Sabrina de Bont already is the Junior Ski to Sea “cover girl” in her family. Now the 12-year-old Nooksack Valley Elementary School student is going all out to win a medal, the way her two older siblings already have done.
For the de Bont family of Sumas, the Ski to Sea Junior Race is serious fun.
Gary and Jolanda de Bont and children Sebastian, 16, Alicia, 14, and Sabrina all participated in some way during the previous six years. Now they’re back for more.
As usual, the Ski to Sea Junior Race will be held Saturday at Lake Padden, beginning with the elementary division (third through fifth grade) at 9:30 a.m. The middle school division follows at 11:30 a.m. and the community division at 1:30 p.m. There are three gender categories in each race.
The de Bont family opens their home for what have become traditional Ski to Sea Junior Race parties. The gatherings have been made that much more fun by Sebastian’s three medals and Alicia’s two honors.
“I was always just out there cheering them on,” Sabrina said in a phone interview.
“She always wanted to do it when she was little,” Jolanda said of Sabrina.
Now, it’s time to watch out for the Giddy Girls, a new team of the best sixth- and seventhgrade athletes Sabrina and friend Breanna Compton could recruit.
Sabrina, who was shocked to find herself featured on the cover of this year’s Junior Ski to Sea brochure, did bicycling legs the past two years, but went without a medal. Now she’s handed that duty off to Compton, who prefers it.
Instead, Sabrina will try the obstacle course, “because it looks like fun.”
That’s the whole idea behind Ski to Sea, whether juniors or the “big race” on Memorial Day Weekend. That’s why Gary (who has competed in the regular Ski to Sea on both biking legs and downhill skiing), Sebastian and Alicia will participate in the Whatcom County Open Division.
Winning, though, makes it so much better, as Sebastian learned when he won a gold medal in the eighth grade after third- and second-place finishes.
“I didn’t expect to be on the cover of the brochure this year,” Sabrina said. “I was shocked.”
Sabrina says her Giddy Girls are for real. She says threelegged racers Lauren Dykstra and Nicole Rogers, along with soccer skills competitor Alexandra Parson and runner Lindy Swanson, are good enough to take the middle school division.
“Breanna and I tried to pick people we knew were very athletic,” Sabrina said.
And, since these are serious competitors, how did they get the name Giddy Girls?
“Oh, that was Breanna’s mom (Sandra),” Sabrina said. “She thought we were all giddy on the telephone.”
In fact, says Jolanda, win or lose the girls will have plenty of chances to live up to their name at the de Bonts’ post-race party.