Even though the snowcross course at Tabor Mountain is named after her, Meryeta O'Dine rarely races at home.
The 17-year-old from Prince George has been a busy gal this winter as the youngest competitor on the Nor-Am Cup snowboardcross circuit, racing some prominent athletes on the big hills in Mont Tremblant, Que., Copper Mountain, Colo., and Big White near Kelowna.
It wasn't in O'Dine's original plan to stick around over the weekend for the Tabor Mountain snowboardcross/skicross. She had her flights already booked to the Nor-Am finals at Mount Hood, Ore., but the death last Monday of the mother of her close friend Regina Sarrazin changed all that. She wanted to be there for her friend.
That gave O'Dine a free weekend and on Sunday she showed it doesn't matter if she's on a snowboard or a pair of skis, she knows the fast way down the mountain. Under sunny skies and in spring-like conditions, O'Dine won her first snowboardcross heat, then made the quick turnaround back up the hill with her skis on the back of snowmobile driven by her stepfather Fern Thibault's snowmobile. She won her first two skicross heats, rode the sled back to the top to race once more on her snowboard, and with no time to spare got back up for one more race on her skis down Eta's Snow Cross Course.
"I was really stoked to be back here, I'm glad it was such a beautiful day," said O'Dine. "It was pretty hectic but I like the non-stop runs because it keeps your adrenaline going.
"What happens in snowboardcross racing is you have your race and you're so pumped up and then you come down and you wait. Your adrenaline spikes and that tires you out so much that barely have any energy left for your last race, when it really matters. Today, there was no settling down."
O'Dine ended up winning the 16-and-under skicross class despite having to settle for second on her last ski run after being passed late in the run by 14-year Cody Strickland of Prince George. She finished second overall to 18-year-old Tor Green of Prince George in the 16-18 mixed snowboardcross event.
Ever since she ditched her skis at age 11 to focus on snowboardcross, O'Dine has taken quantum leaps in her development. Her background as a BMX bike racer has no doubt helped her excel in a sport where racing in traffic comes with the territory.
In her very first Nor-Am race Jan. 29 at Mont Tremblant, O'Dine won the bronze medal, despite having a cracked wrist. In five other races taking on athletes as old as 23, she was sixth, eighth and ninth (three times). Three of the racers who beat her when she placed sixth at Copper Mountain where Canadian World Cup racers Tess Critchlow and Zoe Bergerman and U.S. national team member Megan Tierney.
"My goal this year in Nor-Am was just to be top-10 and I've exceeded that goal," O'Dine said. "It was really shocking to be on the podium."
O'Dine is now preparing for the national snowboardcross championships, April 3-6 at Big White. Last year she finished fifth in the 15-21-year-old class.
O'Dine successfully defended her provincial 21-and-under championship and is a virtual certainty to be on B.C. snowboard cross team for the 2015 Canada Winter Games, an event that will be contested at Tabor Mountain, which is owned by Thibault and Meryeta's mom Virginia.
They've worked tirelessly the past two years building new courses and reworking the Tabor terrain to make sure the mountain is ready for the Games for snowcross, slopestyle and freestyle events, an earth-moving project that will continue this spring and summer .
"It will be amazing just to show that all the hard work on the whole ski hill will pay off for my mom and dad," said Meryeta. "It's kind of sad, they miss quite a bit when they don't get to see me race and it's especially cool for me to give back a little because they've given me so much.
"All the changes that are happening here are getting more than just our own community excited about the whole hill. We're getting other countries excited about it. All my friends and family will be here [during the Games] helping and cheering and I'm really going to push myself to get to finals and maybe win it."
Other overall winners by class Sunday were: Snowboardross -- 8-and-under: Luke Pali, Telkwa; girls 12-and-under: Hailey Laing, Mackenzie; 10-13-years: Cole Patterson, Prince George; 16-and-older: Dana Bichon, Mackenzie; 30-and-older: Bill Laing, Mackenzie; Skicross -- 6-and-under mixed: Ella Vonah, Prince George; girls 13 years: Chantel Wickson, Smithers; boys 10-and-under: Darcy Fraser, Smithers; 16-and-older: Jason Oliemans, Smithers.
