Burks captures Free
Ride contest
At Kirkwood March
30
Hailey
native Will Burks didn’t do particularly well in the first two Free Ride
competitions he tackled in 2002—the first at Whistler, B.C., Canada in
January and the second at Snowbird, Utah in February.
But the
1993 Wood River High School graduate was right on the money at the North
American Free Ride Championship March 28-30 at Kirkwood, Ca. Burks, 27,
won the contest and a $1,500 cash prize.
He was the
best of 80 contestants during the extreme skiing test. Seven judges looked
at different criteria like technique, aggressiveness, difficulty of line
and fluidity.
"You
want to show off and let the judges know what you can do," said
Burks, the 1999 national free ride king. "Being consistent is a big
deal."
Each day, a
different venue challenged the skiers. The first day, a 500 vertical-foot
peak weeded out half the field. It got steeper the second day then Burks
won the event on a 2,500-vertical-foot final-day run.
His
sponsors are Dynastar, Eider, Scott USA and Leedom Helmets.