Momentum Ski Camps are putting on another edition of Splashdown, with Momentum’s all-star roster of coaches engaging in a battle of tricks at the Blackcomb water ramps.
The event, which is open to the public, will showcase many of the world’s top freestyle skiers performing high-flying feats. At past versions of Splashdown, a panel of celebrity judges has determined the winning tricks, best spins and biggest splashes in a fun setting.
Among those expected to be participating are reigning AFP men’s overall champ Gus Kenworthy, British ski star James Woods and World Cup moguls champ Mikael Kingsbury, plus other members of Canada’s freestyle ski teams.
Splashdown takes place Wednesday (July 18) from 4 to 6 p.m. Spectators can walk up or park at Base II to witness all the action.
Farr wins gold, bronze at rowing nationals
Whistler’s Sierra Farr celebrated a national championship last month after helping Shawnigan Lake School’s junior lightweight fours crew to a gold medal finish at the Canadian Secondary School Rowing Championships.
A Grade 10 student at the Vancouver Island school, it’s the second-straight year Farr has brought home hardware from the event in St. Catharines, Ont., having won silver with the crew last year. The Shawnigan squad finished second in the semifinals to Branksome Hall but later beat the Ontario school in the final.
“I did not expect to win at all,” said Farr in a release. “I was just hoping to medal and make our coach and everyone proud. But when we did win, it was so nice to know that all the hard work we had been putting in over the year had finally paid off.”
Farr also picked up a bronze in the junior girls’ eights race alongside many of her teammates winning gold in fours. She’ll be competing in the B.C. Summer Games in Surrey later this month.
Meanwhile, fellow Whistler native Rachel Warner earned a bronze while rowing in Shawnigan’s senior lightweight fours boat. Warner graduated earlier this year and hopes to continue her rowing career while attending UBC, said the release.
Tight battles in Phat standings
The Kokanee Phat Wednesday race series hit the halfway point with last week’s (July 4) fourth race of the season and there are some tight battles brewing for division titles that will take place during the second half of the summer.
More than 265 riders were out for the race down A-Line, After Atlantis, Lower Angry Pirate, World Cup Single Track and B-Line in the Whistler Mountain Bike Park. Trev Burke topped them all with a finish time of three minutes, 49.448 seconds, eking out a men’s open victory over Dylan Wolsky (+0.231) and Berend Boer (+0.384).
Burke shot up the men’s standings with the win, now sitting second for the season with 530 points to series leader Adam Billinghurst’s 540. Wins are worth 200 points and the positions that follow are scored on a sliding scale. Nick Geddes, who missed last week’s race, sits third at 460.
In men’s masters racing, Robin Potvin (3:54.779) hit the podium for the fourth race in a row but earned his first win of the season, beating out Chris Dewar by 0.580 seconds. Potvin sits atop the masters standings with a 55-point lead over last week’s third-place finisher, Andrew Gunn.
Sarah Leishman finished in 4:11.576 and edged Katrina Strand by just 0.187 seconds for the women’s top spot while strengthening her grip on the series lead. Leishman hasn’t finished lower than second in any race and leads Strand by 120 points.
Adison McDonald won the junior male race with an impressive time of 4:00.274 and he continues to lead the category. Jenna Wilkins won the junior female race on July 4 but Ava Buchan is atop the division.
See www.whistlerbike.com for results from last night’s (July 11) race, which were not available at press time.
