AFC alumni shine during Canadian Series
Rain and snow didn’t stop mogul skiers from doing their tricks at Apex Mountain Resort.
Athletes from Canada, U.S. and Australia pushed each other to the limit on Kristi’s (Richards) run during the Freestyle Frenzy Tour Canadian Series Mogul Event on the weekend.
Apex Freestyle Club coach Jeff Fairbairn was happy with what he saw from his skiers following nearly two months of training.
A key to their success was taking advantage of the home slope. On Sunday, Mason Barzilay finished fifth in the duals and sixth on Saturday. Alumni from the AFC found themselves on the podium as Andi Naude and Emily Little won gold and bronze in the single mogul. Naude repeated the feat on Sunday, while Little placed fourth.
The importance of the event depended on the skier. For the older skiers it was an opportunity to collect points towards the Mogul Cup, while the younger skiers gained experience for this weekend.
Josh Kober, a member of the AFC, felt his run during the single would be enough to get in the finals.
“I could have made it a little cleaner,” said Kober, who placed 32nd on Saturday. “Just keep forward pressure and absorb more. The course is very good, but the conditions are making it tough.”
Kober added that the rain slowed the course. Saturday wasn’t good for Kober as he fell on his bottom air and didn’t qualify for the finals.
At 12 Kyle Parker is the youngest member of the AFC, said he felt OK during his run. Despite sticky conditions, Parker was happy with what he did and found the competition challenging.
“They are older and have had more time skiing,” said Parker, who finished 30th of 50 on Saturday.
Connor Spence, an AFC alum competing for Team BC, had a good run but felt he could have been quicker.
“The weekend has been good,” said Spence, who placed fifth on Saturday. “It’s a fun competition.”
While the skiers had some complaints about the weather, Fairbairn said it’s something they must deal with.
“They will whine and cry about it ... but realistically, no pun intended, it just dampened the mood a bit,” he said. “It shouldn’t make that much of a difference. You have to be ready for any weather conditions.”
The skiers for the most part performed to expectations.
“I would say some of them not as good as I expected due to little crashes that shouldn’t have happened,” he said.
Fairbairn was impressed by Matt Finlayson, who placed 21st on Saturday.
“He’s jumping bigger, he’s skiing faster,” said Fairbairn. “Kyle Parker, he’s skiing very well. Very strong individual and a sign of things to come for the future from both
those boys.”
Other skiers who represented AFC were Dane Franks, Josh Visser, Jordan Kober, Blair Anderson and Riley Culver. Younger members from the club competing were Kassidy Todd, Maddy Parker, Brayden Kuroda, Liam Collyer, Mackenzie Schwinghamer and Sam Holinaty. Other AFC alum competing for Team BC were Jake Little. Full results from Sunday were not available.
Evan Ernst of the Silver Star Freestyle team fights to right himself after landing this jump during the moguls event at the Freestyle Frenzy Tour Canadian Series Mogul Event at Apex Mountain Resort last weekend.
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