Ian Lockey took on the world in Big White at the last IPC para-snowboard World Cup races of the year and nearly conquered the field.
The Rossland-based para-snowboarder finished fifth and ninth in men's, lower limb, in two International Paralympic Committee World Cup races at the ski resort near Kelowna, March 25-29.
Although he wasn't displeased with the results of his final race of the season, Lockey did feel he could have cracked the top three—he is ranked seventh in the world—except for a spectacular crash he had in practice the day before the last two races.
“It kind of skewed me for going into the races ... but I got back on program,” he said.
A big jump was a final feature of the course and he hit it hard in practice the day before the races and went upside down and crashed.
He said it gave him a “bit of a scare,” and influenced his performance the next day.
“I was very timid on the Thursday. But after doing good that day, on Friday I got some good advice from high performance assistants who said 'You can do this,'” he said.
The 39-year-old former New Zealander has been competing in the IPC para-snowboard World Cup races since 2005, placing as high as third.
But the Big White field was by far the most challenging contest since he began snowboarding.
“So my fifth (place finish) I was pretty happy with,” he said.