Fall Work Parties

| Wendy Shannon

 

Fall is here and it’s time for our annual Fall Work Parties. These two consecutive weekends of volunteering effort save our clubs a lot of money by helping to stack and split wood, brush and clean up trails as well as paint and stain our lodge and outbuildings.

Chris Collard, our Outside Lead, will be coordinating this year’s volunteer work days. Contact Chris to discuss availabilities and opportunities.

September 20: 

  • ACADEMY TEAM Wood Storage – Day Lodge

September 24-25:

  • Staining Old Lodge / Day Lodge
  • Building Maintenance
  • Brush Mowing Adjacent Buildings and possibly Gold Mountain
  • Garbage Pickup on Trails/Parking Lot/Stadium
  • Wood Splitting

October 1-2:

  • Day lodge Interior Painting
  • Building Maintenance
  • Sand and Stain downstairs tables, and benches in Day lodge.
  • Biathlon Building Stain
  • Brushing and Limbing Jessica’s Trail / Animal Trail

LUNCH IS PROVIDED BUT YOU MUST REGISTER ON THE VOLUNTEER REGISTRATION PAGE. 

https://sovereignlake.galaxydigital.com/need/

 

 

 

SLNC Launches Spirit North Program for the 2022-23 Season

| Wendy Shannon

 

Spirit North is a national charitable organization that uses land-based activities to improve the health and well-being of Indigenous youth, empowering them to become unstoppable in sport, school and life. Through the transformative power of sport and play, our participants learn important lessons, discover untold potential and build the confidence and courage needed to overcome the hardships Indigenous youth often face.

Working in partnership with schools and communities, our active, participation-based programs are designed to make Indigenous youth feel unstoppable, helping them develop skills that improve their performance in the classroom and deepen their connection to their communities.

We know that having a meaningful connection to the land is pivotal, and regular access to sport and land-based activity has the ability to improve physical health, mental health and community health. We’ve seen the transformative power of our programs – youth becoming leaders, achieving academic success and becoming vibrant, engaged members of their communities.

By delivering Spirit North programs to Indigenous youth in their own communities, we overcome common barriers to participation like geographic isolation and socio-economic limitations. Last year alone, over 6,300 Indigenous youth across 6 provinces and territories, in 62 communities and 77 schools took part in Spirit North programs – and we’re just getting started.

We are excited to work with the Okanagan Indian Band on this program and bring smiles to faces, unique outdoor adventures, and enduring memories to kids in our Indigenous Communities in the Okanagan.

 

 

 

 

 

SLNC Nominated in the Upcoming GVC Business Excellence Awards

| Wendy Shannon

Sovereign Lake Nordic Club has been nominated for two business industry awards at the upcoming Greater Vernon Chamber of Commerce 38th Annual Business Excellence Awards. The nomination deadline was August 26th and SLNC has been nominated in the following categories.

  1. Business Leader of the Year
  2. Tourism Business of the Year

We are incredibly humbled by the nomination. The awards gala presentation is scheduled to take place on November 3rd at the Vernon & District Performing Arts Centre.

Sovereign Lake to Host First FIS Races of the Season

| Wendy Shannon

 

 

CANMORE, Alta.—The 2022-23 cross-country skiing race calendar in Canada will open on familiar trails for Canadian athletes at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre (November 30 – December 4) and culminate with a newly refined look to the Nordiq Canada Ski Nationals in Thunder Bay, Ont. (March 11-17).

Nordiq Canada announced a finalized schedule on Thursday that will showcase the sport at all levels while leading all Canadian athletes in the system to some of the top ski trails across the country for Canada Cup, Nordiq Cup – Continental Cup (COC) Series, and US Super Tour races.

“This winter’s event lineup will provide high-quality, competitive development race opportunities for a new generation of skiers who are at various stages in our system,” said Julie Beaulieu, sport development director, Nordiq Canada. “Hosting major events for athletes in all corners of Canada is critical to the continued growth of our sport and for developing a new generation of Canadian cross-country skiers into elite international athletes in our sport.”

The season-opening events will be staged at Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre. Originally scheduled for Canmore Nordic Centre, the first events of the season – Nordiq Cup and US Super Tour races (November 30 – Dec 1, 3, 4), and Western Canada Cup (Dec 3 -4) – will take place near Vernon, B.C.

“We are absolutely thrilled to have the opportunity to support the development of our athletes while bringing our ski community to many of the top Nordic venues in Eastern and Western Canada as we launch a new Olympic and Paralympic quadrennial together”, said Chris Jeffries, high-performance director, Nordiq Canada.

 

Sovereign Lake GM Nominated for the TOTA Board of Directors

| Wendy Shannon
– The General Manager of the Sovereign Lake Nordic Centre (SLNC) has been nominated for a spot on the region’s largest tourism entity. Troy Hudson will stand for a board position on the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association (TOTA) when it holds its 2022 Annual General Meeting (AGM) on September 29, 2022.

“I am incredibly excited and humbled to be nominated by the Thompson Okanagan Tourism Association to join their board of directors. I hope all Thompson Okanagan organizations, businesses and stakeholders will nominate me as a committed representative of the winter tourism market and active partner in the Biosphere Adhesion Program through my employment with Sovereign Lake Nordic Club as their general manager.” Hudson said.

Nominations for the TOTA board close August 12, with electronic voting by members starting August 30 and closing September 14.

