Devil's Glen ski racer sets sights on Olympics
Photo: Pat McConville at the Nik Zorocic Cup, December 2015. Herman Koeslag/Eye in the Sky Photography photo
Pat McConville, 20, grew up in London, Ont., but his family has been a huge part of Devil’s Glen Country Club in Glen Huron since the beginning. His grandfather Red, was a founding member of the ski club in 1965 and an avid ski racer himself. Red and his wife Marg have four children and 11 grandchildren in total.
The McConvilles are an alpine dynasty here in Ontario. There were many years when it would have been almost impossible to find a ski race in Southern Ontario without several McConvilles on the start list. This season, there are an impressive three McConvilles on the Ontario Ski Team (OST) – Pat, his brother Corey and his cousin Will.
Ski racing is certainly in Pat’s blood and it’s no wonder that his most vivid and favourite childhood memories are about skiing with his family at The Glen.
“We were brothers, cousins and best friends and we skied together all the time,” said Pat.
This is Pat’s fifth year skiing on the OST and he’s been having some great success so far, most recently winning the Nik Zorocic Cup in December. He has been in Ontario the past few weeks training and skiing with other young racers across the Escarpment.
He’ll travel and compete throughout Canada and the United States this season in a series of NorAm races that feature top athletes from across North America and Europe. Pat’s goal is to meet the criteria and be named to the Canadian Team for The World Juniors to be held in Oslo, Norway in March.
He is currently one of the top five junior athletes in Canada for the slalom and giant slalom disciplines, so his chances are good.
Pat loves being on the road, seeing new places, but he cherishes his time back home.
“I love the travelling I get to do with skiing and meeting all kinds of people from all over, but it’s also really great to come back here to see my friends and family,” he said. “I really like my time at the The Glen, skiing with everyone there. It’s just like old times.”
This year is an important one for Pat, not only because the World Juniors are two months away.
He wants to be named to the Canadian Alpine Ski Team (CAST) next year and according to OST head coach, Tommy Eckfeldt, “Pat has a big step ahead of him now to reduce his points and qualify for CAST next year. He is very capable, he has some good momentum now, but he will have to continue capitalizing on some of the opportunities coming up.”
With a huge smile on his face, Pat exclaims that ultimately, “my dream is to ski at the World Cup level and represent Canada at the 2018 and 2022 Olympics.”
