Going By The Board Nearly 200 Snowboarders Compete At Silver Mountain

Brian Owen watched world-class snowboarders do backflips in the sport’s Olympic debut last month.

On Sunday, the 8-year-old had his own shot at glory as the youngest racer in the Shred Shed Board-Cross at Silver Mountain Resort.

His competitors in the category for 8- to 10-year-olds were old hands at this.

“It’s a nice course,” said Randal Seaton, 9.

“You have to be fast and aggressive,” said 10-year-old Brandon Palaniur, who said he also likes skateboarding and wrestling and who ended up winning in his category Sunday.

Nearly 200 snowboarders jumped at the chance to race on Sunday as part of the First Security Winter Games.

They competed in groups of four, unless the number of entrants in their age category was too small.

The racers weren’t timed. They competed in heats, with winners of each going board-to-board against each other until winners emerged in each group.

“It’s a very simple, very exciting competition,” resort spokesman David Kilmer said. “You either lead the pack or you lose.”

Near the start of the sculpted course, racers had to pass between two berms. The “tunnel of death” forced them into single file, putting one racer clearly in front.

Sunday’s half-mile course started at the Mountain Haus lodge and ended at the bottom of chairlift No. 5. It followed the upper part of Noah’s run and crossed over to Huckleberry. That’s a change from last year, when the course started at the top of chairlift No. 2.

The new location was better for spectators than the old course at the first board-cross competition at Silver Mountain last year. The new course also was less steep.

Next year’s racers will have the advantage of lots of time to practice. That’s because the resort is leaving the course in place, mountain manager Terry Turnbow said.

The “terrain park” will be open to skiers, too. Some of them already are eyeing the do-or-die snowboard race with jealousy.

“We’re going to start running skiers through here,” said Tim Branco, head ski instructor as well as the resort’s snowboard guru. “We’ll have (a race) a month from now.”

Sunday’s racers were mostly males, by far. But the young female competitors are eager to change that. “We need girls in this sport to push each other,” Dakota Corey said.

Corey defeated her competitors in the women’s 17- to 18-year-old group.

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MEMO: This sidebar appeared with the story: WINNERS First-place winners in their age categories were: Men: Brandon Palaniur, 8-10; Eric Haskins, 11-12; Parc Crecelius, 13-14; Toby Quiring, 15-16; Miles Lauritsen, 17-18; Shane Turpin, 19-26. Michael Waldrup, 27-39; Michael Tomaselli, 40 and over. Women: Jenny Brodin, 12 and under; Tracy Faux, 13-14; Brandi Scully, 15-16; Dakota Corey, 17-18; Kira Susnis-Wing, 19-26; Jami Ostby, 27-39.