The Lee siblings are absolutely flipping about their trip to Fort McMurray for the Alberta Winter Games.
The freestyle skiers picked up gold and silver in moguls at the competition with the medals coming Feb. 18 on a chilly day at the hill.
Tarra Lee, 12, topped the field in the in the under-14 competition, while her 14-year-old brother Xander picked up silver in the under-16 run.
“We had a good feeling about Tarra because she’s the only girl doing a backflip at this age,” said the skiers’ mother Janet Lee. “But it’s not just about the jump. If she can do a nice run, it’s easier that way.
“She’s been working hard on her backflips so I’m glad to see her landing it. To get the gold medal is amazing.
“(Xander) normally has really good turns. In moguls, turns are 60% of the run. The boys throw lots of tricks out there so we saw a lot today. He had a really clean run and that’s what got him silver.”
The duo were two of 10 young Chestermere athletes competing at the Winter Games, which are held every two years.
The pair also competed in the Slopestyle event, but their focus is normally on moguls. Tarra was eighth in Slopestyle while Xander finished 12th with both of those events on Feb. 17.
Wrestler Connor Bren was fifth in all around team wrestling, while Alpine skier Casey O’Brien was seventh in U14 slalom while finishing ninth in U14 giant slalom.
The Lee siblings had the most success at the Games, despite the tough weather conditions. It was about minus-33 when factoring in the wind chill on Sunday.
“I had so many layers but you can’t do anything about your face,” Lee said. “It’s like doing any outdoor sport. You know you will have a blizzard day.
“You know there will be cold days. We’ve been rained and snowed on. It was a clear day though. Normally if the visibility is bad then things go badly. The kids can’t see so there are more accidents. It was a cold Fort Mac day.”
Xander’s performance was especially impressive seeing as he’s seven months removed from a concussion suffered during a fall at a competition.
So when the youngsters are competing, their mother is usually quite nervous, as they fly down the hill fast and hit jumps with great velocity.
“It’s a good thing the runs only take 30 seconds because I hold my breath the whole time,” said Janet Lee with a laugh, adding that they are getting rewarded for the family’s sacrifice for the kids’ sport.
“As a parent you want your kids to do well. We’ve been doing this for eight years. I know all the kids and have seen them grow up. I’ve spent many days and nights with these parents. I’m spoiled that way. The kids do really well and it makes me want to keep on doing it and they want to keep doing it. We’re blessed.”
The Lees are quite inspired right now with the Olympics taking playing in South Korea. They were watching closely as Mikael Kingsbury won another gold for Canada in men’s moguls.
“We were up at 3 in the morning watching it live,” Jane said. “It was so good. It was even better than the last Olympics. We were so excited.”
