No, she wasn’t wearing the uniform of Zone 8 but when Annika Vipler sailed to victory on Lhtako snow, it was as if she had local blood in her veins.
Her father, Chris Vipler, is a coach with the Hollyburn Cross Country Ski Club based on Cypress Mountain but he was raised in Quesnel, and to see his daughter race to the gold medal on such familiar terrain was a moment that caused him pleasant pause. Annika won the (age group 2009) Girls division of the BC Winter Games, which was even more gratifying because it happened not at the Hallis Lake Ski and Snowshoe Trails where it was originally slated to be held, but on the historic streets of Barkerville, instead, because it had the amounts of snow the valley facility did not.
“It’s very nostalgic for me. I used to ski out behind Barkerville when I was a kid, and at ski races in Wells, so this has been awesome,” Vipler said.
Ever since it was announced that the 2024 Games would be held in Quesnel, and knowing that Annika was in the right age range for that event, “it has been on our radar,” said Vipler. But even during the early part of the ski season, Annika had some injuries to contend with that made it uncertain if she would make the trip. The switch of venues was another variable, so to see his daughter stand at the top of the podium was far from a foregone conclusion heading into February, or even that morning.
“It’s a very unique set-up and course for her age group,” said Vipler. “It’s a true sprinter’s sprint. It’s a little bit shorter than what they normally do at this age, which is 700 to 1,200 metres and this was 400. You just go flat out, and that suits her right now. She’s always done well in sprints.”
Vipler was not her coach, this year, allowing him to just cheer as a dad on race day. He concentrates on younger Hollyburn athletes.
The family lives in North Delta, not far from where he practices as a family physician. He graduated from Correlieu Secondary School in 1992, and has never returned to Quesnel as a full-time resident, but came back often during his university years.
Hallis Lake didn’t even exist as a nordic facility, when he was learning to ski, although he has been on those courses many times as an adult. They were one of the main legacy pieces of the 2000 BC Winter Games, when this region was last the host community.
He believes the chance - by total weather-related happenstance - for these athletes to ski down the picturesque streets of historic Barkerville is a very unusual legacy that the 2024 Games will leave with those lucky enough to participate.
“No doubt, when they look back in a few years, a few decades, they will remember these BC Games as being a unique experience, all thanks to the hard work of all the volunteers,” Vipler said. He expected “so much impact” would be felt here as a result of the new features built in the area and the human capacity triggered for the region by these Lhtako Quesnel BC Winter Games, not the least of which is a gold medal for a faraway family forever tied in a new way to his original hometown.
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