The Sun Valley snowboard team put another season to bed Thursday during its awards banquet at the nexStage Theatre in Ketchum.
The Sun Valley Ski Education Foundation program feted its 54 members with handcrafted trophies and heart-felt speeches.
The A Team bid farewell to five seniors, including Kaitlyn Farrington, Heather Black, Scott Pike, Quinn Baser and Scott Fairfax.
"It was a pleasure to coach that group," snowboard director Andy Gilbert said. "It was a really really strong, tight-knit group of riders. It will be hard to replace a group that trains, competes and lives well together like that. But the future looks bright with an amazing group of young riders coming up."
For the first time in history, the Bobby Flanigan Award for Good Housekeeping was actually given out for good housekeeping. The recipient was the entire A team.
J.J. Martin came back from injury to claim the Dark Horse award. Heather Black earned Road Warrior honors. Scott Pike has a new kitchen appliance, taking home the Eggbeater Award for his spectacular crash in Colorado in which he rearranged his front teeth. Wyatt Bunce was named Most Valuable Rider.
MVR of the B team went to Mal Prior. Ross Bird was named Most Inspirational, and the only girl on the B team, Bria Gillespie became Rookie of the Year.
With the erudite Nate Galpin on the staff, C Team awards ranged from the esoteric: the Brother Goon and Unfeeling Robot awards, to the standard: Most Improved and Hardest Working. Ryan Roemer garnered Best Crash.
Best Attendance went to Sam Strong, Nathan Kniffen and Jesse Forgeon. Noe Garing and Josh Morell were deemed Most Improved. Hardest Working went to Ali Appleton and Nathan Kniffen. Josie Bunce and Chase Josey were Most Inspirational.
