The Chatelech snowboard team completed another successful year of competition with an eighth place finish at the provincial championships in Rossland last month.
Chat coach Jamie Mani said the team was impressed with the steep runs at Red Mountain as they raced against students from all over the province.
Mani said one surprise this year was the last minute addition of a snowboard cross race.
"Much like the event from the Winter Olympics, competitors navigated a course of rolling terrain, banked turns and jumps," Mani said. "As this form of race was not expected, the team tried their best, but were not as prepared as they were for the giant slalom event. Our team normally races giant slalom throughout the year and at zone finals."
He said despite a few falls, the snowboarders enjoyed the new race style, and wished they could have raced four on the course at a time. For safety reasons, competitors were allowed to race only one at a time.
Mani said the second day of racing brought the large format giant slalom course, and Chat raced well.
Overall Chat was eighth out of 16 teams with the boys team 12th out of 16. Another highlight was a seventh place finish out of 94 racers for team captain Jared Hlagi, who finished on a high after five years of racing at Chat.
