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Redman tipped for Homegrown Heroes status

By Andrew Mitchell In just three years Whistler’s Jonathan Redman has made the leap from the fledgling First Nations Snowboard Team to the B.C.

By Andrew Mitchell

In just three years Whistler’s Jonathan Redman has made the leap from the fledgling First Nations Snowboard Team to the B.C. Snowboard Team, with results that get better and better as he continues to progress and expand his bag of tricks. The 2006-07 season will only be his third year competing.

This year the young rider will appear on a new SportsFunder Instant Win ticket being offered by the B.C. Lottery Corporation, following a photo contest held over the summer.

The tickets, which raise money for sports and athletes, feature over $1 million in prizes, including several top prizes of $20,100, and are available throughout the province. There is also a Share the Dream prize where winners pocket $1,000 and get to direct another $1,000 towards an amateur sports organization.

“The intensity and excitement of Jonathan’s picture really stood out,” said Nicole Bour, SportsFunder brand manager.

Other athletes that will be featured on the tickets include Golden hockey player Alex Greenlay, Comox triathlete Audrey Erlandson, Burnaby softball player Becky Hartley, and Duncan wheelchair basketball player Richard Peter.

Redman was surprised to learn that his picture was selected. He was training in New Zealand over the summer, and arrived home a few weeks ago to find out that his coach had submitted the picture — taken at a contest at Big White by a professional photographer covering the event — and that he had won.

“It’s pretty neat,” he said of the honour. “It wasn’t something I was really expecting. I hear they chose the winners out of 80 to 100 photos, so it was a pretty big honour.”

Redman is the first member of the First Nations Snowboard Team to be named to the provincial team. He is also a certified snowboard instructor, and has set his sights on qualifying for the Canadian Snowboard Team for 2010.

As well as training on snow in New Zealand — until he rebroke his collar bone — Redman has been following a dryland training program to prepare for the winter.

“They made a fitness program just for me, found my weakness, and gave me a specific workout routine I do every day,” he said. “It’s definitely helping. My stomach is definitely stronger than usual, my core — it’s all new to me, all this training stuff, but it’s good.”

The B.C. Snowboard Team is heading to Mammoth in California in less than two weeks for a three-week training camp, before returning to B.C. for the official start of the competitive season.

For being chosen to be on the new lottery ticket, Redman received a stack of lottery tickets as well as clothing. Indirectly, he says he will also benefit from proceeds of the lottery which fund amateur athletics — including the B.C. Snowboard Team.