Big White Ski Resort and TELUS hosted the third annual TELUS Kelowna Cup, with more than 220 participants raising $39,374 to support amateur children’s racing through the Big White Ski Club, on Saturday.
“We are proud to support incredible partners like Big White who share our vision that a healthy community has a brighter future,” said vice president corporate marketing at TELUS, Jill Schnarr.
“TELUS Kelowna Cup is a perfect example of our commitment to connecting with and supporting our local communities and we hope the event and our donation to the Big White Ski Club both inspires and enables a new generation of skiers to follow their passion.”
With exciting après activities, it continues to be the most popular race event for locals on the mountain each year, with racers competing across the men’s, women’s, youth, children’s and family categories. Next year Big White is planning to add Skier Cross.
In the psychic slalom race format, a racer lays down their time on their first run and then predicts the time of their second run. The closet prediction wins. This year’s winner was 24-year-old Andrew Joseph, a Big White staff member and barista at Clocktower Coffee Co., who correctly predicted his exact run time of 28 seconds, 78 milliseconds. “I couldn’t believe that I picked the exact time, I thought they were joking when they told me,” said Joseph after his big win. This is Joseph’s first season snowboarding.
First place winner in the women’s category was 59-year-old Nancy Roach. Roach was in town from Halifax, visiting her son who works with Big White Ski Patrol. “I’ve never been in a race before,” said Roach. “I was petrified.” Roach has been skiing for over 40 years; this was her second time visiting Big White.
Best-dressed was awarded to seven-year-old Carter Fisher - his lookalike impersonation of baseball legend Jose Bautista (complete with beard and baseball pants) was flawless. Best-dressed honourable mentions went to a Ghost Buster, six identical minions, and a very cute kangaroo.
Ten-thousand-dollars worth of prizes was handed to the winners in each category and by random draw which included: skis, snowboards, bindings, watches, FitBits, backpacks, Big White toques and more.
After the prizing festivities came to a close, the Village Centre Mall lit up with the excitement of Big White’s wine festival. More than 25 local wineries and winemakers from across the Okanagan were in attendance, offering guests the chance to try a wide variety of local favours and learn more about wine making culture in the Okanagan. More than 150 guests dressed up to attend this exciting event.
Big White’s 2016/2017 season wraps up April 17, but there’s plenty of excitement happening until then - including the Neil Edgeworth Memorial Banked Slalom, March 24 to 26, and Peak Pride, from April 7 to 9. View the full calendar of events here.