Snowboard Yukon was in Calgary over the weekend, training alongside Alberta riders at the Canadian Olympic Park.

The team competeted in two events, a Friday junior jam and a Sunday rail jam, hosted by the Alberta Snowboarding Association, in preparation for the Arctic Winter Games, coming to Whitehorse next month.

Five of the seven AWG team members attended the weekend event.

It wasn't a typical contest for the local riders.

On Saturday afternoon the Alberta team decided to shut down the snowboard park to focus on training the athletes.

"It was more than amazing. It was all competitions, all day last year, which was good, but this year they closed the park down and that gave us a major leg up,” said Gabriel Rivest, one of the coaches of the Yukon team.

The team had been looking to focus on freestyle training in Calgary, a final stepping stone on their way to the games.

"Usually, during a competition, a rider will only get three runs,” said Rivest. "Closing the park was the best opportunity for us because it gave us a chance to work on technique outside of a competitive setting.”

Their tenacity earned them the respect of their Alberta hosts.

"They (the Albertans) were surprised to see the Yukon down there,” said Rivest. "Their coaches were surprised we were able to make it down. They shut down the park for us and it's not always so easy to just shut down a park, but the advantage is that we were able to train uninterrupted.”

In the Junior Jam, most of the competition was from the young Alberta team, who were in training for the Alberta Winter Games.

The Yukon squad had their best results during Sunday's rail jam.

During the event, veteran local rider Adam Waddington earning a 3rd place finish in his category.

"In the rail jam on Sunday, Adam made the final in his category, eventually placing third. Lara (Bellon) and Katrina (Couch, the team's other coach) also did really well. They made it to the finals in their categories as well.”

Even with the placements, Saturday's freestyle session was the weekend's defining experience for the Yukon team.

With lacking home facilities, the team has had difficulty with freestyle training this season. Leading up to the Calgary trip, the Yukoners had anticipated the much needed half-pipe experience, which the Calgary trip provided them. What they didn't expect was a chance to use the facility's airbag, an apparatus, which looks a giant inflatable camp mattress, pros use to safely practice arial tricks.

"The air bag was definitely a highlight for all of our riders. It's pretty cool, like it sounds, they basically jumped onto a giant air bag. It was a great opportunity for the team to try some new tricks.”

Having the opportunity to ride the world-class facilities at the Canadian Olympic Park was an eye opener for the Yukon team, who have spent the whole season so far training at the local facilities at Mount Sima.

"The team were all impressed with the park,” said Rivest. "It was a very small hill, really, about half the height of Mount Sima, but it was beautifully groomed and they have a quick chairlift, that got us many runs in throughout the day. That's why you see such great competitors out of Eastern Canada, just more runs, faster times.”

Snowboard Yukon selected its team for this year's Arctic Winter Games late last month.

This year's riders include Waddington and Bellon as well as Tim Schirmer, Francis Bouffard, Haylie Grant, Esa Suominen and Alidas Jamnicky, who did not attend the weekend session, focusing instead on race training, in preparation for the Canadian Nationals.

"It's the same team, we've had no injuries, no one dropping out, so we are going to cross our fingers and hope our good luck continues,” said Rivest. "I am looking forward to working with the kids and training at Sima. I think they'll know what to expect and I think that will work to their advantage.