Clearwater’s own Brett Turcotte won a silver medal a week ago Sunday in best snowmobile trick at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado.
Not too bad a way to celebrate your 29th birthday.
Turcotte won the medal with a Coyote Indy – a backflip performed hanging from the snowmobile’s handlebar, twisting his body sideways while kicking his feet.
One reason why the trick is hard to do is that the sled wants to pull sideways as the rider twists, making it difficult to control.
The local sledder’s ride earned him 83.33 points, just behind Daniel Bodin of Sweden, who earned 85.33 with his over-extended Indian air seat grab back flip.
They were competing in a field of eight riders, each of whom got two chances to impress the judges.
The competition was marred by serious crashes by two of the riders, both of whom had attempted double back-flips. One walked away from his crash, the other was taken to hospital by ambulance.
Last year Turcotte took bronze in snowmobile freestyle at the X Games.
Other Canadian medalists at the Winter X Games 2017 included Alex Beaulieu-Marchand of Quebec City who took bronze in the men’s ski slopestyle.
