Ski racers rip in honour of Helen Bavin

By Steve Hubrecht

Hordes of young alpine ski racers zipped down the slopes of Fairmont Hot Springs Ski Resort last weekend, slaloming through gates, hooting and hollering with friends, cheering on teammates, and in general having a darn good time. Helen Bavin would’ve loved it.

More than 130 kids age five to 12 participated in this year’s edition of the Helen Bavin Memorial Ski Race on Sunday, Feb. 23, coming from four different alpine ski race clubs from up and down the Columbia Valley and neighbouring areas: the hometown Team Fairmont Racers, the Windermere Valley Ski Club, the Golden Kicking Horse Alpine Ski Team (GKHAT), and the Kimberley Alpine Team (KAT).

The race has been running since 1988, and is named in honour of former valley resident Helen Bavin, who passed away in 1987.

Helen was a tremendous advocate for kids ski racing, explained Fairmont ski area manager Peter Harding. “She would write in the newspaper about all the kids’ races. The reports were very detailed, and she came to every race. It was obvious she cared a lot about the kids,” said Harding.

PHOTO ANNEMARIE DEAGNON

The Helen Bavin Memorial Ski Race puts the emphasis squarely on having fun. It’s a dual slalom event, with two competitors simultaneously racing down parallel courses, and the racers are timed. But rather than individual skiers earning merit for their individual times, results are tabulated on a per club basis. The times of all racers on each club are added together, then divided by the number of young skiers in that club. The fastest overall team is the winner.

“At that age it really should be more about having fun than anything else, so that’s what we try to do,” said Harding.

Team Fairmont Racers was the fastest overall team at the Helen Bavin Memorial Ski Race last weekend (and won the event for the second year in a row), with an average time of 36.7996 seconds, followed by GKHAT (average time 37.5155 seconds), the Windermere Valley Ski Club (average time 38.1060 seconds), and KAT (average time 39.8079).

Fairmont ski race program organizer Annemarie Deagnon said the race was a huge success, running smoothly, with standout conditions, and thanked all the volunteers who made the event happen.

Several of those gathered on the deck during the awards ceremony were old enough to recall Helen, and remembered her as a committed, passionate woman.

Helen’s son Pat was not at the race, but spoke to the Pioneer earlier about his mom’s long involvement with skiing in the valley and her many other volunteer efforts.

“She was an avid skier, even though she only started skiing later in life. She loved the culture and lifestyle of skiing and the social side of it,” Pat told the Pioneer.

Team Fairmont alpine racers get set to carve in the Helen Bavin Memorial Race.
PHOTO JENNY HUBRECHT

Helen helped establish the Windermere Valley Ski Club back in the 1950s when there were no ski resorts in the valley, and club members banded together to create a rope tow.

As the ski scene in the valley grew, Helen was always on hand to help out.

“Any time there was a race, she was helping organize it. She was always the starter. And in those days the starter did the countdown verbally. She loved doing that,” said Pat.

In fact, Pat has a photo of his mom showing Helen posing for a snap with famous CBC sport commentator Brian Williams during a World Cup race at Panorama Mountain Resort in the 1980s.

Helen was born in Calgary in 1921, and moved to the Columbia Valley in early 1940s, where she met and married her husband Hal. Helen’s family lived in Windermere where they operated the Coldstream Cabins. Hal lived on the old Sunshine Ranch down Westside Road, and he would canoe across the lake to Windermere to see Helen.

As you can see, it was a packed house, er, hill.
PHOTO JENNY HUBRECHT

“She was a character,” Pat said of his mother, explaining that when his parents were first married their only vehicle was a Harley Davidson. Helen would sometimes ride the Harley across frozen Lake Windermere. A few times the giant motorcycle toppled over while Helen was riding it. The Harley was so large she couldn’t pick it back up on her own, so she walked several kilometres to shore to find a bystander to help her get the motorcycle upright again. It didn’t deter her one bit from heading out on the Harley the next time.

Aside from skiing, Helen’s hobbies included baking, gardening (“she had an incredible asparagus patch” remembers Pat) and hiking.

“She was very engaged in the community, she volunteered a lot and was known for her campaigns for the environment. She was a very early environmentalist,” said Pat. “She was always up to something.”

Pat credits his own community activism and environmentalism to his mom.

“That’s how my mom brought us kids up — to have an opinion on what was happening in our community and to our planet,” he said.