Two Yukon snowboarders have been sliding, flying and speeding to strong results down south lately.
Crystal Legoffe and Ethan Davy have been showing British Columbians that Yukoners know how to board, in two different disciplines, this month.
Legoffe began the year placing first for women 17-and-over in the three-part King of the Rail rail jam at Whistler.
“It was a really fun event and some of the features were quite large and challenging, so I was just happy to be there and push myself,” said Legoffe. “It was also just a lot of fun. All my friends were there, it was at nighttime, there was a big crowd.”
The 21-year-old then placed third in two B.C. provincial slopestyle events at Big White Ski Resort in Kelowna on Jan. 7 and 8.
Legoffe, who was born and raised in Whitehorse, moved south to join the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club in the summer of 2015. She placed first in open women slopestyle at the B.C Snowboard Championships last season.
However, her competitive season has been cut short by injury.
“There are some more contests coming up but unfortunately I gave myself a minor concussion towards the neck, so I decided to not compete for the rest of this season,” said Legoffe. “I was riding a couple days ago and it just happened.
“I’m feeling OK, but I just wanted to take the year to just ride and work on things I wanted to work on.”
Davy, 15, won silver medals in U15 snowboardcross races at back-to-back provincial series events at Big White Jan 14 and 15.
“I think I did pretty well,” said Davy. “We were supposed to go to Calgary next weekend but it got cancelled, so my dad (Jarrid) wanted to take me this one, just for an extra competition.”
Davy, a member of the Snowboard Yukon team, advanced through a heat and semifinal both days before close losses in the final. He won a gold at the same event two years ago, sparking his interested in boardercross.
“We just went to a competition a couple years ago and I really liked it, so my dad kind of pushed me to go towards that,” said Davy.
“I just really like it, and it’s head-on,” he added. “It’s four guys going down and it’s fun. You can see what you’re doing better.”
His golden run two years ago at Big White wasn’t Davy’s first time racing boardercross. At the 2013 Yukon Snowboard Championships Davy was the only competitor to place first in two divisions, winning gold in slopestyle and snowboardcross in the under-12 division.
Legoffe’s history isn’t all too different. She placed first in snowboardcross at the 2014 Yukon championships and joined the Yukon team the next season. Legoffe then set a Yukon best in slopestyle at the 2015 Canada Winter Games in Prince George, B.C.
Legoffe placed sixth for the highest ever finish by a Yukoner in snowboarding at the Canada Games, male or female.
“The following winter I signed up for Snowboard Yukon and ended up trying out and got placed on the slopestyle team,” said Legoffe. “(CWG) ended up being my first competition, which is so crazy, and ended up making finals there.”
Contact Tom Patrick at tomp@yukon-news.com