The Silver Star Freestyle Ski Club landed a bucket load of medals in the first stop of the Provincial Super Youth (ages 6-12) and Timber Tour freestyle competitions last weekend at Apex Mountain Resort.
Athletes battled icy conditions on a much steeper and longer mogul course than what they are used to facing. Liam Person, six, and Alex Sewell, seven, kept up with the big boys, with Person capturing a bronze and Sewell a silver in their age group.
In the 8-9 category, Tate Garrod grabbed the bronze medal and Mason Land displayed great technical skill to finish fourth. Sam Rampado, 11, placed fourth in his age group while Silver Star dominated the podium with a silver and bronze by Liam Bush and Jaden Gordon-Mason, respectively, for the 12-year-old group.
The extremely steep big air landing momentarily took the Vernon athletes’ breath away, but it didn’t unnerve them enough to stop them from landing clean tricks. Caden Danbrook took home a bronze in the 10-11 division and Bush a gold for 12-year-olds.
In the girls 8-9 class, Tressa Reinhardt secured fourth in her big air debut. Jordan Macdonald, Silver Star’s sole female in the 10–11 age group, also grabbed a fourth in big air.
The slopestyle competition from Whistler and Apex clubs was tough, but Silver Star represented the club well.
Sewell’s solid run earned him gold and Person’s first attempt at a 180 in a competition landed him silver. Danbrook’s showmanship earned him a fourth, while Macdonald threw out some amazing tricks to strike gold. Bush collected silver and Gordon-Mason, followed closely with bronze.
On the Timber Tour, comprising athletes aged 12-20, the Silver Star club was a force as Hayden Person, in the boys 12-13 group, laid down a lightning-fast mogul run and landed the cleanest 720 of the day to secure gold. Person is with the provincial mogul development team at Castle Mountain, near Banff, this weekend for a Canadian Series Mogul event.
Patrick Dew, in the men’s 14-15 age bracket, was twice golden in both slopestyle and big air competitions. Joining him on the podium in big air was Patrick Marsh with bronze. Narrowly missing the podium in slopestyle was Landon Gordon, in fifth.
Stirling Peters earned his first podium of the year with a bronze in big air, performing a flat spin 720. He was sixth in the slopestyle.
On the girls side, Elena Gaskell demonstrated she is among B.C.’s freestyle elite. Already skiing an age group up, she laid down the top female score in both slopestyle and big air, and added a fourth in moguls.
Both Dew and Gaskell are headed to Mount St. Louis Moonstone, just north of Toronto, for the first Canadian Open Tour Slopestyle and Halfpipe events of the season, starting Friday.
“Much of the success the club has achieved so far can be credited to the guidance of the club’s new program director, Wade Garrod, and his excellent coaches – Connor Reeves, Graham Pollock, Brett Reeves and Andrew Pool, along with the addition of the new Katal airbag to their training program,” said director Ken Gaskell.
“Great thanks also goes to Silver Star Resort for putting together excellent training facilities and the club’s gold sponsors – CIBC Wood Gundy, Helmuts Sausage Kitchen, Kal Tire and Monashee Powder.”
The team is now training for the next Timber Tour event at Tabor Mountain, Feb. 6-9, and the Super Youth Challenge and Timber Tour third stop, March 6-9, at Silver Star.
