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Penticton moguls skiers golden at BC Winter Games

Anna Spence and Brayden Kuroda capture gold at Apex Mountain in the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games
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PENTICTON'S ANNA SPENCE sports a golden smile after winning the juvenile moguls female event at Apex Mountain Saturday in the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games.

Mogul skiers from the Thompson Okanagan zone occupied seven of 12 podium spots at the Penticton 2016 BC Winter Games in Penticton Saturday.

Among the medal winners were Penticton's Anna Spence, Brayden Kuroda, Alec Henderson and Keremeos' Max Todd.

"I achieved my goal, I always wanted a gold and finally I get the gold in my last Games. " said Spence. "I'm kind of shocked."

Spence got over the disappointment of placing fifth in slope style on Friday to perform her best Saturday. Going through the course, Spence found the moguls to be really deep.

"It got hard. Luckily we were able to just slip and it made it a lot easier," she said.

Kuroda also captured gold, his second of the weekend after winning the slope style event on Friday.

"I was so stoked. I did not expect it at all," said Kuroda, taking the juvenile category. "I was super happy with how it turned out."

With a strong, competitive field, Kuroda said he knew he had to match how well the other skiers performed.

"I knew I had to put the pedal to the metal to beat all my competitors because they are really good and it's really hard, tough competition here," said Kuroda. "I'm just having a great time with all my friends. I've been working really hard all this season to do great for this competition."

On Sunday, Kuroda will compete in the big air event and hope his best will land him on the podium again.

Todd, a Keremeos product, was very excited to win a bronze medal.

"The competition was pretty intense," he said. "I felt I did really well. I feel like I had one of my best runs of the season.

Henderson won bronze in the juvenile category.

Other medal winners included Maya Mikkelsem of Port Moody winning gold in the youth category, while Skye Clarke of West Vancouver took silver and Kelowna's Jordan Macdonald took bronze. Following Spence with a silver medal was Kelowna's Courtney MacDonald and bronze went to Jessica Linton of Anmore from the Vancouver-Coast region. In youth males, Ethan Phillips, who competes for the Apex Freestyle Club, and is from Langley, won gold. Taking silver was Whistler's Kai Smart. The other winner juvenile male was Sam Cordell of West Vancouver taking silver.