The Canadian Alpine Ski Team got the season off to an early start last week with a downhill at La Parva, Chile at the Kandahar of the Andes race.
In the women’s downhill, Kelly Vanderbeek of Kitchener, Ontario, finished in fifth place behind three Austrian’s and a competitor from France. Stefanie Schuster was first and Eveline Rohregger, and Sylvie Berger were third and fourth for Austria. Karine Meilleur of France was second.
Genevieve Simard of Val Morin, Quebec finished ninth, followed by Whistler’s Christina Risler in 14 th , Ashley Davis of Toronto in 17 th , and Lauren Lattimer of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, in 19 th .
Darin McBeath of Calgary narrowly missed the top 10 in the men’s race, finishing 11th.
Claude Cretier of France took the gold medal, followed by Max Rauffer of Germany and Antoine Deneriaz of France.
Dave Anderson of Rossland was 15 th , and Jeff Hume of Whistler 16 th to round out the top 20. Cam Culbert of North Bay was 21 st , Erik Guary 27 th , and Whistler’s Mike Giannelli 29 th .
