Canada will not announce its Paralympic team until February, which means athletes like Josh will have to wait a while longer, but being among the 13 chosen to be on the national team is a very good sign.

Josh Dueck had a breakthrough season last winter, not only winning the Canadian Championship in Giant Slalom at Sun Peaks last March, but also winning a World Championship downhill race in Korea in February, following that up with a win at an IPC World Cup at Whistler.

The summer was spent training mind and body for the all important Paralympic season.

Mom Vickie Dueck, who with dad Peter, still live in Cranbrook, says he is focused and ready, and also excited because he will be a torch bearer for the Olympic flame in Vancouver on February 11, just a day prior to the opening ceremonies.

Josh also recently scored two Telus awards of excellence for Alpine Canada. He was the recipient of the Fan Choice Award, receiving 34 per cent of the votes cast. This is quite an achievement as he was competing against able-bodied national team skiers as well in this category. He was also the recipient of the Breakthrough Star of the Year, recognizing his great achievements in 2008-2009.

Canada has high hopes for Paralympic gold next March.

“We had a tremendous season last year, finishing first overall at both the World Championships and the IPC World Cup. But the stakes are even higher this season,” said CPAST High Performance Director Jean-François Rapatel.

“Our main objective will be winning 17 medals at the 2010 Paralympic Winter Games so all our preparation and focus are geared towards that objective. It is an ambitious goal, but with the athletes that were named on the CPAST we have the potential to do it,” he added

Josh now lives and trains at Silver Star in Vernon, which was the site of the skiing accident that left him in a wheelchair almost six years ago. Since that time he has, through focus and determination, learned to use a sit ski and worked steadily up the ranks from development team to national team to contender to World Championship winner.

But all of last winter’s success has only been building to one dream — making the Paralympic team, and now it’s so close he can taste it.

As he told the Bulletin last spring, “As it stands I know I’ve met all the criteria. Technically I’ve qualified. With the results I’ve gotten this season, I’m well on track. I will be jumping for joy to hear I’ve made the team. It’s been a nice season but the goal has always been the Paralympics.”

November 19, 2009
Carolyn Grant, Kimberley Daily Bulletin

Brian’s presentation to Ontario Ski Instructors at their Professional Development day was received with a standing ovation. Great sense of humour and a fantastic Canadian promoter of of sport we love so much.

Thank you Brian for taking the time to share your inspiration! Watch his entire presentation (unedited) in 4 parts by click on the links below.

Part 1 – The first 10 minutes

Part 2 – The second 10 minutes

Part 3 – The third 10 minutes

Part 4 – The payoff & closing remarks

Kimberley builds a global reputation

By Bruce Constantineau, Vancouver Sun, August 28, 2009
The small East Kootenay town that morphed into the Bavarian City of the Rockies in the 1970s wants to become the Paralympic training centre of Canada in the new millennium.

Kimberley expects to have Paralympic ski teams from Canada, the U.K., Australia, New Zealand and other countries training on a dedicated run at Kimberley Alpine Resort just before the Paralympic Games next year.

The Dreadnaught run was developed to accommodate downhill, slalom, giant slalom and super-G events, with safety netting from top to bottom and new communications and timing equipment.

The facility is fully equipped with ski equipment required by disabled athletes and International Paralympic Committee World Cup events were held there in 2005 and 2007.

Now, city officials hope to capitalize on the run’s international reputation by building a $6-million Paralympic Training and Conference Centre at the base of the mountain by late 2010.

“International teams are talking to us now about the possibility of coming here and training in the future,” Kimberley Mayor Jim Ogilvie said. “So throughout the Olympics, we’ll make it known we’re going to have this centre available.”

The provincial government committed $3.9 million to Kimberley’s Paralympic vision four years ago and the city has used some of those funds to help develop the ski run and to make its civic arena and curling rink more accessible for disabled athletes.

The arena’s players’ benches and penalty boxes now are at ice level, allowing for smooth transitions on and off the ice for sledge hockey players, while dressing rooms have been renovated with automatic doors, accessible washrooms and showers, wide benches and equipment boxes.

