Competitors in last weekend’s first provincial series snowboard X race at Tabor      photo Facebook 2015 CWG

Prince George, BC –  With a public celebration set for Canada Games House next Friday evening to mark ‘Two Years ’til The Games’, city residents will be hearing much more about ‘test’ events to ready the venues, officials and volunteers for the 2015 Canada Winter Games.

Games CEO, Stuart Ballantyne, says, by all accounts – the BC Snowboard Association, Tabor Mountain, athletes and those training to be officials – this past weekend, exceeded expectations.

Tabor hosted the first-ever BCSA provincial series snowboard cross (SBX) race in Northern BC and orgainzers were thrilled to have 55 competitors sign up on race, while others spent the weekend learning to officiate SBX.  "The event was a huge success," says Bill Laing, Head Coach and President of the Northern Edge Snowboard Club.  "The vision I have had – and working with many others over the last four to five years for organized snowboarding in Northern BC – took a huge leap forwards on the weekend."

Laing, based in Mackenzie, says Tabor is doing an excellent job of preparing the hill for the upcoming 2015 games and says the track was an excellent introduction for new participants in the sport.  He says everyone worked together to pull off a truly amazing event and he’s issuing kudos to the BC Snowboard Association, Lisa Shaw-MacLaren and Phil Beaulieu with the Winter Games Host Society, all the sponsors and volunteers.

The weekend race wasn’t an official ‘test’ event, but Ballantyne says it was very much a test of the new track built this past summer and is one of the many opportunities coming down the line over the next two years to put all the pieces in place.  He points out a similar opportunity was afforded at the Caledonia Nordic Ski Club at Otway, where some new trails were tested during the BC Championships held over the weekend.

The first official test for the Canada Winter Games will actually be next month when Duchess Park Secondary hosts the Junior Western Wheelchair Basketball Regionals March 22-24th.  In addition to testing the venue for ‘field of play’ – involving follow-up interviews with the athletes, coaches, and officials – Ballantyne says it will also help Games officials to test for things like accessibility and transportation issues for the athletes.

Not every sport will be tested, just those that are new to Prince George and when a new venue is involved – the new Kin I will host a test event for short-track speedskating in March of next year.  And Ballantyne says some of that testing will occur right up into the February 2015 Canada Winter Games as venues and processes are finetuned and finessed for the actual event.