Locals take two of four titles at freeride comp

“I dropped in, it was super soft and I kind of forgot I was in a competition”

With a serious storm cycle finishing up early last week, athletes were treated to quality conditions at the Subaru Freeride Series stop in Crested Butte, February 13-15.
In the end, the locals threw down as Sydney Dickinson won the women’s ski title and Mary Boddington claimed the women’s snowboard title. Meanwhile, Tom Runcie laid down the top scoring finals runs on Saturday to catapult himself from eighth place and onto the podium, placing second in the men’s ski competition.
The event opened on Thursday with a two-star competition but the main four-star event started on Friday and due to ample snowfall this year organizers were able to open up the venue to include everything from Dead End Chutes to Slot Rocks. The athletes utilized all that was available, giving a glimpse into what spectators could expect from some of the top freeriders in the nation. Furthermore, Body Bag and Dead End Chutes had been closed all season, making for the best possible conditions.
Locally raised freeskier Randy Evans made a name for himself on day one executing a near flawless run, including stomping an estimated 50-foot backflip off Cheeseburger Rock to finish the day in first place, with brother Matt in third.
Runcie had two lines in mind but once he got word that the snow in Body Bag was good, he stuck with plan A and, aside from a slight hiccup lining up his final air, he skied well enough to finish in eighth place going into the last day.
“It played out exactly as I hoped,” says Runcie. “I was hoping for more speed out of the final air but overall it went really well. I had some ground to make up but Big Hourglass is a wild card.”
Dickinson opted to ski Body Bag on her run as well.
“I went for Body Bag because it’s a pretty straightforward fall line with a pretty nice exit air,” explains Dickinson.
Her effort in Body Bag was good enough to put her in third place heading into the final day.
Boddington’s plan from the beginning was pretty straightforward.
“I wanted to go for a fun line and have a better chance at doing well,” says Boddington.
She decided to ride in the Staircase/Slot Rocks area and finished the day in third place to earn her first trip ever into the Big Hourglass venue.
“I’d never been there, never even poached it,” says Boddington.
The finals would mark the fourth time in the history of the local freeride competition that organizers could use the Big Hourglass venue. The area is closed to the public but was opened up to competitors, given the snow conditions.
Runcie went into the final day with a bit of unfinished business. He last skied the Big Hourglass area in his first competition ever in 2009 and admits he erred on the side of caution that year. Then, when he saw Julien Lopez ski the left side of the Bermuda Triangle, he realized that’s what he should have, and could have, done.
“I’ve had that line in my mind for awhile,” says Runcie. “I’ve been kicking myself for five years for not skiing that line.”
When he eased up to the start gate, he admits there were a few nerves swirling but then everything fell into place.
“When I was in the start gate I was looking between my tips down at the crowd,” explains Runcie. “Basically, there was no way I was going to back off and ski something else.”
Runcie was the first skier of the comp to get into the left side and after a quick entrance air to his line, he slashed a few turns across a hanging ramp, stomped a 20-foot air mid-run into a 50-degree slope and then finished with a 25-foot jump at the bottom.
 “I knew I could stomp it clean, ski straight at the fans and give them a show,” says Runcie.
He posted the top score of the finals, to move him from eighth into second place in the final standings.
Dickinson was in the hunt for the title and knew that her best option was to keep her skis on the ground and ski well.
“All of us were really close point-wise so it seemed that whoever skied the best that day would win,” says Dickinson. “I didn’t want to take any chances with big air.”
Keeping her skis glued to the snow and her shoulders square to the fall line, Dickinson put together one of the smoothest lines of the day among the women, to ski her way to the women’s title.
“I dropped in and it was super soft and I kind of forgot I was in a competition,” says Dickinson. “I just kept looking for fall line turns and made the best of unknown territory.”
Dickinson was joined on the podium by a couple of other skiers with local ties, as Pip Hunt placed second and Kaitlyn Hughes moved from sixth to third place.
Boddington made the most of her first trip into the Big Hourglass, working features along the skiers’ right side of the main chute before lining up and stomping one final air into the finish and into first place.
“It’s some real snowboarding for sure,” says Boddington. “I was stoked just to ride Hourglass and I knew going in that very little would go 100 percent as planned. I definitely wanted to hit that last air.”
While Dickinson is content with keeping her efforts local and plans on competing in both the Al Johnson and the Grand Traverse, both Runcie and Boddington will continue on the freeride tour, with Runcie looking even further ahead to next year.
“I’m in a pretty good spot to make a play for the Freeride World Tour,” says Runcie. “If I remain consistent, I could have a shot at it.”