Spring is over and summer is in full swing here in Nova Scotia. I was given a warm welcome back by a number of schools, including an amazing presentation of their own from the students at Spring St Academdy. Thanks for all of the pictures and cards!
Next week I'll be swinging some clubs in Digby for the East Coast Classic golf tournament in support of the NS Hall of Fame. Soon after that I'll be on the summer job hunt, so if you know someone who's hiring, let me know.
Keep your eyes open for a McDonald's contest on Breakfast Television in August and win a day to hang with me!
Just when you thought the Olympics were over, they went and threw us a huge parade! Montreal must have felt left out so the Olympic committee sent us all over there for the same parade the Canadian's had after winning the Stanley Cup. 150,000 people lined Sainte Catherine street to check it out and try to get a peek at some well earned medals.
Later that night we walked the red carpet in the Bell Center on the way to the Canadian Olympic Hall of Fame Gala, along with 1200 guests and Harper himself.
Europe's done, still not a solid result in Spain with another 5th but that puts me in 6th on the world cup tour for the year and I'm happy with that.
I just got back from Gretchen's Snow Angels contest in Aspen. It was one of the most enjoyable contests I've been to, super fun and really mellow. We were treated like royalty on and off the hill from the amazing pipe to the spa in the hotel. Unfortunately, when I woke up the morning of the contest I couldn't look to the right, which made snowboarding very difficult. I still had a lot of fun riding with those girls, and my neck is fine now. Time for spring riding in Whistler!
I'm back over in Europe just finishing off the tour and enjoying some spring riding in Italy and Spain. I ended up 5th last weekend in the Italian World Cup and am looking forward to beating that result here in Spain. A crash in practice right before finals made me a little hesitant to put it all on the line for finals. It's just a wrist though, I'll be good to go soon.
It's over, I'm back to Squamish in a few hours. The 2010 Olympic Games have come to a close, and it was our best yet. We even made history for winning the most gold medals ever! We brought back 14 gold medals, thanks to the boys on the ice last night. On the snowboard side we had Maelle Ricker with gold and Mike Robertson with silver in snowboard cross, then Jasey Jay Anderson finished off the comp with another gold in PGS.
I was watching the game from the top floor of the team Canada house yesterday and the sound carrying accross the water from the Canada hockey place was insane. It seemed like the entire city was on their feet celebrating our victory, I don't think I'll ever experience anything like that ever again. Streets are closed and filled with people waving flags and breaking out in spontanious chants or the Canadian anthem. It's amazing how much energy and pride can be brought out of a city and country for a single event, all because of athletes.
It just wasn't my night, sorry folks. I wasn't quite comfortable in practice and it showed in my runs. Luckily I squeeked through to semis, but fell both runs so no finals for me. I'm dissapointed in my riding, but overall we had great night. Mercedes picked up my slack and threw down an amazing run to put her into the finals. It didn't really matter to me who made it through, I was just relieved that the amazing crowd had a Canadian to cheer for in the finals.
Thank you guys so much for all of the emails, letters, texts, videos, signs, stickers and anything else I might have forgotten. I read them all before my comp, I just wasn't replying until after. The support from across the country has been amazing, it means so much. I hope you enjoyed the show, I know I did.
Let the Games begin! Opening ceremonies were amazing, thanks to anyone that was in that arena, the explosion from the crowd was unreal. The village in Vancouver is awesome, they take really good care of us here. I popped into the Atlantic Canada house and checked out some east coast entertainment.
We made history on Sunday. Canada won it's first gold medal on home soil! The weather might be crap, but the moral around here is high. We grabbed another medal in snowboard cross yesterday, and have a great chance at another today.
Our final day of pipe practice is today, but with more rain last night I'm not to sure how the pipe will be holding up. The warm weather makes maintaining this pipe almost impossible, but it's the same for everyone, so we're doing our best. Fingers crossed.
The 2010 Canadian Open results are in the books. I got to climb up the podium, but no to the top. I ended up 2nd today, Kendall Brown from New Zealand took top honors with my teammate Mercedes Nicoll in 3rd. I threw down a safe run first, which proved to be a good decision. With the light and some parts of the pipe deteriorating I wasn't able to land the run I wanted and ended up just shy or Kendall.
The hype is rising, only 12 days to go til the big show! Unfortunaetly, along with the Games come a few rules. I'm not allowed to act as a reporter in anyway so I will only have info pertaining to myself up here, but I'm sure it won't be hard to find what your looking for.
Well my official X Games debut is over, I didn't make the 6 women final, but I had a lot of fun trying. The pipe was amazing, the set up was massive and I think it was a really good warm up for the Olympics. I fell on my first run and slid around my last spin on my second run putting me in 10th, but the level of riding was insane, I'll take top 10 in that field any day.
Since my time in Aspen was done, I hopped back on a plane this morning and made my way to Calgary for the World Cup qualifications. I made it with minutes to spare and qualified for semi finals tomorrow. I'll let you know how it goes.
