Podium of Life Ski Academy entered a team in the BC freestyle championships held this weekend at Mount Washington.
Every one of the seven Podium of Life athletes that competed this weekend was a racer. And it turns out that racers are pretty good at freestyle as well.
The Mount Washington Freestyle Club hosted this huge event in style. The competition was moguls, which is bumps and jumps, and slope style, which is a combination of jumps and rails. The event was held under excellent weather conditions, which showed off the mountain very well to over 300 visitors. There were about 160 competitors ranging in ages 5 to 19 years old. This was the first freestyle event ever for the racers who competed for Podium of Life. Of course, they were nervous and did not know what to expect.
In the Super Youth category the two star racing sisters from Comox, Bryn and Emily Johnson, age six and nine years old challenged the freestyle skiers in your events. Bryn, who competed as a five-year-old, came away with the gold in moguls and the silver in slope style. Emily earned fifth and moguls and eighth in slope style. Sylvi Nymann of Campbell River, won of fourth place in slope style and a seventh place in moguls. Justin Watt, a nine-year-old from Courtney, finished ninth in the moguls and eight in slope style.
In the Youth division Kole Harle, earned a tenth in both moguls and slope style, while Logan Frame finished 12th in moguls and 16th in slope style.
Maja Nymann finished ninth in moguls and seventh in slopestyle. These three youth, from Campbell River, live part time on the mountain and spend their afternoons with the Podium of Life skiing.
“It was a pretty brave thing for these racers to do, competing in an event that they do not trained for,” says Shane Harle.” I am proud of them to have competed in this event with courage and commitment.”
Podium of Life has one more week left this season, and will begin registering students for next season.