“The tourism industry faced tremendous challenges over the past two years, and the TOTA board of directors was committed to guiding TOTA to support regional tourism stakeholders. Going forward, there is much work to be done as we reimagine and rebuild a resilient, sustainable tourism industry in the Thompson Okanagan region of British Columbia,” TOTA nominating committee chair, Frank Antoine said.
For 2022, TOTA seeks to fill eight board positions with tourism professionals representing a wide range of tourism sectors, communities, and perspectives.

TOTA board members commit to a two-year term and the board will elect board members to serve the executive positions of secretary-treasurer, vice-chair, and chair.

 

 

 

 

Deirdra (Holmwood) Frank Joins the SLNC Programs Family

| Wendy Shannon

 

Deirda grew up in Vernon skiing with her parents and has been part of the Sovereign Lake ski community for many years. She started out as an athlete on the cross country and biathlon teams, competing in numerous races and events as part of the SLNC Ski Team. Following her younger years of racing, she has worked at Sovereign instructing in our S’Cool Ski Program and as lodge front counter staff.

More recently, Deirdra was co-leader for two seasons on the growing WinterFit Program at Sovereign Lake. Deirdra’s love for this sport has only ever grown throughout the years. She has always wanted to combine sports with her business management degree. Deirdra is excited to start her new position as the Programs Administrator and Skill Development Programs Lead.

“Sovereign Lake is like a home away from home for me.”

Deirda will be starting her new position with the club on September 2nd.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Amazing Race Canada Comes to SLNC

| Wendy Shannon

 

If you haven’t heard by now, the Amazing Race Canada, came to Sovereign Lake this past spring to shoot an episode of the incredibly popular reality TV adventure race series which travels across the country pitting ten teams of two against each other in an effort to win the grand prize.

We are extremely excited to have been chosen to be a host site for one of the challenges and you can see all the action on August 9th on CTV when the series shot a day of adventure here in Vernon.

The weather played out perfectly with snow, rain, and sunshine…all within one hour of each other. Typically May weather at the ski area. It is going to be an amazing show and we had a wonderful team of Academy athletes and coaches assisting with putting the show on.

Tune in and be a part of the action!

 

John Montgomery, Canadian Skeleton Olympian and host of Amazing Race Canada, took a break from shooting for a pic with our coaches Annik Levesque and Jacqueline Akerman. 

 

SLNC GM Troy Hudson has been working on this project since 2018. COVID suspended the race the last two seasons but we had amazing conditions this spring to host this skiing portion of the event. Thanks to the entire team of volunteers, athletes, and coaches for making those two days of filming a HUGE success. 

 

Jessica Roach Joins the SLNC Coaching Team as Masters Lead Coach

| Wendy Shannon

 

Jessica began her nordic ski career with Team Hardwood, based in Ontario and ended it as the top Ontario Senior Woman skier in the 2019/20 season. Following her successful ski racing career during high school and university, and being able to compete in Scandinavia and throughout North America, it was time to shift focus from competing to coaching. Having the mentorship of her coach Jack Sasseville, she always knew she wanted to give back to the sport by coaching. Once retiring from racing, Jessica moved to BC and was the Head Coach at Nickel Plate Nordic Center near Penticton for the past two years. This past season she also coached for TeamBC CCBC at the Canada B-Tour and US SuperTour in Lake Placid, New York and Craftsbury, Vermont.

While training in Ontario, the Master’s race team trained and raced alongside the younger athletes. With this unique experience and coaching the Master’s Team at Nickel Plate, it was clear that she loved working with Masters athletes. When the opportunity at SLNC was presented, she jumped at the chance!

“SLNC is a spectacular ski facility and community, not to mention an amazing surrounding area”.

Jessica loves all the biking and skiing that is so close by and cannot wait for the snow to start falling.

 

We are really excited to have Jessica join the Sovereign Coaching Team with her extensive racing experience and a keen interest in working with adult skiers on our new Masters Performance Group and Masters Race Team Programs. She will help oversee all Masters Development Programming with the club and act as the Master’s Lead Coach on our Programs Committee as the representative of nearly 300 adult program participants.

Welcome Aboard, Jessica!!!

 

 

 

 

 

Cascadia Airways Brings Daily Flights to Vernon from Vancouver

| Wendy Shannon

 

Sovereign Lake just became more accessible with the launch of a new aviation carrier to the North Okanagan.

In a letter seeking city support, Cascadia COO Jeremy Barrett says the carrier has been working with communities to provide scheduled air taxi service to smaller municipal airports.

“ln order for scheduled services to be granted as part of a company’s air operating certificate, they need to have a letter of support from the authority of the airport(s) to submit with the application to Transport Canada for it to be added onto the AOC for scheduled points,” says Barrett.

The company has engaged with Vernon Economic Development and area resorts to provide additional charter services in Vernon.

“We believe that we would be also able to operate a scheduled service between Vancouver and Vernon on regular basis,” says Barrett, who says he would like to start offering flights “as soon as possible.”

Cascadia proposes to provide an eight-passenger service (King Air 90 or Piper Navajo) from Vernon to Vancouver Airport’s South Terminal once per day either mid-morning or mid-afternoon.

The schedule could be increased or decreased depending on demand and would cost roughly $300 one way.

https://www.cascadiaair.com/

Programs Registration Launch Delayed Until July 20th

| Wendy Shannon

 

Summer has sprung upon us quickly over here at Sovereign and we need to make sure that all of our new programming options align with existing programs so we are taking a couple of extra weeks working with our new Programs staffers to create our game plan for the season to make sure that we are offering you the best value, most fun, and well-organized programming we can.

*A number of our programs such as the Masters Performance Group and Masters Race Team may start training prior to the registration launch date.

Thanks for your patience – SLNC Programs Committee