After seeing firsthand how fickle winter can be in Europe, with cancellations on the World Cup circuit due to poor snow conditions which kept her from racing, Meryeta O'Dine was glad to know her home course at Tabor Mountain is up to the challenge.
Close to 100 athletes from eight countries are converging on the Tabor slopes this weekend for two days of NorAm snowboardcross racing.
The course is lightning fast and borderline scary, which should make for some excitement on the slopes, especially with four riders at a time fighting for the finish line.
"It's fast and it's very technical and there are some people that are absolutely loving all of it and some people that aren't loving all of it because it's a bit to get a hold of if you're not one of the more experienced riders," said the 18-year-old O'Dine.
"Even some of the experienced riders are having troubles with it. It's going to be tricky and that's one of the funnest things about it. It's tricky in some areas and some other areas are just pure fun."
If anybody has any problem with the course they can take that up with O'Dine's dad, Tabor Mountain owner Fern Thibault.
As far as she is concerned, the course at Tabor is as good as any she's seen on the World Cup, NorAm Cup and South American Cup circuits this season. O'Dine will use her home advantage to ride out berms, but says the rollers and technical sections change with every race.
"For the North American Cup series, it's normally smaller, tighter berms that you really have to work through to stay in a good line but these are more like the berms you would see in a World Cup track," she said.
"They're very open and steep so you can stay flat-based through them and let it ride pretty much. More speed, more control, but it does have the technical side of a NorAm."
O'Dine had been busy with national team events this season which started in August, when she placed second and third in South American Cup events in Chile.
In early December, she finished 16th at a World Cup race in Austria, matching her best-ever World Cup finish from La Molina, Spain last year. In snowboardcross, only the top 16 in qualifying runs advance to elimination heats.
"I'm two-for-two in qualifying for World Cups now, that's awesome," said O'Dine, the 2015 Canada Games champion.
"I do feel the pressure a bit competing at home, especially after the Canada Games. But I've had a pretty good season so I have a little more confidence than last season and I'm pretty excited to see how it all pans out. I did three months living and training in Europe and it's helped with a lot of things."
The women's field this weekend includes Americans Alyssa Bolgin and Ana Miller and Carle Brennaman of Comox, all of whom have raced World Cup events. O'Dine was supposed to race in Italy Dec. 21-22 but that race was cancelled due to a lack of snow.
"I've competed with these girls for awhile now and I know what I'm up against," said O'Dine. "It's going to be a pretty big competition. "It's exciting that everyone's finally coming over to the north. I don't think anyone from the States has ever been this far north so it's nice to get them out into the middle of nowhere. I've been a bit of a tour guide but everyone is super busy because we all have pre-workout and your after-workout when you're done training and you have to get all your gear and snowboards ready for the next day."
The races start Saturday at noon, following qualification runs which start at 10 a.m. Sunday's races also start at noon.
More than 60 riders are entered in the men's event
Tabor will host another two days of NorAm snowboardcross racing next Thursday and Friday, with more athletes expected to make the trek to Prince George. Some of them are competing this weekend at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo.