With todays announcement of the Canadian Olympic snowboard team, its finally official - I made the cut! I'll be joining 17 other riders for our shot at medals in Vancouver next month. The halfpipe crew includes: Jeff Batchelor(ON), Justin Lamoureux(BC), Brad Martin(ON), Sarah Conrad(NS), Mercedes Nicoll(BC) and Palmer Taylor(ON).
I placed 4th in the World Cup this weekend in Stoneham, unfortunately it didn't meet the qualifications to be considered an Olympic qualifying event for our team due to a lack of international competition. I landed my safe run in my first run, then fell on my next run, enabling the Chinese riders to sweep the women's podium. I just missed the podium so I'm a bit disappointed but I've got a couple more contests before the Games to change that.
Going to the Olympics in my own country has been a huge goal of mine since Vancouver won the bid, seven years ago. For myself, it's been a pretty drawn out qualification process, but I ended up on top, so it was well worth it.
I've been unofficially named to the Olympic half pipe team!The big announcement will be on Jan 25th, but the organizers don't think the final qualifying contest will count because not enough countries are entering, so thats why I still have to say unofficial.
I rode well on the weekend, had some bad luck in the first contest and then just missed finals placing 9th in the second US Grand Prix, but I played it safe and those results were good enough for me to make the Canadian team, so I'm stoked.
I'll be riding at Mammoth for the next week, off to Quebec for the world cup/ press conference, to Aspen for the X Games, to Calgary for the Canadian Open, then to Vancouver for the Olympics!
I grabbed the silver medal in the Dew Tour yesterday! Queralt Castellet from Spain landed in top spot and Kjersti Buaas from Norway was in third. Although some of the big names were missing from the start list, it's nice to see an international podium at an event like this in the states. Unfortunately this event has no bearing on my position on the Olympic team, but a podiums and pay checks are always nice. Here are a few clips from the finals:
snowboarding.transworld.net/featuresobf/dew-tour-breckenridge-pipe-finals-day/
www.allisports.com/videos/highlights-womens-snowboard-superpipe-finals
Wow, I don't really know where to start. For those of you who were there, you probably understand, and for those of you who weren't, I'm not really sure how to explain it. Last night was probably the craziest night of my life, not at all what I expected, but in a good way.
I felt so honored to be chosen as the final torch bearer in my community, and so lucky to be able to include snowboarding and local riders in this huge event. It was great to see such a huge turnout(15,000+), even though most of them were for Crosby, I think the event got a lot of people pumped about the Games being in our own country once again, and that was the whole point. Thanks for coming out!
Drop by the Grand Parade in downtown Halifax to check out the 2010 Olympic Torch relay! Come check me out tonight as I shred down Citadel Hill, run with the torch, then hit rail with some other local riders in front of City Hall. The action starts at 6pm and goes til 8pm. Skratch Bastid and Classified will be behind the mic so it should be a good show for all.
I made the cover of the Snowboard Canada women's annual! Its on shelves now til the spring, and on my press page. Thanks to Dano for the sweet shot and SBC for hooking it up!
The rumors were true, were back in Kiwi land for another 3 weeks. Spring conditions, sled rides and a private pipe are what we have to look forward to each day, so we're all pretty pumped on it!
I just got back from a training camp and comp in New Zealand. Aside from some weather days in the middle, the conditions were great and the pipe held up for some good shredding after the contest. I guess its the year of the double. On the guys side there were a few thrown down, including Canada's own Jeff Batchelor. I'm pretty frustrated with my result over there, I just couldn't put together a run in the new snow. I'm riding well though and it felt good to get back on snow after missing out on the last camp because of a knee injury. Rumor has it we might go back to NZ for another camp in October...I love airplanes....
Wow, April 3rd...I guess its time for an update, so here you go. Spring flew by for me this year, but I did get a chance to ride Whistler and Mammoth for a few weeks each. I spent most of June and a bit of July back East hanging out, doing interviews, playing in golf tournaments and I even made an apperance in Ottawa for Canada Day which was really cool.
Now I'm back out West getting ready for the season, putting some hours in at the gym and eventually on snow. New Zealand is the next big trip, we've got a great crew going down so I think it will be a good time.
My new schedule is up but always changing, there are some new photos and press updates as well. Thanks to Jon Burke for all of his work on this site once again. Enjoy!
Finally. National champ at last, its taken me a number of years but finally I have the title! Chaos is a pretty good word to describe the event. The pipe was small and not holding its shape very well making it very difficult to ride. Ontop of that my luggage got held up in Denver so I had to make due with what I could find from other riders. After changing boards a few times at the top, I found something that worked and landed a couple runs to put me just ahead of Alex Duckworth, taking the gold!
Maybe March is my lucky month. Another podium, this time at the Roxy Chicken Jam! This is my favorite contest of the year, it always brings out amazing riders, a great pipe, and lots of sun!
Kelly Clark was riding well as always, taking top spot, Mercedes Nicoll slid into second putting me third. After battling it out the whole day with a jam format in finals, I'm really happy to share the podium with these girls.
