St. Maurice Valley Ski Zone Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939
Transcription
St. Maurice Valley Ski Zone Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939
152 to become interested and keener to learn all the necessary fundamentals that go toward making a Class A jumper. . "Punch" BoH during the season completely tamed the big hill as he won five straight major championships and proved himself beyond a doubt the greatest jumper in Canada. Among the Class B jumpers of the year, Ramsay Riddell slowly but surely improved and by the end of the season was promoted to Class A. The Juniors came in for very special a Hen tion in 1939 and in Porter, Foster, Alex Riddell, Rolf and Kaare Olsen and Bob Walker we have the nucleus of as good a band of fu ture champions as may gather together. E a rly in the winter our hard working and energetic Laurentian Zone Chairman suggested that the chairman of the jumping committee (Mr. John King) take the Juniors in hand and put them through a course of training that would, within a few years, bring them up the ladder to Class A. As a result a series of visits to out-of-t own ski jumps was arranged on successive Sundays. With the help of Mr. Harold Bott, Mr. King introduced the boys to the new jumps which had just been erected at Sutton, St. Gabriel and St. Sauveur and finally to the Alpine jump at St. Margaret's. As the swing round this circuit progressed the boys' interest increased and their ability to handle themselves on strange jumps became more and more pronounced till a t the end of the season they were acting like veterans. Early in April a final competition was held at Cote des Neiges, especially for those who had visited the out-of-town jumps and their improvement in style and distance was nothing short of amazing. Officers and Committee Chairmen for 19391940:- Chairman, Victor Gagne; SecreiaryCommiiieesTreasurer, Fred Lamoureux; Competition and Rating, Jack Houghton, Chairman; Ski Jumping, John King, Chairman; First Aid, Neil Stewart, Chairman; Trails, K. G. Christie, Chairman; Canadian Ski Schoot Dr. W. L. Ball, Chairman; Ladies Committee, Miss Dorothy Blair. St. Maurice Valley Ski Zone THE Ski Season of 1938-1939 was without doubt the best ever experienced in the St. Maurice Valley. Ideal snow and weather conditions prevailed throughout the season, and unseasonal rain, which on so many past occasions has spoiled our meets and dampened our enthusiasm, was for once noticeable by its absence. The Cap-Madeleine, Shawinigan Falls, and Trois-Rivieres Ski Clubs all reported encouraging increases in membership. The Grand'Mere Ski Club, due to certain local conditions, found it necessary to restrict their membership to Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939 competitive skiers only, and this naturally was reflected in a decreased membership. All four clubs noted improvements to their facilities. The Cap-Madeleine Ski Club enlarged their clubhouse and improved their jump. At Grand'Mere the jump was dismantled and moved from its site on the bank of the St. Maurice river some distance above the town to a more favourable location within the town limits. In its former location only a short distance above the big dam, great trouble was experienced whenever the dam gates were closed, causing the river level to rise and covering the out-run with water. In its better and more accessible location it should do much to increase interest in jumping in that section. At Shawinigan a group of members led b;X Lamont Page devoted the autumn weekends to improving the big slalom hill and cu tting ou t new trails. A major misfortune was experienced by Shawinigan skiers when their valley clubhouse was burned to the ground on the night of the official opening. A temporary shelter was put up nearby and served as headquarters for the balance of the season. Fortunately the loss was fully covered by insurance, 'so it is expected that a new clubhouse will be buil t for the coming season. Members of the Trois-Rivieres Ski Club devoted most of their efforts to further improving the St. Jacques des Piles territory. A fine slalom hill was cleared and several new trails were cut out and marked. In collaboration with the Canadian Pacific Railway the club organized excursions to the new ski centre. In all, six snow trains were chartered during the season and on each occasion from two to three hundred skiers took part. Other improvemen~s are planned in this locality for the coming season. Of the competitive events, jumping still leads in popularity in this Zone, with downhill and slalom a close second. There has been a regretable falling-off of interest in crosscountry racing during the last three or four years, due in part to the too great emphasis being placed on downhill and slalom racing. Last season the Zone Committee decided to try to remedy this si tua tion by organizing schoolboy races, donation of prizes, etc., and as results for the first year were quite encouraging we intend to continue with this policy. At the first Zone meeting of the season the competitors' schedule was drawn up and thanks to good weather it was possible to adhere to it without a cancellation or postponement. The following is a summary of the principal Zone competitions:- Cap-Madeleine Jumping Meet, January 15. Class I-I, Leo Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, Ken Bush, Shawinigan Falls; 3, P. Corbin, CapMadeleine. Class II- I, J. Gibbs, TroisRivieres; 2, P. Aubry, Trois-Rivieres; K. Gaulin, Trois-Rivieres. 