On the podium

This weekend, the last of our skiing season, Adam entered a Snowboard Cross race at Bear Valley.  If you have not seen one before (this was a new sport in the 2006 winter olympics) 4 competitors race down a steep and winding course with jumps. Its an elimination contest.

Here is Adam on the course during his first heat:

As it happened Adam was the only competitor in the under-13s so they raced him with the rest of the field. In this first heat he raced against Jackson; his snowboard team instructor, and Jake; the competitive team instructor. He acquitted himself well - he came in last ('of course' he says) but not by an embarrassing distance, and he rode well on the course.

The race organizers decided that he needed his own prize as the youngest competitor for his sporting spirit.

We were very proud of him: it was a steep course and snowboard cross is pretty aggressive.  Adam said it was scary to race, especially as the race was so fast. He also told us that one of the (adult) skiing competitors got to the gate at the top of the course and decided not to enter! It was a shame that he had no one in his age group to race against, but he had a wonderful time and everyone was really friendly to him.

Well done Adam!