Curling venue upgrades include covered ramp access and automatic doors leading into the building. The city’s two-year-old aquatic centre is also wheelchair-accessible.

“What we’re saying is come here and train here because we really do have the complete package,” Ogilvie said.

The package won’t be totally complete until the new ski-in, ski-out training and conference centre is built next year, but he said most of the project funding is already in place — including $2.5 million left from the provincial grant, another $2 million in federal-provincial infrastructure funding and $1 million from the city.

The facility will have training facilities, change rooms, meeting rooms, audio-visual equipment and conference space for up to 500 people.

Kimberley didn’t send delegations to previous Games, but Ogilvie noted several international sport federations found out about the city’s Paralympic aspirations at the B.C. Pavilion in Turin in 2006.

He credits renowned Canadian ski instructor Jerry Johnston for giving Kimberley so much credibility as a centre for training disabled athletes. The 73-year-old member of the Order of Canada moved to Kimberley from Alberta in 1980 and brought his groundbreaking training skills with him.

He began training disabled skiers in the early 1960s and he and his wife, Annie, established Canada’s first disabled skiing program; they created the Canadian Association for Disabled Skiing in 1976.

Johnston helped establish the Japanese Handicapped Ski Association and headed the disabled skiing exhibition at the Olympic Winter Games in Calgary in 1988. He’s not an active trainer these days, but he remains an important consultant in Kimberley’s Paralympic plans.

“Paralympic skiing in Kimberley has been very successful,” Johnston said. “Things have really opened up for a lot of teams to train here and they don’t have to run around looking for equipment for speed racing.

“A lot of resorts won’t shut down a hill, but we have an agreement that we can do that for training.”

Kimberley will continue to attract high-level competitions for disabled athletes, he said, but it will be hard to become a permanent fixture on the IPC ski circuit because so many countries want to hold the events.

“It’s good to move the events around because that helps increase the popularity of the sport,” Johnston said. “Disabled athletes still aren’t respected at all in some countries and we have to change that. People thought we were crazy the first time we went to Japan but they really accepted the sport when they saw what the athletes could do.”

Kimberley Alpine Resort representative Matt Mosteller said the proposed new training centre will become a year-round facility for able-bodied and disabled athletes, with fitness and dryland training taking priority in non-winter months.

“The sport has been a very big positive for the community,” he said. “Athletes come to live and train in the area and there’s an economic win when you create and host events.”

Kimberley will host a Nor-Am competition for able-bodied snowboarders just before the Olympics in February next year, then hold a Nor-Am event for disabled skiers before the Paralympics begin in March.

The city expects to attract disabled curlers to its curling venue before the 2010 Paralympic Games and the Canadian men’s sledge hockey team is scheduled to play against an international opponent in the Kimberley Civic Centre on March 1.

Steve Bova, an instructor who runs a disabled ski academy at the resort, noted the Canadian snowboard team trained on the mountain last year and the Nor-Am snowboard event will attract snowboarders from all over the world.

“The main thing is to market what we have now and get the people here,” he said. “From a coach’s point of view, the venues are what’s important and we have them.”

bconstantineau@vancouversun.com

ECONOMICS OF THE OLYMPICS

The third in a four-part series looking at the economic impact of the 2010 Winter Olympics on communities throughout British Columbia:

Aug. 7: Comox Valley

Aug. 14: Prince George

Aug. 21: Kamloops

TODAY: Kimberley

Have a great season Bart and bring home some GOLD!

View Bart’s profile by clicking here..

The planning has already begun for 2010 and we look forward to returning and new athletes to our program next season.

Have a GREAT summer!

New this season is the expansion of all our programs and events, an increase in program staffing and volunteers, and our new web site. Our goal is to better serve disabled athletes throughout the world in getting them to the next level in their racing career. We look forward to serving you this season even better than that of previous years. With our new site we will continue to post updates on our home page blog.

With the Olympics being held in Canada this tear, there has never been a higher interest and demand in our program and we encourage you to commit early for the 2010 programs.

Are you ready for a great season?

Get ready to go fast and WIN!!