More than 135 athletes from across Alberta, including 15 athletes from Jasper’s Freeride Ski Team, will descend on Marmot Basin this weekend in an effort to qualify for a spot in the Alberta Winter Games.
The provincial qualifier will be held in conjunction with the freeride club competition, explained Nicholas Bazin, head coach for the team.
“It’s a fairly important competition,” said Bazin, explaining the club competition is just for fun, but if athletes qualify for the Alberta Winter Games they will have a chance to compete again in Medicine Hat Feb. 13-16.
The three-day qualifier begins with a training session on Jan. 8 followed by two days of competition.
The competition will have two events, moguls and slopestyle. The mogul course will be 160 metres long with a 23-degree pitch and two full sized jumps.
The slopestyle course will have two tabletop jumps (one medium and one large) and two rail sections (one easy and one hard feature per section).
Both courses will be just below the level of difficulty set at the provincial level.
“This year, in my opinion, the park and the mogul course are the best they’ve ever been,” said Bazin, who’s been the team’s head coach for the past five years.
“We were lucky with the weather, but saying that, Marmot also went out of their way to make sure we are able to run this event.”
The Alberta Winter Games qualifier is open to athletes 11 to 15 years of age.
For those who are interested in watching the competition, Jasper’s athletes will compete in the slopestyle competition on Sunday and moguls on Saturday. To watch them compete, spectators will have to purchase a lift ticket.
“I’m really excited,” said Bazin, about the competition. “Hopefully it will be a great event for Jasper Freeride, not only as hosts, but also for our athletes who have been working hard for the last two or three weeks.”
Paul Clarke [email protected]
