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Just three races into his ski cross career, Andy Bulloch has already found the podium – three times.
The 12-year-old Huntsville skier is in the midst of a breakout season on the slopes, having captured one gold and two silvers in his first month on the Alpine Ontario circuit. His most recent medal, a silver, came this past weekend at the province’s second O-Cup Series event held at Craigleith Ski Club, where the track is also set for this year’s North American Cup.
“With the amount of kids in my age group I was kind of nervous,” said Andy, referring to the 30 other competitors in the U14 division. “But I was happy that I picked up the silver. I’ve learned how competitive it is, and how much fun it is too.”
Andy, who also plays rep-level basketball and lacrosse, had been a traditional ski racer with the Muskoka Ski Club at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area for years before first discovering the excitement and intensity of ski cross during the Sochi Winter Olympics. Given his “roundabout” style and ability to ski all over the hill, as well as a penchant for big air and freestyle, the transition to ski cross was a natural one for the young athlete.
“It seems he has a really good IQ for the actual elbow-to-elbow racing,” says Andy’s father Andrew, himself a former giant slalom racer and a director on the Muskoka Ski Club board. “At this age, he hasn’t had his growth spurt yet. The fact he is succeeding right now is a really good indicator.”
Racing against top-flight clubs from around the province, who bring the weight of professional-level coaching, tuning equipment and training staff to bear, Andy is a bit of a lone wolf in the ski cross circuit. His biggest supporter has been his dad, who has taken on multiple roles as Andy’s head coach, lead technician and ski tuner this season.
“There is a team in North Bay with about 20 racers, and that comes with 10 coaches, a full race trailer and tuning equipment,” says Andrew. “It is a full on race team. It’s not just mom and dad showing up and pulling the skis out of the trunk, it’s a highly disciplined and coordinated effort. So we are just kind of faking it right now to make it work. We’re waxing skis at the top of the hill and doing a lot of that stuff ourselves.”
Despite their lack of entourage and initially amateur appearance, Andrew’s ski knowledge and coaching combined with Andy’s natural talent and ability to learn on the fly have made the pair ‘dark horse’ candidates from their very first race (in which Andy won gold, followed by a silver the next day). Already, the young skier has been approached by a number of Ontario teams as he looks to continue what is already an impressive rookie year.
Next up on the schedule, Andy plans to add to his medal total this weekend in his fourth O-Cup event at Horseshoe Valley Ski Resort, while continuing to make new friends and learn more about the sport with each race. He will then gear up for the provincial finals later this month at Beaver Valley.
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