Snowboard Cross athletes grab podium spots in Quebec

Over the weekend, six Killington Mountain School SnowboardCross athletes traveled with Coach Bryan Taylor to Bromont, QC for the first FIS SBX race of the season. Challenging conditions on Friday forced the cancellation of the pre-race training day. Following a deluge of heavy rain capped by over a foot of fresh snow, course officials worked hard to get the track race ready. The KMS crew jumped straight into the course on Saturday for inspection and races.

The event was marked by some aggressive racing as the riders tried to gain advantage immediately in the first turn, hoping to set themselves up to proceed through the round.

Snowboard Program Director Jeff Juneau shared, "Saturday was a rough race with five of our six riders finding themselves getting tangled with a few of the other athletes, or having to fight for lines in order to stay in the race. Once the first day was over, it was time to assess where the athletes could improve. They evaluated where they could block or make passing moves differently in order to move on through the rounds."

On Sunday the temperature dropped from a high of 42 the previous day, to -15 with the wind chill. Two KMS riders made it into the finals, with Justin Giltz and Matt Miller battling it out to a photo finish with a second and third respectively. Henry Wilson had a personal best, finishing in the 12th place spot. Tye McBroom, Ben Smith, and Logan Plourde gained valuable racing experience in their first FIS race starts. The next events for KMS SnowboardCross athletes are the USASA SBX races at Stratton Mountain this weekend.

Well done and best of luck to everyone at Stratton!