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Kaya Turski receives ESPY nomination

Freeskier follows in footsteps of Sarah Burke
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KAYA TURSKI PHOTO BY CRISPIN CANNON/RED BULL CONTENT POOL

Montreal's Kaya Turksi turned a lot of heads with her undefeated freeski season, with three-peats at X Games and Euro X and an overall win in the Dew Tour despite the fact that she didn't compete in every contest. As a result she also topped the Association of Freeskiing Professionals (AFP) rankings, despite the fact that she didn't even compete at the championship in Whistler in April.

Some of the heads she turned were at the ESPN sports network, where Turski was nominated for an ESPY award last week in the Best Female Action Sport Category. She's the only Canadian and only freeskier to be nominated in her category this year, following in the steps of Sarah Burke, who won an ESPY in 2007 and was nominated again in 2011 for her comeback performance. When Burke died in a halfpipe training accident in January, Turski was one of the most vocal athletes lamenting her loss.

There's no question that Turski earned the honour. Aside from her results, she is the first female to land a switch 1080 in X Games, and has tricks that no other athlete can match.

In her category, Turski will be up against snowboarders Jamie Anderson and Kelly Clark, as well as surfer Carissa Moore.

The winners are chosen by the fans. To cast your vote for Turski, visit http://espn.go.com/espys at some point before the voting closes July 9.

Longboard fest next weekend

The Whistler Longboard Festival starts at the end of next week.

The second annual festival will open on Thursday, July 12 with an 20km endurance longboard race and a skate and shoot biathlon event at Whistler Olympic Park. The days events features a prize purse of $2,000.

The endurance race is scheduled to start at 8:30 a.m. and the biathlon, which is open to anyone aged 10 and up will start at 11 a.m.

The rest of the weekend's events shift over to the Whistler Sliding Centre where downhill races are scheduled for men, women and youth competitors. Friday is freeride day, Saturday is a practice and qualifying day while Sunday is the main spectator day with racing all day an awards ceremony scheduled between 4 p.m. and 5 p.m.

There is more information available at www.whistlerlongboard.com.

Avalanche bring down three medals

The Whistler Avalanche descended on Kelowna for a fun soccer tournament last weekend and the three teams paricipating from Whistler all came home with medals.

The U12 boys team won gold, the U14 girls squad took silver and the U16 girls brought home bronze medals.

The boys team went undefeated and only allowed two goals while netting 22 against their various opponents from all over the province and Alberta.

The U14 girls played against four other teams in their age group and emerged with two wins and two losses to end the tournament in a three-way tie for second spot. The Whistler team was awarded the silver medal based on goal differential.

The U16 tournament featured six teams. The Signal Hill Cheetahs finished round robin play undefeated in top spot. The Cheetahs lost their playoff game. The Avalanche finished round robin play with a win and two shutout losses. The team pulled out a 1-0 win over Summerland House in the playoffs to finish the fun tournament with a bronze medal.

Whistler to host Disc Golf provincials

Sept. 15 and 16 will be a big weekend for Disc Golf in Whistler. The Whistler Disc Golf Club will host the BC Disc Golf Provincial Championships that weekend.

The event will be held on the Powerline Course with Snap Discs coming on board as a sponsor. The tournament will be a PDGA C-Tier event. More details are expected in the coming weeks.

In the meantime, disc golfers are being asked to park at the Spruce Grove Fieldhouse and avoid parking in the Scandinave Spa or the campground parking lot at the first hole of the Powerline Course.

WORCA update

In other WORCA news, registration is still open for Youth Dirt Camps, with nine one-week camps running through the summer. Kids as young as six and as old as 15 can register.

Several clinics are being hosted by Sylvie Allen in preparation for the women's only Charlie's Angel race on July 27 and 28, which is sold out.

Registration is still available for the Four Kings, a four-stage bike race over three days, Sept. 7 to 9.

The next Toonie Ride is set for tonight (July 5) at the Riverside Trails in the Interpretive Forest starting at 6:30 p.m.

For more, visit www.worca.com.

With files from John French