P.E.I.'s snowboard team of 1: Meet Mark Morrison

P.E.I. has a snowboard team that competes on the national stage, and his name is Mark Morrison.

The 18-year-old of Montague, P.E.I., has been competing for Snowboard P.E.I. on the North American circuit for the last three years.

"It's pretty cool actually, I like being a lone rider," said Morrison as he finished his shift as a night cleaner at a hotel at the base of the mountain in Whistler, B.C.

Morrison left the Island for the resort town in July, as soon as he graduated from Montague High School.

He's been training on his own, and plans to compete in snowboard cross — SBX involves racing four-abreast through a course of turns and jumps — at four Canada Snowboard events in Quebec and British Columbia this winter, as he did last winter.

'Very aggressive sport'

"It's a very aggressive sport. There's a bit of contact, people get mad at each other, there's collisions," Morrison explained.

Although it's called the North American tour, Morrison will race against competitors from all over the world.

"A lot of people think it's really cool that I come from P.E.I. where there's not that much of a snowboarding scene," he said.

"He's holding his own," said his mother Cathy Morrison, head of Snowboard P.E.I. She and her husband, both avid skiers-turned-snowboarders, encouraged Mark in the sport since he was eight years old.

When he decided to compete, they travelled to Nova Scotia, where for several years he raced under the wing of the N.S. provincial team. But in 2015 he wanted to compete in the Canada Games in Prince George, B.C., so had to register where he lived.

"I was the only person snowboarding for P.E.I., so I actually ended up staying with the squash team in the athletes' village," he said. It was also a success for Morrison, who placed 9th of about 30 competitors.

'At a disadvantage'

"He's definitely at a disadvantage and doesn't have the training and time," Cathy Morrison said.

At the same time, because he is passionate and enthusiastic, "he's a contender," his mom adds, placing consistently at about the about two-thirds mark in his races. His best finish last year saw him qualify 17 out of about 38 competitors.

He's also blogging for Altitude Sports, a Montreal-based sports equipment retailer which secured him sponsorship of company Norrøna, which outfitted him with gear recently.

A day in the life

Morrison works all night, then hits the mountains when the lifts open at 8:30 a.m., boarding as much as he can until about 2 p.m., then comes back down to sleep until about 10 p.m. The hotel where he works provides staff accommodations right next to the lift.

Although he's having fun, Morrison stressed he's working on his sport, "whether it be going up into the alpine zone looking for powder, or some days I'll go to the back country and do some hiking on my split board. Other days I'll stick to the terrain park and work on my air awareness."

He'd love to have a coach in B.C., he said, but can't afford it. He will get coaching during the races he's attending this winter — he'll train with his former Canada Games coach and the Quebec snowboard team.

His goals this season? To be in the top half in his races, and a couple of top 20 finishes. He's saving his money and making sure teams know who he is, he said.

Next season he'd like to sign on to a team to train with, and work toward top-10 finishes. If that happens, the next step would be moving up to the World Cup circuit, which would include the Olympics.

"I feel with a coach and a team my skills can really take off, and see where I go from there," Morrison said. "I haven't really seen yet how realistic those goals can be."

'A little behind the game'

"I feel pretty pressured and a little behind the game," he said, noting there are some competitors his age placing high on the North American tour and even competing on the world stage. "It puts a little pressure on me, I feel like I should be doing more at the age I'm at."

"Then I have to take a step back and realize a lot of those riders have had way more training than me, and a lot more experience riding," he said.

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