Meet Dave England, a Yellowknifer in the 'gnarly business' of flipping sleds
In his spare time, Dave England runs snowmobiles up ramps, getting the machine a dozen metres in the air. Then, he flips them end over end before coming down to earth — all in the matter of seconds.
It's not a common hobby, but it has taken England, 28, from his home in Yellowknife to places around Canada and the United States. Now, it's earned him a spot in the freestyle snowmobile competition at the Winter X Games in Aspen, Colo., the premier event for extreme sports.
Though he's been selected as an alternate, England's excited to just get a taste of the competition he's been dreaming about since he was in high school.
"As a rookie going into X Games, it's a good place to start," he said. "It takes the pressure off the event, it's the step, where you start.
"I'm stoked no matter what," he said. "Alternate or competing, you're still in the X Games regardless."
Freestyle snowmobiling is a relatively small sport, involving athletes doing aerial tricks with snowmobiles, earning points based on the execution and degree of difficulty. They perform backflips, spins, and hanging from the handlebars upside down.
England's been doing tricks like that on his mountain bike since he was a teen riding on Twin Pine Hill in Yellowknife, but doing that with a sled was a big step up.
"Flipping sleds is a gnarly business," he said. "It's a high-risk trick. You don't want to make any mistakes when you're doing flips. The consequences are high."
You don't want to make any mistakes when you're doing flips. The consequences are high - Dave England, freestyle snowmobiler
One of England's close friends, Darryl Tait became paralyzed from the waist down following a snowmobile crash 10 years ago.
"That's always in the back of my mind," England said. "It's part of the sport, it's part of the game I play."
But to compete at the highest level, England had to take on the most difficult tricks, even with the inherent risk in flipping sleds 10 metres up. He's broken his femur while in B.C., torn a rotator cuff and severed a bicep in a dirt bike accident which knocked him out for a year.
"It was hard to come back and want to do this again," he said. "You have to get past that mental block. The injury thing."
Over the past year he's dedicated himself to his craft, and is training out of Leduc, Alta. Now, he feels he's the best he's ever been and he's ready to step up if his name's called on his sports biggest stage.