The sun was blasting the pipe the whole day, so by the time finals rolled around it was pretty soft and super slow. Lucky for me I landed my first run which had me in 2nd for most of the jam. I tried some new tricks in my following runs, but I just couldn't get the speed to better my score.
But its not over yet. Tomorrow I'm off to Quebec for nationals and next years team selections. I'll let you know how it goes.
For pictures from the event, check out: snowboarding.transworld.net/2009/03/28 /kelly-clark-wins-pipe-at-the-r oxy-chicken-jam ttrworldtour.com
After a controversial health ailment in Spain, I was cleared by the doc and stepped onto the podium once again in Italy, the final stop of the 2009 World Cup tour! I was third right behind Holly Crawford of Aus and Jiayu Liu from China. The weather and crowds were epic, the pipe was a little smaller than we're used to but it was still awesome. It was a really fun contest to end the world cup year with, especially with Maelle and Dom taking one two in the boardercross the day before. You can check out my run and pictures from the day here: www.fissnowboardworldcup.com
Quebec has always been pretty good to me and today was no exception. Team Japan took the women's podium knocking me into 4th. This counts as one of my 2 top 5 results to qualify me for 2010! The pipe was huge, solid and pretty much perfect, giving the Canadian boys an amazing pipe to throw down in, and they did just that. Brad was second and Jeff was first, victory lap and all.
It was an unlucky Friday the 13th for me up at Cypress, I just missed making the cut for finals by 0.4 putting me in 13th place. The event didn't the best rating either, the pipe still needs a bit of work and the PGS didn't even happen. Hopefully Cypress can get it together by next year for the Games.
Quebec City is the next stop for me, so we'll see if I can change my luck for this years final Canadian World Cup event.
I'll be bringing home some more bling from the first ever Canadian Open. I was 2nd today, right behind the young Palmer Taylor and the Norweigen Lisa Wiik was 3rd. It was a really tight race for the guys and some amazing runs were thrown down, in the end it was local Jed Anderson, Justin Lamoureux and Jeff Batchelor, first, second and third respectivly.
The Open isn't over yet, I'll be cheering on my partner in crime, Alex Duckworth up at the slopestyle course tomorrow as she goes up against some big names.
Don't forget about the Joel Boylan Award. Applications out now. Get one.
Canada did pretty well at the World Champs walking away with a sample of each medal. First it was Jasey Jay with a gold and Matt Morrison with a bronze in PGS and then Jeff Batchelor taking a silver in pipe. After crashing on my first run, I put down an alright second run but just missed the cut by 0.9 putting me in 12th. Right now I'm on my way back to BC to take a few days off and rest my tail bone which I injured in Calgary, so unfortunately I'll be passing on the Boreal Grand Prix this year.
The selections are over and the team is picked. I'm going to Korea. Stoked. So the pipe line up for the World Championships is Brad, Dustin, Justin, Jeff, Mercedes, Charmain, Dominique and myself. This is the first opportunity to secure an Olympic spot, so if you win, your in.
Thanks for checking out the camp over the holidays, I hope everyone had a good time. Stoked that Alex was able to make it and Adam was there to help out, thanks a bunch!
The Copper grand prix is done and over with, the top Canadian was Dustin Craven in 5th. It didn't go as well as expected for me, I landed a sketchy run putting me in 18th, just missing qualifying early for the world champs by 0.1 points...but I've got another shot next month.
The AST Dew Tour is on! Breckenridge is host with another packed field of Olympic and X Games medalists. Torah, Kelly, Gretchen, Hannah, Elana, and Ellery are all ripping, its gonna be a good show.
Just in case any of you are bored this holliday and want to go rip around Martock with me for a day, now you can. I will be stopping by Martock on Tuesday December 30th to host my very own freestyle snowboard camp. This is open to male and female riders ages 10 and up looking to improve their skills on various freestyle features. Helmets and basic riding skills required - sorry no beginners. The funds raised from the camp will benefit the NSSA. Sign up for the morning session, 10-12, or afternoon session 1-3. Space is limited and the cost $40. To register, call the NSSA Office at 902.425.5450 ext 370 or email nburgess@sportnovascotia.ca
Sorry its been a while, I've been busy puddle jumping this summer. After a few weeks up on the Blackcomb glacier, I made it down to New Zealand for some much needed shredding and then back to Halifax for some fun on the water.
Opting out of the Saas Fee contest to focus on more skateboarding and strength training in Vancouver proved to be a good move. Euro glaciers can get pretty gnarly in October, as most of our team found out the hard way, getting smashed with wind and snow.
Now its back to packing for me. I take off to Colorado for a month to get ready for the first stop of the US Grand Prix in Copper, and then the AST Dew Tour in Breckenridge.
2009 National team is announced, and I'm happy to say NS is making its mark, both Alex Duckworth and I made the cut! The pipe crew now consists of Brad Martin, Jeff Batchelor, Crispin Lipscomb, Justin Lamoureux, Mercedes Nicoll, Dom Vallee, Alex and I. The pressure is on with the games around the corner, but I'm sure it will be lots of fun with these guys. New comp schedule is up, sun is shining, surf is going off..I'm out.