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.
Done. The 2008 season is offically over. You would think April would be the time for sun and warm weather, but not this April, its full on winter. For nationals at Cypress, we barely got through the fog, but when we could finally see, it was Torah Bright from Australia on top, with Mercedes in second and myself in third.
We had a short week off, and then the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival began. It was -15 at the top of the pipe when I arrived on the morning of the finals. The Japanese once again ended up ontop of both podiums, but Alex Duckworth put up a good fight placing 4th and I ended up 7th. After the bands and apres, I'm ready for summer!
Only a couple more contest to go...After a less than perfect performance at the US Open, I headed off to the Roxy Chicken Jam in Mammoth. I landed in 5th spot behind some really good girls and I'm happy with that, I think its my best result of the season. Mercedes, Dom and I spent 2 days at Ms Super Park, in June mountain getting some shots, and then peaced out to nationals at Cypress.
Another productive weekend is now behind me. I made finals in the Grand Prix at Killington, and ended up 7th. The pipe was pretty small and the finals were delayed until the next day due to thick fog, but they pulled it off and fun was had by all. Alex rode really well in the slopestyle event ending up 5th on Sunday. More comps to come, its a crazy March.
Brad and I both brought home some bling, grabbing the silver medals from the Stoneham world cup on the weekend. Brad is no stranger to the podium, but for me, this was my first, so I am really happy it happened on home turf!
Wow. Korea, what can I say, its just different over here. The hill is open until 3am with crazy Korean pop music blaring constantly and more fluorescent lights that I've seen in my whole life. They may not have any concept of personal space or what a grocery store should smell like, but they do have the man power to pull of a pretty decent event. I ended up 6th yesterday, which is a good result for me, I just wish I could have pushed it a bit more in the finals.
Its back to the European Open once again, but I didn't have as much luck as last year. There are some of the best in the business out here right now and I just wasn't riding up to that level yesterday. It was still a great contest and I was so pumped on Zack Stone and Harrison Gray, they both killed it!
No Canadian Open for Calgary! I was really looking forward to that contest, but I guess there just wasn't enough snow on the way. Whistler opened last weekend and Blackcomb opens tomorrow, unfortunately I injured my foot a little this fall so no riding for me just yet.
Its back to winter once again for me, I'm in New Zealand right now just riding with some friends and then meeting up with the Canadian team next week. The Burton NZ Open was yesterday, I ended up 4th in the pipe! I'm really happy with that result, its a great start to my season. There were a lot of other Canadians that made the trip as well, including my roommate for the month, Dom Vallee, grabbing 2nd in the quarter pipe.