place: Constance Boisvert ( Quebec Snowboard team ) who lead all run during all the weekend up to his last run against LIliane.

3nd/4th place: Andi Stump & Madeline Wiencke ( Sorry I can't remember which one won the final round ).

Great day who started with a cold morning ( 10-15 F ) but ended with a perfect afternoon ( 25 F ) with a sunny day.

Seb

[gburgess]

Great weekend for Vic, Josh, and Constance. Very cool that a local could score a win and a 2nd place.

Seb did the event draw many spectators? I’m just curious how and event like this draws in Canada.

[Seb]

"Le Relais" is a spectator friendly place, 15 minutes drive from Quebec city. The course is set up, so you can enjoy it even from the parking lot, which was usefull 2 years ago because of a pouring rain, all spectators were sitting in their car or under minivan tailgate. It's their 3rd year running Noram race and in December 2005, they also ran one of the last World Cup race before the Olympics. The organisors have experience in running event ( maybe more ski events ) but everything went as scheduled, not a single delay all weekend long. Only a close call between a gate judge who was replacing his gate and Vic Wild (?) going down on Saturday, it was scary for a second and very funny afterwards, no effect on the race.

I would say that the dedicated crowd ( other than racers ) was between 40-60 people, but a lot of people went by and had a look at the race, as you can watch it from the lift line-ups and the finish line is located within 500 feet of the main chalet and parking lot. Unfortunately, not too much publicity in the local newspaper/radio, so not so many outside people knew about it. "Le Relais" doesn't have an Alpine Snowboard club either, so the race is run by the Ski Racing Club supported by the Quebec & Canadian Snowboard Federation.

Seb

[gburgess]

Seb, nice details. Sounds like a great place to watch SB racing.

Regarding TV and radio coverage, the only way we (Snowboard PGS/PSL lovers) are going to get more coverage is if those of us let the networks and local stations know that we want coverage. In some instances, say with newspapers, contacting the Sports Editor and letting them know that you are willing to supply results and information about the event.

Clearly the sport is not big enough, nor popular enough to cause most TV, radio, or even print folks to invest their time to come looking for us. So our only option is for us to court them.

Thanks again for sharing all the great info I know it takes time to put it together.

[Seb]

If you want all the detailed results of the race ( including timing )

http://www.csf.ca/canadianopen/en/pgs-relais.php

Seb :)

[Surf Rat]

thanks for the links and results.. you guys rock

[Mtrappy]

Ya that crash did break my board :(

[Seb]

Few pics from the race and podiums

http://www.surfquebec.ca/v2/photos.html

If I'm right, the duel is "Mtrappy" vs Masaki

The solo rider is Constance Boisvert for sure

The rest is podium with few Kessler & Sigi board

Seb

[ncermak]

you are right, Trappy is in the duel, also on the left side of the group podium shot, and one other podium shot.

Congrats to all...