Freestyle skiers head to national championships

Local freestyle skiers are headed to national events this month to represent Sun Peaks across the country.

Gabi Dinn, Annika Roberts, Jackson Atkinson and Ryder Mckenzie-White have been invited to compete in the park and pipe Junior Nationals at WinSport’s Canada Olympic Park in Calgary. The Sun Peaks Freestyle Club (SPFC) athletes will compete in slopestyle at the event from March 23 to 27.

The four athletes are no strangers to freestyle competitions, having succeeded in the Timber Tour series around B.C. throughout the season.

Also heading to a Junior Nationals championship is Charlie Roberts, who will compete in the moguls event at Crabbe Mountain near Fredericton from March 30 to April 3. The 16-year-old SPFC moguls skier has also been invited to compete at the Canada Cup at Mont Sainte-Anne in Quebec City from March 17 to 20.

“It’s a super sweet feeling. I’m very excited to go,” Roberts said. He attended the Junior Nationals in Quebec City in 2019, but has never competed in the Canada Cup.

Roberts joined SPFC and began moguls, slopestyle and big air around the age of 10. Last year, Roberts joined the Apex High Performance Team and has been training at Apex Mountain ever since. He is also on the BC Prospect Mogul Team.

To help with expenses for the nationals and Canada Cup, Roberts held a week-long bottle drive where he picked up returnables from members of the community.

“We had a ton of donations. It was a huge success and I feel very supported by the community,” Roberts said. “Powder Ventures Excavations [was] a huge help for this whole trip.”

If anyone would still like to donate, Roberts said bottles can be dropped off at the Lorne St. bottle depot in Kamloops to help fundraise.

Roberts said he’s pleased to see other athletes will be competing in the Junior Nationals for slopestyle, including his sister Annika.

“Freestyle in Sun Peaks is definitely growing,” Roberts said. “I’m super happy to see more Sun Peaks athletes getting out there.”