Nearly 80 athletes descended on Whitehorse's Mount Sima Sunday for the first event of the 2005 Western Canadian Juvenile Alpine Ski Championships.

K2 racers 13 and 14 years old from Alberta, B.C., Alaska and the Yukon competed in the Super G, which is a single run event. The largest team hails from B.C., with 38 athletes and five coaches making the trip to Whitehorse. Alberta brought 35 athletes while the Yukon has four skiers and Alaska two.

All of the skiers had an opportunity to train for the Super G on Saturday, with two free-skiing runs and two runs on the course allowed to each skier.

'We got lots of mileage,' said Yukon head coach Dick Eastmure, adding Saturday was the perfect day to showcase Mount Sima to visitors, with sunshine and mild temperatures. 'Usually, it's hard to get a lot of mileage out of Super G because it's a speed event and you can really only do it with the right safety in place. You don't get a lot of chances to do it.'

Eastmure said the organizers of the championships have done a great job bringing the course up to standards, which is in large part thanks to Lake Louise's Paul Peyto, who has been running the snowcat at Sima this week.

'He's probably one of the best in the country,' said Eastmure about Peyto, who has groomed for World Cup races at Louise. 'He knows what the requirements are. That's one of the big reasons the course is so good, along with a lot of volunteer help from around here.'

Alberta coach Ross Van Patter, who runs the club out of Sunshine mountain, agreed Sima has been a great hill to race on so far, and said everything has been very well prepared for the championships.

'It's actually a great race hill,' said Van Patter. 'There are lots of terrain changes, it's as good as any place to race.'

'This is kind of right in the ballpark of what I was expecting,' added fellow Alberta coach Jeff Books, from Paskapoo.

Van Patter and Books said training day on Saturday was up and down for their squad, but were pleased that they definitely posted better results Sunday.

Alberta took the top four spots in women's competition, with Sunshine's Gillian McKercher finishing first in a time of 55.16 seconds. Chloe Burandt from Snow Valley (Edmonton) was next, with a time of 55.92 seconds, while Jasper's Emma Carroll was third, with a time of 56 seconds.

There are no women representing the Yukon at the championships.

'She's been skiing well all year,' said Van Patter about McKercher. 'I'd say she's probably one of the stronger skiers in Western Canada.'

The Alberta men didn't fair quite as well as the women, or, as Books put it, 'The B.C. men kicked our butts today.'

It was Benjamin MacLean from Whistler taking top spot in the men's competition, finishing in a time of 52.89 seconds, while Daniel Newmarch of Big White was next with a time of 53.69 seconds. Third place went to Sunshine's (Alberta) Garrett Wilson, with a time of 53.82 seconds. B.C. took 11 of the top 15 spots in the men's event.

'We're really happy with everything,' said B.C. coach Trevor Haaheim, from Big White. 'It would be nice to see the girls pick it up a bit tomorrow. Our guys did great today.

'A couple of our big gun girls made some big mistakes or didn't finish.'

The top Yukon male was Alex Peepre, who finished with a time of 56.19 seconds, while Patrick Bell picked up a time of 59.52 seconds to finish 36th. Derek Wilson was 38th, after grabbing a time of 1:01.11.

Eastmure said Wilson isn't normally a K2 skier, but he really put in the effort this year and did all the training and travelling to races, so they decided to give him a shot at Westerns.

'He really came on this year,' said the coach. 'I was really happy that I was able to enter him in the races.'

Eastmure said all three Yukoners skied pretty much to their potential in Sunday's Super G.

In Peepre's training run Saturday, he placed 11th and was just 9/10s of a second out of third spot. His goal was to get in the top 10, but he fell short of that.

Bell is generally much stronger in the technical races, which are the Giant Slalom and Slalom, scheduled for today and Tuesday, so Eastmure expects some top-ten finishes from him yet.

'Patrick showed he can ski with the top kids in B.C. from some of our results down south this season. If he has a good day, he could squeak into some of the medals.'

Matthew Wolsynuk will join Bell, Peepre and Wilson on the course for both the Giant Slalom and Slalom he couldn't attend the Super G because of previous commitments.

Overall, said Eastmure, he will be happy as long as the Yukoners are skiing well.

They've had a very challenging season as far as training, he said, with the cold weather locally and rainy weather down south, which meant cancellation of several races.

As for Team Alberta, Van Patter said he has some skiers which are good enough to be at the Canadian championships but just haven't been posting the results. He hopes some of them can create some positive results at Sima and get their confidence back up.

Haaheim said B.C.'s philosophy is to send fewer kids to the national championships and more to events such as this one, with just the top five girls and top five guys competing on a national level.

He said they like to focus on training for the next level rather than going straight to it.

'The argument is, it's good experience (going to nationals). But what, you finish 60th there? Why not come here and be in the medals, like my guys. It gives them so much more confidence.'

The Western championships are a test event for Whitehorse's 2007 Canada Winter Games, and they are the largest alpine skiing event ever held north of 60.

More than 120 athletes, coaches and parents are visting Whitehorse for the four days, with a wrap-up banquet scheduled for Tuesday evening..

See Tuesday's Star for results from today's Giant Slalom.