Excitement was high at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area for the first stop on the 2018 Timber Tour provincial competition series for young freestyle skiing athletes from all over Ontario. The two-day slopestyle competition was held on January 20 and 21.
Two local athletes, Kyle Mattice and Ethan Murdy, were among the competitors, both ending the weekend with exceptional results.
Murdy, competing in the U18 age category, took Gold for his runs on both Saturday and Sunday. For his best run, earning him a score of 91.8, he hit the top rail with “a 270 on straight out” followed by a cork 900 on the first jump and a switch rodeo 720 on the bottom jump.
This year, Murdy feels he has become stronger and more confident in his jumps and it definitely showed on the course. He uses the gym regularly after school and in between his busy sports schedule to improve himself for all of his sports which include hockey and baseball as well as freestyle skiing. Murdy is working hard academically to get in to a school for baseball.
When asked how he balances all of his passion for sports as well as school, he replies, “Geez, I don’t even know how I do it. I like being busy. Some people like video games and reading books for fun, I just like being active. And it helps that I am busy doing sports I love.”
Murdy will be training to compete at the Timber Tour provincial championships at Horseshoe Resort from February 22 to 25 if his rep hockey playdown schedule affords the time.
Above: Ethan Murdy earned gold on both days of competition at the the 2018 Timber Tour stop at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area (Photos: Wendy Murdy)
Ethan Murdy sails over a jump on his way to Gold at the 2018 Timber Tour stop at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area
Kyle Mattice, nicknamed the hometown boy, competed in the U16 age category again this year and also earned top spot on the podium both Saturday and Sunday.
Mattice skis and trains with the agenda.freeski team and is sponsored by Algonquin Outfitters, HEADSKI, Volcom and POC. He trains three days a week, Friday through Sunday, at Mt. St. Louis Moonstone. He has been working hard on his unnatural spins — spinning to the right is his unnatural way — as well as new rail tricks.
“My second runs on both Saturday and Sunday were my best runs,” says Mattice of the Timber Tour competition. “I started off at the top hitting the first rail with a 270 on. Going into the first jump with an unnatural cork 7 landing forward and then hitting the second jump with my Left Cork 9 landing switch (backwards), then going into the last rail doing a switch (backwards) on.” He made it look easy!
Above: Kyle Mattice rose to the top of the podium on both days of competition at the the 2018 Timber Tour stop at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area (Photos: Tami Mattice)
Kyle Mattice shows off one of his best tricks in a jump during the 2018 Timber Tour stop at Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area
Mattice is also preparing for Provincials in February, and hopes to qualify for Junior Nationals again — hosted this year at Mt. St. Louis from March 13 to 18 — where he aims to compete in all three freestyle events being offered there: Half Pipe, Big Air and Slopestyle.
The Canada Cup in Stoneham, Quebec is also on Mattice’s list of competitions. “My goal is to try to qualify for the finals. I did the same Canada Cup in the Yukon this past November. I never qualified for the finals there, but it was a really good experience for me,” he says, adding that he’s thankful for the support he receives from his agenda.freeski coaches, Hidden Valley Highlands Ski Area and the Muskoka Ski Club, and his sponsors.
Good luck to both Murdy and Mattice on their future competitions!
See full results from the Timber Tour here.
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Congrats Kyle. I have been watching and waiting to hear results that you have posted. So happy to see that you continue to work hard and are still passionate about your sport. Look forward to hearing about more of your results. ❤️ Retired Proud Principal Mrs Stahls ?