Syracuse.com - Fayetteville snowboarder finishes 17th at boardercross nationals in Colorado

[HuntingNY-News]

Despite being ranked at one point third in the nation in the women's open pro division, Elaine Supp did not qualify for the finals.

Elaine Supp. Disappointed, but undaunted. She'll be back next year, she said.

David Lassman/The Post-Standard

 

Despite at one point being ranked third in the nation, Fayetteville snowboarder Elaine Supp did poorly in a preliminary heat and did not qualify for the finals of the 2013 USASA boardercross championships held last week at Copper Mountain in Colorado.

"I had a good start, but unfortunately caught an edge on the 3rd feature and crashed in my timed run," she said.

This winter, Supp was named the Catskill Mountain Series 2013 regional champion and also won the gold medal in the women's boardercross event at the Empire State Games.

The 30-year-old snowboarder has been competing in regional and national boardercross competitions for three years. Her sport involves speeding down a steep snow course riddled with obstacles while trying to beat three to four other racers to the finish line.

The preliminaries and finals in the women's pro division were held Thursday. In an email, Supp described what happened in Colorado:

"Well I came home empty handed this year," she said.

"The day of the race we got on the lift about 7:30.. course inspection (slipping the course) started at 7:45 .. Since I wasn't able to make it out there for practice day (Saturday was practice day.. when everyone gets to practice and get to know the course.. Unfortunately financially I couldn't afford to spend that many days there, My event wasn't until Thurday.

"So we flew out late monday night.. and drove up to the mountain Tuesday morning) course inspection would be my 1st look at the course, so it was important to get up there early.. I was able to slip the course slowly twice... then was able to take 2 practice runs at 3/4 speed...

"The course was pretty nice, but it had been about 45 degrees the day before and then cold over night... so the course had frozen up and was very hard packed, making it easy to potentially catch an edge on any of the bigger features... My 1st practice run was ok.. my 2nd one was pretty solid...

"Then it was time for time trials... 22 racers were on the start list, they would cut the field to 16 after trials to bracket 4 heats of 4 racers... I had a good start, but unfortunately caught an edge on the 3rd feature and crashed in my timed run...

"If you miss a gate you are disqualified, so I had to climb up the feature (wasting about 15 seconds) and then try to regain my speed and continue through the course..

"I ran the rest of the course very solid ...but the time my fall cost me put me 8 seconds behind the cut... I was #17 .. so I was eliminated... soooooooo very disappointing I fell down and cried at the end of my run.. I couldn't believe I had made such a mistake..

"BUT .. that is the beauty of BoarderX ... anything can happen.. It was still a great experience to race on that course and also to get a little more comfortable with the competition..

"These girls all have coaches.. they practice on a team thoughout the year on practice courses (something we don't have out here) .. these are the same girls competing for the Olympics and other USSA tours..

"So it's very intimidating to go out and race against them.. I actually feel more confident now, having seen them race and seeing their times...

"I only missed the cut by 8 seconds even after wasting at least 15 seconds with my fall.. and after only taking 2 practice runs on the course... Plus I got to do some amazing snowboarding out there... and enjoyed a little vacation away from work..

"There's always next year."

View the full article on The Syracuse Outdoors Blog