A couple of mountain slope wipeouts started Cole Richardson's freeriding season. Not quite the start anyone would want for their first official year as a freerider, but those memories seem like years ago for the newly crowned champ.
A couple of mountain slope wipeouts started Cole Richardson's freeriding season.
Not quite the start anyone would want for their first official year as a freerider, but those memories seem like years ago for the newly crowned champ.
The 14-year-old Canmorite was top dog at the North American Junior Freeride Championships at Whistler Blackcomb in B.C., April 6-9 in unseasonable conditions.
Behind on points going into the second and final run, Richardson edged out leader Simon Hillis on points to take home first place.
It was the season-ending event, so the overall points championship was also on the line beside the event's first place in a do or die performance for Richardson.
The razor thin victory catapulted the young freerider into the overall champion for the International Freeskiers and Snowboarders Association (IFSA) boys 12-14 category.
Not bad for his first official year as a freerider.
“The competition here at Whistler was a memorable moment for me. I'm just happy to have made it there,” said Richardson, a member of the Lake Louise All Mountain Ski Club (LLAM).
The other local club is the Rocky Mountain Freeriders (RMF).
Freeriding, also referred as “big mountain,” is a competition type of skiing and snowboarding without a set course, not on groomed snow.
In front of judge's eyes, the sport combines skill, tricks, jumps and clean riding.
It takes about two minutes to ride from top to bottom.
“I skied a line that I wanted to and I felt it looked really cool,” said Richardson. “I did different tricks and showed a variety to the judges and kept it as clean as possible.”
Jacked up on adrenalin, Richardson remembers cleanly landing a 30-foot jump he had never gone off before during the championships in Whistler.
Richardson was prepared beforehand as a ski racer, but he was nervous entering this season and it started off rough for the teenager.
Feeling bummed out after a rocky start in the Rocky Mountains, crashing twice to start his free-riding ski season, Richardson picked himself up, brushed himself off and got back on the slopes.
“Cole basically had to stand up in all the last events we could get him to, which put a lot of pressure on,” said Jordy Burks, program director at LLAM. “We always thought he was capable of winning the overall title.”
Richardson moves into the boys 15-18 category next season.
Also competing at the event was LLAM's Andrew Huggill from Canmore, who placed 41st in the boys 12-14 category after a tumble in the qualifier.
“It looked like (Huggill was) on his way to a top three finish at the North American Championships, but he slipped on his side trying to get over a jump in some of the challenging course conditions,” said Burks.
Yannik Schulz, from Golden, B.C., (RMF) finished sixth in the boys 15-18 category.
LLAM's Jade Regehr, from Calgary, was eighth in the girls 12-14.
“The ski level of the local athletes was really impressive ... it's kind of a cool thing with respect to the kind of athlete the Bow Valley ski hills can produce,” said Burks.
