The Whistler Blackcomb Freestyle Club hosted freestyle clubs from across the province last week for four days of provincial championship competitions.
Locals held their own and even took some of the top awards on their home halfpipe, moguls and slopestyle courses. Head coach Nic Bazin was excited by the results posted by the team's athletes - especially the younger athletes, many of whom had never skied in a moguls competition.
"It's hard to ski moguls and some of the younger athletes didn't train a lot going into what's probably the most challenging course in the province," said Bazin. "To go out and ski Davies Dervish - it was big and some of the guys got top spot. They really impressed me."
The first event for most athletes was the halfpipe championship on Thursday. Pemberton's Yuki Tsubota placed first with a score of 26.8, followed by Whistler's Cassandra Sharpe in 25.3 and Nicola Halliwell in 23.5. All three skiers are F2, aged 16 to 18, and ski for the B.C. Ski Team.
In F3 (ages 14 to 15), Whistler's Sophie McGregor placed first. All three F4 skiers (ages 12 to 13) were Whistler-based, with Mackenzie Wilson placing first, Sofiane Gagnon in second and Daria Rivera in third.
In the men's M3 group, Whistler's Taylor Wilson placed a close third. Brenden Kelly was seventh and Michael Granger 19th.
In the combined M4 group it was a Whistler sweep with Mitchel Wilson on top, J.C. Heckman in second, Liam Measure in third, Tim Ravenna in fourth, Braeden Wheeler in fifth and Brad Pudritz in sixth.
On Friday, it was single moguls for most of the athletes.
Yuki Tsubota picked up her second gold medal in F2, followed by B.C. Team member Emily Little and Marieke Maas of the Vancouver Freestyle Club. Whistler's Nicola Halliwell was fourth.
In F3, Sophie McGregor was fifth.
Jake McGregor just missed the podium in M2, placing fourth. Brandon Woods was seventh.
Brenden Kelly placed second in the M3 category to a member of the B.C. team.
Taylor Wilson was 16th in that group.
In M4, Liam Measure placed second, Mitchel Wilson 10th, Tim Ravenna 12th, Graham Williams 15th, Bradley Pudritz 19th, Schon Tan 26th and Braedon Wheeler 27th.
Yuki Tsubota did it again in the slopestyle competition, with Nicola Halliwell taking second place.
In M2, Brandon Woods placed 11th. Brenden Kelly tied for third in the M3 category, while Michael Granger placed 15th.
Mitchel Wilson topped the M4 group, with Whistler teammate Braedon Wheeler placing second by half a point. It was nearly a sweep, with Liam Measure placing fourth. Tim Ravenna was 10th.
In Sunday's dual moguls, Yuki Tsubota completed her sweep of the events, with Nicola Halliwell placing third. Brenden Kelly posted a win in Juvenile Men, edging out members of the B.C. team. Sophie McGregor was second in Juvenile Women, Liam Measure won Youth Men.
The Super Youth category is for kids aged 11 and under, with kids as young as eight taking part. The athletes took part in a single moguls competition on a smaller course under the Crystal Chair, but everyone who competed in dual moguls competed on Davies Dervish.
In F5 (age 10 and 11) Whistler's Sofiane Gagnon and Mackenzie Wilson were second and third. Aoifie Gannon was 10th and Daria Rivera 12th.
In F6, Erin Wilson placed third and Maia Schwinghamer fifth.
In M5 Luke Smart earned a silver medal, with Ben Wilkinson in fifth, Charlie Armstrong 10th, Jonas Gabelhouse 11th, Michael Madi 12th, Sam Cordel 13th, Carter Krasny 14th, Ray Tan 16th, Kevin Madi 19th, Kain Moayeri 23rd and Kevin Leslie 24th.
In M6, Chase Ujejski and Anders Ujejski were second and third respectively. David Wilkinson was fourth, Seth McGregor sixth, River Staenger 10th, Max Edwards 11th, Charlie McMillan 12th and Ethan Spiegelman 13th.
There were also a few F7 and M7 athletes in the field, under age eight. Local Kai Smart was the top M7.
In dual moguls, skiing waist-high bumps, Sofiane Gagnon placed second for Whistler. Jonas Gablehouse was third in the Super Youth men.
Complete results will be posted online at www.bcfreestyle.com.
Bazin says the club is growing and attributes the success of his athletes to the facilities in the valley, including the terrain parks, mogul runs and water ramps.
"It's a great mountain with great facilities," he said. "We have a good halfpipe, a good park, access to moguls, big air jumps, and big mountain terrain where we practice other stuff. The athletes here are pretty fortunate, and the facilities also attract the best coaches - we're kind of spoiled in terms of freestyle."
Bazin says the strong clubs in the interior are still strong, while other clubs are coming up as well. "We have to stay on our toes and be ready for the challenge," he said.
Also working for the club is a new freestyle ski school program at Whistler Blackcomb called Freestylers, which prepares athletes for the program. "They're the future of our club, and we'll see five to 10 athletes step up into our club next year," he said.
This is the last weekend for the club's programs, but Bazin says they will likely host a few camps through the spring to keep skiing until the end of the season. During the summer, he says they plan to host two weeks of freestyle camps on the glacier, plus some halfpipe and big air training. As well, the club will host up to 30 days of training at the water ramps and trampolines at Base II.
"That's really one of the best ways to get mileage," said Bazin. "You can get in 20 to 40 jumps in a day, it's a really quick turnaround. And the trampolines are right there so you can fix a problem on the trampolines and then go back to the ramps."
More information at the club is at www.whistlerblackcombfreestyle.com.
