The TELUS Nancy Greene Alpine Classic (NGAC) welcomes a new Olympic champion to Sun Peaks for this year’s fundraiser.
Kelsey Serwa is a ski cross champion who competed in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, winning silver and achieving gold medal status at PyeongChang during the 2018 Olympics. Other elite coaches at the event include Elli Terwiel, who raced in the 2014 Sochi Olympics, Kathy Kreiner, 1976 champion and Nancy Greene, a three-time Olympian and former senator.
The annual event kicks off on Jan. 27, and Greene told SPIN she’s hopeful snow conditions will ensure the ski cross course moves forward as planned.
“We’re hoping that things will change with the weather, and we’ll get a huge snow dump in January, so we’ll still be able to build the ski cross course. But if we can’t, we will revert back to having a dual course,” Greene explained.
Having Serwa as a coach is a changeup from years prior, as 2010 Olympic champion Ashleigh McIvor has been an invited coach since 2017. McIvor cannot attend this year, so race organizers tapped Serwa.
“Ashleigh McIvor has told me how much fun it is to be a coach at the TELUS Nancy Greene
Alpine Classic, and I’m pleased that TELUS has invited me to be their guest coach,” Serwa said in a press release. “I am really looking forward to being there and to meeting the enthusiastic supporters of the event.”
Going strong for 27 years, the proceeds from NGAC have supported various causes that improve the community in Sun Peaks. The event helped establish a health clinic, the Royal Inland Hospital Foundation and the Alpine Ski Club. This year, funds raised go towards Sun Peaks Education Society (SPES), earmarked for a future brick-and-mortor school in Sun Peaks.
Greene said the event is “always a lot of fun” including races, a welcome party, coaching of participants, a group breakfast and a gala with a live and silent auction, which raised a record-breaking $70,000 last year.
The event organizers are soliciting items for the silent auction, and Green said more information about the event will be released throughout January.
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