Combine a fever with temperatures that hovered in the -30 C range with windchill and if you're Daniel Haines you'll end up with the first Canada Games gold medal in men's parallel giant slalom snowboarding.

Snowboarding made its debut at the Canada Games yesterday with the parallel giant slalom racing competition. And if the Games are any indication, Ontario and Alberta are dominate in the sport.

Haines, who's been boarding for nine years, was joined on the podium with teammate Curt Rohm taking the silver and Thomas Joseph Snarr of Ontario taking the bronze.

Meanwhile, on the women's side, Team Ontario members Marianne Noele Leeson and Rachel Claire Merry took gold and silver respectively, while Justine Cote of Quebec received the bronze medal.

'It definitely wasn't my condition. I have a fever today, and (I'm) really sick. The temperature doesn't really help. I don't know, I could just put it together today I guess,' Haines, an 18-year-old Calgarian with the Calgary Snowboard Club, said when questioned what put him over the edge of the competition.

As Haines spoke, a friend of his who appeared to be a little more blunt spoke out on Haines' illness, noting he was 'puking all day' on Monday.

This not only marked the first gold medal in men's PGS snowboarding, but also Haines' first gold.

'It's actually quite amazing. This is my first gold. I've got a few seconds, but I've never won a competition before. It's an amazing feeling.'

With Haines set to attend Noram races following the Canada Games, he's hopeful the season will continue to go as well for him.

Prior to Haines, Rohm and Snarr receiving their medals, the women stood on the podium becoming the first ever to receive a snowboarding medal at the Games.

'It's awesome. I'm so happy to be the first person here to get the gold medal,' Leeson said.

Leeson is hopeful the Games will raise the profile of snowboarding throughout the country, especially given the amount of television exposure that will come from it.

Like other snowboarders in the competition, Leeson also noted the cold was a bit of a challenge through the day, but something she was able to work through.

'You just go,' she said.

On the hill yesterday, a number of athletes commented that the cold conditions made the snow grip there boards a bit more than usual, slowing them down.

'It's really cold. A lot of people are having trouble with their equipment, but it's nice. I'm having a good day, personally. I'm just trying to keep it together, one run at a time,' Quebec skier Meghan Sylvia Patrick, who ended up in fourth place, said just after an afternoon race before she was eliminated from the competition.

At that point, getting closer to the finals, the snow was getting somewhat rutted from the amount of boarders who had competed since the morning.

'Everyone's riding the same conditions though so you can't complain,' she said.

She later fell coming down the course in a subsequent run against teammate Cote.

Following that run, Patrick said she took it a little too easy on the top part of the hill and was defeated.

'She surprised me,' Patrick said of Cote.

Through a translator, Cote noted moving into the finals was a big surprise for her as well because she had just started competing in PGS this season.

'I'm really happy,' she said.

Others found themselves boarding on very different terrain from what they're used to boarding on.

'At home we call it sugar on top of icing,' Nova Scotia boarder Kita McRory, who went on to place seventh in the final, said. 'We have a sheet of ice and a whole bunch of man-made snow, that's pretty much what we ride.'

While different terrain can impact a race, she pointed out that one of the qualities a good boarder has to have is adapting to different terrain.

As McRory pointed out, one minor move can end a race for a boarder.

Devon Chandler, another boarder from Nova Scotia who placed seventh as well, ended up taking a fall when he tried to make up some time on the course by snowboarding in a straighter line than usual.

Despite the fall, Chandler said he was pleased with his races through the day.

'I had a good day. I'm happy. It's a good course with good snow,' he said.

With the PGS snowboarding event finished, racers are now looking forward to their next competitions.

Leeson, 19 from Burlington, said she will now focus her snowboarding on the nationals in Calgary and the Junior World competition coming up later this year.

The half-pipe event in snowboarding was set for today at Mount Sima.