Patrick Dew of Canada’s Next Gen Team catches some major air this season. (Photo Submitted)

Patrick Dew of Canada’s Next Gen Team catches some major air this season. (Photo Submitted)

Dew seeks TSN-Advil votes

Silver Star freestyler finalist for $25,000

Vote for Patrick Dew and land some easy cash for yourself and the 19-year-old Vernon freestyle skier.

Dew, a member of Canada’s NextGen Team, is one of four athletes vying for the $25,000 grand prize in the online contest sponsored by TSN and Advil. His 20-second video clip is entitled Misty Progression, and it includes Dew doing some major skywalking.

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The other three finalists in the Advil Highlight of the Month include a Nova Scotia hockey dangler named Quinn, an Ontario wakesurfer known as Dave and an Ontario mogul skier named Robbie.

“I am in the final round of this contest competing for $25,000,” said Dew, who made Team B.C. in 2013. “I need as many votes as I can in order to win. The contest runs until (Sunday) March 11th. People can vote once daily, and with every vote, they enter themselves into a draw to win $2,500. This could make a huge difference to next year’s season so I would be incredibly grateful for some votes. Currently, I am in Europe preparing for the FIS World Cup Championship in Seiseralm, Italy.”

Dew, who started performing dazzling bumps and jumps as a tyke at Silver Star Mountain Resort, has enjoyed a stellar first year on the World Cup circuit.

“I came into the season thinking I would get a couple World Cup spots, but not every one. Turns out that with how well I was training and competing, I earned myself a spot in every single World cup of the season. With it being an Olympic year, there was a ton of World Cups; instead of four, there was seven. On top of all seven World Cups, I am also doing part of the Nor-Am Circuit. There are four Nor-Am circuits this season and due to a busy schedule, I will only be competing in three. To put the icing on the cake, I will also be doing three separate big air contests this season. This puts me at a total 13 competitions this season whereas I would normally do around seven.”

Dew has made three trips to Europe, stopped for comps in the U.S. a few times and jetted to New Zealand for one World Cup.

“Learning to cope with jetlag while you’re training for a high-level contest has been a challenge. Being tired makes training difficult at times; it puts a real damper on your mind set. It makes it really easy to get down on yourself about your skiing, but I do my best to push through. I’ve learned a lot this season about maintaining my mental health and not only my physical health. Physical health has also been quite the challenge. Being on the road all winter long means not a lot of time for rest and recovery. All the little injuries that would normally go away with five or six days of rest linger for a long time. Little falls here and there really add up to make you quite injured.”

Dew has dealt with multiple lingering ailments, including one he suffered in Aspen, Colo., where he took a fairly hard crash and severely bruised his left hip. Following Aspen, he headed to Mammoth, Calif. and during training right before the comp, he endured another heavy fall.

“I had fallen onto my hip again and did not have much movement in my left leg which forced me to pull out of the contest.”

After a week of healing, Dew, a major car enthusiast, went to Calgary and finished second in a Nor-Am. He has also had a few top-30 finishes at the World Cup level and placed top-10 at the Aspen Open.

He was just in Innsbruck, Austria and the Czech Republic for big air contests before landing in Italy. He has one big air and two slopestyle comps in Quebec before ending the season with a big air in Whistler.

“This busy season has been quite the expense. This would be why winning this online contest is so important. The $25,000 grand prize would really help balance out some of the costs I have had this season. I need every vote I can get to make the dream of winning this contest come true.”

Dew carries sponsorship from: Skevik Skis, Smith Optics, Lange Boots, Silver Star Mountain Resort, Solo Energy Bar.

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Vernon freestylers make NextGen Team

Vernon Morning Star