153 Canadian Ski Year Book, 1939 Shawinz:gan Falls Jumping Meet, January 29. Class I-I, L. Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, F . Latour, Trois-Rivieres; 3, S. Dufresne, Trois Rivieres. Class II-I, R. Rutherford, Grand'Mere; 2, L. Drolet, Trois-Rivieres ; 3, J . Gibbs, Trois Rivieres. Zone Championship Jumping Class I- I, Ken Bush, Shawinigan Falls; 2, B. Heywood, Trois Rivieres; 3, L. Page, Shawinigan Falls. St. Maurice Valley (Open Meet) Championship, Trois-Rivieres, February 4. Jumping- I, L. Milette, Cap-Madeleine; 2, P. Corbin, Cap-Madeleine; 3, R. Riddell, Ski Club of Montreal. Cross-Country- l, G. Gille~pie, Esterell; 2, C. Delisle, La Voirie; 3, M. Lavoie, La Voirie. Zone Interscholastic Meet, February 11. Four E vents, 1, Trois-Rivie res High School; 2, De LaSalle Academy; 3, Trois Rivieres Technical School. Grand'Mere Jumping Meet, February 19. 1, L. Laferte, Trois-Rivieres; 2, L. Pinard, CapMadeleine; 3, E. McCulloch, Trois-Rivieres. St. Jacques des Piles, Zone Downhill Championship, February 26. 1, H. Peck, Trois-Rivieres; 2, K. Gill, Grand'Mere; 3, L. Laferte, Trois-Rivieres. The Zone was also strongly represented in the Provincial Championship Meet at Lac Beauport, as well as in the Junior Dominion Championship Meet at Cote des Neiges, Montreal. The Zone Committee functioned smoothly throughou t the season thanks to the good co-operation of all members. Our Zone cannot as yet be compared to one of the larger Zones, nor can we as yet undertake to do all the things that a larger Zone can do. We feel, however, that we are m eeting the peculiar needs and problems of our own Zone in the right way, and that for the time being we are doing all that is practicable and financially possible. We are pleased to report a surplus of $50.98 with which to start the new season. The Zone Committee elected for the 1939-40 season is as follows :-Chairman, Duncan Breese, Trois-Rivieres ; S ecrelary- Treasurer, Roland Bourdon, Trois-Rivieres; Technical Adviser, W. B . Thompson, Shawinigan Falls; Directors, Paul Desilets, Trois-Rivieres; Jack Dauncey, Shawinigan Falls; Fernand Veillette, Grand'Mere; Raymond Paquette, Cap-Madeleine. The clubs in this Zone are:- Trois-Rivieres Ski Club, Shawinigan Falls Ski Club, Grand'Mere Ski Club, Cap de la Madeleine Ski Club. La Zone de Ski de La Vallee du Saint-Laurent L A ZONE DE SKI DE LA VALLEE DU SAINT-LAURENT peut se louer d'avoir ete favorisee de sa plus belle saison hivernale depuis sa fondation. La premiere bordee tomba vers la minovembre et les skieurs chausserent leurs skis des Ie d ebut de decembre et ne remiserent leurs bottes qu' au debut du mois de mai et meme la mi-janvier quand Ie redoux glac,;a la plupart des pentes sur tout Ie continent, nos conditions resteren t favorables et les courses et les randonnees s'effectuerent ~ans interruptions sur les myriades de pistes et de sen tiers qui a l' abri des sapins sillonnent la region si piHoresque du lac Beauport. Nous fUmes plutot contraries par la trop grande abondance de neige, 95 pouces au Tourbillon, et ]' extraordinaire odyssee des skieurs emprisonnes toute une nuit sur une ferme par Ie violence de la tempete, a trois milles de Ia ville, Ie dernier soir du championnat provincial est encore vivace notre memoire. Les clubs de la zone organiserent de nombreu'<es competitions chaque semaine, qui attirerent au ski, un nombre sans cesse accru de neophytes. Les ecoliers furent particulierement encourages. Repondant a rappel des clubs de la Beauce nouvellement formes, Franc,;ois Pichard, Albert Laliberte et Lionel Lebel se rendirent plusieurs fois dans ce nouveau district ou ils organiserent d' attrayants concours. Le championna t de la province eu t lieu pour la seconde fois, dans notre centre hivernal et malgre les frasques de la temperature, remporta un eclatant succes. Les officiers de la zone desiren t remercier publiquement l' as~ociation ambulanciere StJean pour sa precieuse et humanitaire collaboration. Les ambulanciers skieurs de l' association ayant toujours p rete leur concours desinteresse toutes nos competitions. Leur rapport demontre qu'ils soignerent environ 75 cas durant l'hiver, dont quelques fractures. La zone fait rema rque r que p a rmi ces trop nombreux accidentes, troi~ ou qua tre skieurs seulement etaient membres d'un club affilie. Grace l'excellent travail de notre secretairetresorier Maurice Pouliot, la zone possede en banque un excellent avoir. d' environ 80 dollars. 66 ca r tes seniors et 70 cartes juniors furent egalement emises aux competiteurs. N ous pouvons egalement ajouter que pour la prochaine saison, tous nos competiteurs seront classes selon leur merite de la saison precedente. Les officiers de la zone et les skieurs de Quebec sont particulierement flaHes de la nomination de leur vice-president, Albert Laliberte du Ouebec Ski Club une vicepresidence de 1;C.A.S.A. a a a a a