2011 Paralympic Sport Awards Shortlists

The International Paralympic Committee (IPC) will be presenting the 2011 Paralympic Sport Awards in the course of the IPC General Assembly to be held in Beijing, China, in December this year. These awards are conferred on top Paralympic athletes and officials who have contributed to the last Paralympic Games, in this case to the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games. The Paralympic Sport Awards categories are as follows: Best Male Athlete, Best Female Athlete, Best Paralympic Games Debut, Best Team Performance, and Exemplary Paralympic Games Official. Recently the shortlists for the Best Male and Best Female Athlete awards were announced.

Finalists for the Best Male Athlete award are as follows:

• Gerd Schoenfelder
• Irek Zaripov
• Jakub Krako
• Brian McKeever
• Adam Hall

Gerd Schoenfelder is an alpine skier from Germany who brought home five medals from Vancouver. He boasts a total of 22 Paralympic Games medals, of which 16 are gold. At the age of 41, Shoenfelder announced his plans to retire after great success at the 2011 IPC Alpine Skiing World Championships in Italy.

Irek Zaripov is a Russian cross-country skier and biathlete. The loss of both his legs following a car accident in 2000 did not dampen his spirits. His participation in the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games saw him winning four gold medals and one silver medal.

Jakub Krako from Slovakia is a visually impaired alpine skier. He won gold in the slalom, giant slalom and Super G events at Vancouver, as well as silver for the Super Combined. He also enjoyed taking home the 2011 Slalom World Cup.

Brian McKeever is a biathlete and cross-country skier from Canada. He has been skiing since the age of three, and his vision began fading at the age of 19. McKeever claimed three gold medals in cross-country skiing at Vancouver. In 2007 he became Canada’s first disabled athlete to participate in an able-bodied event. McKeever has already been a recipient of the Paralympic Sport Awards Best Male Athlete award in 2007.

Adam Hall from New Zealand was born with spina bifida. He was able to win a gold medal at Vancouver in the Alpine Skiing Slalom Standing event, after recovering from a fall in his second run.

Finalists for the Best Female Athlete award are as follows:

• Verena Bentele
• Lauren Woolstencroft
• Vasilyeva Liubov
• Henrieta Farkasova
• Alana Nichols

Verena Bentele is a visually impared biathlete and cross-country skier from Germany. She won five gold medals at Vancouver, bringing her total Winter Games medal wins to 16. She was the recipient of the 2011 Laureus World Sportsperson of the Year with a Disability Award.

Lauren Woolstencroft is a Canadian alpine skier who was born without legs below the knee, as well as no left arm below the elbow. Skiing since four years of age and skiing competitively since the age of 14, she won four events at Vancouver. She was a recipient of the 2007 Paralympic Sports Awards Best Female Athlete award in 2007. She has over 50 medals to her name.

Vasilyeva Liubov from Russia is a visually impaired cross-country skier and biathlete. She enjoyed various victories in the Vancouver 2010 Paralympic Games, including a gold, two silvers and a bronze. She is also known for taking part in Wheelchair Fencing.

Henrieta Farkasova is a Slovakian alpine skier. She won four alpine skiing medals, three of which were gold, in the recent Vancouver Games.

Alana Nichols of the USA is an alpine skier who also participates in Wheelchair Basketball. At the Vancouver Games she claimed two gold, one silver and one bronze.

Angel Fire Resort Prepares for the 2011-12 Season

Like many other ski resorts in North America, Angel Fire Resort has been working on various upgrades and a sizable expansion for the upcoming 2011-12 winter sport season. The New Mexico resort stands with a summit elevation of 10,677 feet and vertical drop of 2,077 feet amidst the Rocky Mountains. Skiers and snowboarders heading to Angel Fire Resort for the new season can look forward to the fantastic addition of a Nordic Center, as well as improvements to the terrain parks.

Angel Fire Resort‘s new Nordic Center, situated at the Country Club, will offer cross-country skiing, sledding and snowshoeing. It promises to offer visitors a unique experience in the north of New Mexico. The center will provide snow sport enthusiasts with a number of convenient facilities, including lessons, training sessions for athletes, equipment rentals, a retail store, locker rooms, indoor swimming pool and exquisite dining options. The cross-country trails begin at 8,000 feet and lead skiers across varied terrain, ranging from easy to difficult, and all boasting delightful scenery. Both classic and skate cross-country skiing are catered for. Families can enjoy sledding near to the clubhouse. Dave Dekema, Angel Fire Resort’s marketing director said that there are plans to enlarge the Nordic Center in the future, but to start they are aiming to offer ten to fifteen kilometers of groomed trails.

The terrain parks at Angel Fire Resort have a fantastic and well-earned reputation that is set to grow with the thrilling new features and events for the upcoming season. Over a dozen new fun box and freestyle rail features will be installed, including C-rails, rainbows, flat rails and double-kinks. The jumps, transitions and overall flow is being adjusted in the ever popular Liveration Freestyle park. The Park will also receive additional area, dirt features, a quarterpipe, and special small feature zone for practice.

Over a million dollars has been spent by Angel Fire on upgrading the Lodge. These included renovations to guest rooms and the lobby. As of July 2012, the resort will open up a new activity to guests, an exciting Zip-Line Adventure Tour that begins at the summit of the ski mountain. Along with all these improvements, Angel Fire Resort will continue to host a number of activities for the whole family including tubing, the children’s ski school, the kiddies’ Bominable run and nighttime skiing. The resort has also decided to keep its lift tickets and season passes the same this season.

There are certainly abundant reasons to check out Angel Fire Resort when it opens for the 2011-12 ski and snowboarding season on 15 December 2011.

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