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(L-R) Jay Fitzgerald, Prince Edward and Jordan Fitzgerald. Jordan was awarded the gold medal and Hillend Salver perpetual trophy as the fastest girl in the GS competition in the British National Ski Championship.
The hula hoop served as the jump-off point for an obstacle course.
COURTESY PHOTOS
SVSEF kid wins British National Championship By KAREN BOSSICK
ueen Victoria must be turning over in her grave. A Sun Valley kid has won the British National Ski Championship—of all
things! Jordan Fitzgerald, a member of the Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation, placed first in giant slalom and second in slalom at the British National Children’s Alpine Ski Championships held in Meribel, France, on the same race course used for women’s alpine events during the 1992 Albertville Olympics. Fitzgerald was awarded the gold medal and the Hillend Salver perpetual trophy as the fastest girl in the GS competition, along with a silver medal in slalom by His Royal Highness, Prince Edward, Earl of Wessex. Fitzgerald competed in the event with her brother Jay, who placed ninth in GS. The two maintain dual nationality and qualified for the championships after submitting their USSA points to race organizers. Although Great Britain is not a dominant ski nation, most of the elite competitors attend race academies in the United States, Austria, France and Italy, said Jordan. “The competition was extremely strong, especially in slalom because the British skiers train on indoor snow or artificial slopes all year,” said Jay. tws
Photos & Story By KAREN BOSSICK
Y
ou’d think Olympic Gold Medalist Chandra Crawford would have jumped at the chance to hang up her cross-country skis following a week of grueling cross-country ski competition in Sun Valley, including a punishing climb up Sun Valley’s 6,600foot Dollar Mountain. But she and six fellow Olympians weren’t ready to say adieu to the Nordic season yet. Not when they could motivate and inspire the next generation of young women. Crawford, the Olympians and 16 other ambassadors on skis decked themselves out in feather boas, unmatched striped stockings, bright colored suspenders and crazy hats. Then they took 70 girls ages 7 through 19 onto the Lake Creek trails for a day of hula hoops on skis, pull-the-tail-offthe-skier games and a few downward-facing-dog yoga poses in the snow. Crawford, of Canmore, Alberta, started “Fast and Female” to build confidence in girls while impressing on them that being involved in sports and outdoor recreation is a tremendous lds up Kaia Jensen ho tool for achieving r skiers. he ot off one’s personal and athletic best. “The first goal is to spread the love. That means no matter what sport
& female Far Left: The day ended with a yoga session on snow. Middle: Few girls were able to navigate this jungle of poles without falling at the end. Above: Audry Weber paints Kaitlyn Landis as the girls get painted up for Fast and Female day.
you’re doing, you have never ever quit and you stay active and build an amazing body,” Crawford told them. “The second goal: Dominating the world!” The smiles and enthusiasm that the leaders greeted their young charges with were contagious, starting with the face painting and headbands they helped one another make to identify each as part of a team. Olympian Kikkan Randall told the girls how she decided she wanted to go to the Olympics after watching the games on TV as a girl. “As cool as the Olympics are to watch on TV, walking in front of 80,000 people is even more amazing,” she said. “Your dream may be going to the moon. The important thing is to set goals for yourself.” Out on the snow Olympic racer Holly Brooks gave each girl a couple of “tails” to affix on Velcro belts as she led them on a fast-paced game of tag on skis. Without the girls even realizing it, she was teaching them cross-country ski skills, such as taking fast tiny steps around a corner. Crawford and her cohorts led the girls in a spirited dance-athon on skis. Sun Valley’s Olympian Morgan Arritola led them through an obstacle d lle pu s e’ the tails sh course that included skiing in and around a line of orange cones, through a “forest” of ski poles, ducking into a canvas-topped tunnel and side stepping over poles.
Biathlete Sara Studebaker led them through a biathlon-inspired relay race throwing tennis balls at targets. And Randall coaxed them up and down a steep hill, showing them how to get in a racer’s crouch for stability and to minimize wind drag by not putting their poles straight up in the air. “We’re fast and female!” she shouted. “Let me hear you ‘Grrrr’ as you attack that hill!” Seven-year-old Kaia Jensen beamed at the bottom: “I like that I can go downhill without crashing.” As the girls munched on Chinese chicken wraps, Randall shared how she originally wanted to be like Picabo Street and “bomb down those mountains.” But she found she was best at cross country skiing. “The reason I ski is because I love it. But also because I like to push myself and be the best I can be,” she told them. “I worked hard and took good care of my body and I got to go to the Salt Lake City Olympics at a younger age than people expected. And when I got there, they took us into a big warehouse the size of a gym and gave us a shopping cart and I got to go around and fill it full of gear. So find something that you love to do and set goals so you can be the best.” Crawford enlisted several of the girls to pretend to be ski racers as she acted out how a German racer had pushed her, causing her to fall in one of her early races. Crawford then told how she made a comeback, turning up the volume on that little voice in her head that said “You can do it,” racing in the 1.1-kilometer sprint at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Torino, Italy. “I passed that German gal veering weirdly wide. And crazy fast,” she tws exclaimed. “And I won!”
ANNOUNCING THE 2011 BENEFIT CONCERTT
FEATURING INTERNATIONAL RECORDING ARTIST AND SOPRANO PHENOMENON JACKIE EVANCHO AND SPECIAL GUESTS, WITH THE SUN VALLEY SUMMER SYMPHONY
T Jordan Fitzgerald on the podium at the GS competition in the British National Ski Championship.
SUNDAY, JULY 31, 6:30
PM
SUN VALLEY PAVILION
A NIGHT OF CLASSICAL ELEGANCE AND INSPIRATION Tickets on sale now: $500 / $250 / $100 / $50 / Lawn is closed for this concert svsummersymphony.org or 208.622.5607