Sure, Evan Bichon and Meryeta O'Dine compete on the international snowboard circuit, but nothing beats racing at home in Prince George, especially with medals on the line.
Competing for Team B.C., the local teenagers dominated their respective snowboard cross men's and women's races to win Canada Winter Games gold Saturday at Tabor Mountain.
After qualifying first in Saturday morning's preliminary round, Bichon, 16, won both of his quarter-final and semifinal races down the track at Tabor to advance to the final four.
He crossed the finish line first for gold, edging Quebec's Danny Bourgeois who grabbed the silver medl, and Nova Scotia's Liam Moffat who picked up the bronze medal.
"I just felt really good out there today, I was really strong through two practice runs and I qualified first," said Bichon. "I led the final during the whole race and I had a huge lead at the end.
Competing at home made it extra special for him.
"The crowd was ecstatic, I usually can't hear it but the crowd was on another level today," he said. "I had so many friends and family here."
Bourgeois was ranked third after the preliminary heats and was at the opposite end of the draw from Bichon. He won his quarter-final heat and finished second behind Moffat in the semifinal to advance to the final.
"I felt really good coming into this race today and I just kept getting better throughout the heats," said 19-year-old Bourgeois, who calls Rose Marie, Que. home. "I knew I had my chances in the final."
Moffat was ranked second behind Bichon after the preliminary heats and won his quarter-final and semifinal draws to advance to the final.
"In the third heat I made a crazy pass at the end and that's what got me into the final," said Moffat, a 17-year-old from Truro, N.S. but trains at Sugarloaf Mountain in Maine. "I love Tabor, there are some the best banked turns I've seen."
Prince George's Dawson Ellery was ninth overall.
After the women's preliminary heats Saturday, O'Dine, 18, was ranked second behind Ontario's Tayler Wilton, 21 who went into the event as the defending Canada Games champion and closed out her Games career on Tabor Mountain.
On opposite ends of the draw, both Wilton and O'Dine won all of their quarter-final and semifinal heats to qualify for the final which was a close contest right to the end.
"I was last going into the first berm and there was a pass on every berm and on the last section of the course I held a good line and I managed to come out with it," said O'Dine. "I was extremely nervous today, but I'm so excited about how it all turned out."
"It was hard to beat someone like Meryeta today, unfortunately I made a small mistake there near the end," added Wilton, who calls Collingwood, Ont. home. "This is probably my favourite course. It was fun, fast and technical with amazing berms."
Katie Anderson from Jaffray, B.C. won the bronze medal.
It's been quite the season for O'Dine who overcame a concussion earlier this season as well as a kidney infection while she was sidelined.
She recuperated in time to compete in a NorAm Cup final in January in Mont Tremblant, Que., battling to a third-place finish prior to returning to Prince George for the Games.
"I'm pretty in shock, it's over the hill excited with relief that everything is over and all the pressure is off," she said. I came into the season not super-confident and everything has just now gotten better.
"I've felt the support from Prince George all week
With the exception of Wilton, who's aged out from the junior scene, all five medallists are off to China for the FIS junior world championships March 6 to 16. Then it's to Spain for a World Cup race and more Europa Cup races.
