(rdnewsNOW/Dan Hermanutz)

By Dan Hermanutz

underway as planned

National championship event underway at Canyon Ski Resort

Mar 13, 2020 | 2:56 PM

The Canadian Junior Nationals for aerial, moguls and dual moguls are proceeding as planned this weekend at Canyon Ski Resort despite the multitude of other sporting events cancelled or postponed due to coronavirus.

90 athletes from four different provinces are all gathered in Red Deer to see if they could become a national champion in their age group.

“This is the next wave of athletes and it’s the top event in the country for athletes at this stage,” said Patrick Breault, the Competitions Director for Freestyle Canada. “This is often a springboard to the next level of the events which are the Canada Cup’s and the Nor-Am’s and the World Cup’s. They Ski all season in their provinces and their regions, but this is really a chance to compete against the rest of the athletes in the country. For some this is their first exposure to a national event and it’s really exciting.”

To get to this point, each province hosts a series of three or four events where the athletes earn points based on their results in those events. The province then calculates the top ranked athletes and sends them to the Junior Championship every year. Annually, this event switches between eastern Canada and western Canada.

The athletes are competing in three age groups. U18, U16 and U14. Each age group will have its own male and female champions. There is also an award that goes to the skier with the highest combined scores in aerials and mogul, and they will be crowned the overall junior champion.

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The event is proceeding as planned this weekend amid other sporting events canceling or suspending themselves amid the pandemic of COVID-19.

“Everything is being monitored with our association leaders. It’s hour by hour, day by day. I’m just following leadership and leadership is following all the recent guidelines and instructions from our governing bodies. So far so good, it’s business as usual.”

Breault added that Freestyle Canada does not expect to cancel the event in the midst of competition.

The event is scheduled today through Sunday.