Yukon snowboarders having outstanding Arctic Games

After medalling in each of the previous three events, the Yukon's snowboarding team is looking to have a strong finish in its final competition of the 2008 Arctic Winter Games.

After medalling in each of the previous three events, the Yukon’s snowboarding team is looking to have a strong finish in its final competition of the 2008 Arctic Winter Games.
 
So far at this year’s Games, the group has won a total of four medals, which has exceeded the expectations of head coach Mary Binsted. 
 
“The team is doing wonderful,“ Binsted said. “I am proud of everybody for stepping outside their comfort zone a little bit in different ways. We have one of the smallest teams that is competing and definitely the youngest team, by far. So we are having more successes in the juvenile category, but that is to be expected because all of our riders are of the juvenile age.“
 
Team Yukon got off to an incredible start its first day of competition, winning two bronze medals in the Banked Slalom event on Tuesday.
 
Beth Ferguson had a great run in the juvenile female discipline, recording a best time of 0:14.39, in one of the three races, to finish in third place. Ferguson was just over a second more than the first place time posted at the event.
 
In the junior male category for Tuesday’s banked slalom, Alexander Chisholme finished with a best time of 0:12.21 in his third and final race at the event. Chisholme improved his time in each of the three races and won the bronze, beating out the next closest time by less than one second.
 
Binsted said Chisholme has done very well competing in an older age category.
 
“Alex has really risen to the challenge of participating in the older category,“ she said. “He definitely has not just the skills, which will develop as he gets older, but he already has the focus and the mental concentration skills that are needed to be a champion in any sport.“
 
Yukoner Pat Parker also did very well in the banked slalom event, posting a best time of 0:12.85, which placed him eighth overall at the competition.
 
Sam Ferguson showed off his skills in the Rail Jam competition for the juvenile male category, which was held on Wednesday. In his first run, Ferguson recorded a score of 20.10. He followed that up with a point total of 19.90 in the second run and concluded the event with a best score of 21.30 to finish with a total of 61.30. Ferguson placed second at this event and was more than 10 points ahead of the third place finisher.
 
On Thursday, the big air competition was held and once again Beth Ferguson rose to the challenge, finishing in an impressive third place in the standings. Ferguson finished with a score of 30.30, which was nearly three points ahead of the next best total and just slightly more than one point behind finishing in second.
 
Binsted said she has been impressed with Beth’s performance at the Games.
 
“I am really impressed with Beth’s riding,“ she said. “I knew that she was a natural rider, but she is really holding her own with the girls that are here and for such a young rider she is doing really well. Not just her age; because she is fairly new to the sport, she has a lot of potential to grow.“
 
In the juvenile boy’s category for the big air event, Max Melvin-McNutt and Sam Ferguson also did very well. Both of the riders just missing out on medalling at the competition. Ferguson’s score of 37.10 earned him a fourth place finish, just over two points behind the bronze medal winner. Melvin-McNutt placed right behind Ferguson, in the fifth spot after he posted a score of 32.60.
 
Today’s competition will be the quarter pipe event and will conclude the snowboarding events at the Games.
 
Binsted said the added experience on the hill is the main reason why the Yukon snowboarding team is doing so well.
 
“Right now I would say the success has been that we have double the amount of days we have had on snow since we have been here,“ she said. “We only had the three days of training before we came and now we have had four days of snowboarding since we have been at the Games and everybody’s skills have really come along, so I can’t imagine how well we would have done had we had a full winter of training.“
 
She said the members of the Team Yukon have gotten better as the week has gone on and she is hopeful of increasing the medal total in today’s final event.
 
“My goal was to medal in every event and so far we have done three out of four, so we have lived up to that goal so far every day,“ Binsted said. “So I don’t see why we wouldn’t do it again (today).“