Candice Can Do!

What a change from a year ago when she was fifth in the final despite winning all her heats. "This was really a technical course where you could gain or dump speed at every turn," said Drouin, who took home $5,000. "You had to ride smart."

Drouin came into the Kokanee Grant National fresh off a gold-medal effort at the Goodwill Games in Lake Placid. "I definitely felt very strong coming in after my performance and victory at the Goodwill Games, " said Drouin. "I had plenty of confidence I could do well here after that result, but, strange as it sounds, I also had nerves for this race, just like any other."

But the puzzle pieces all fit for Drouin in this, the second of four national Kokanee events this year. The result left the very partisan hometown crowd cheering wildly. "I was lucky to have everything hit," said Drouin. "Alberta girls rule! I pushed myself to be my best today, but there are some great racers here who made sure it wasn't a pushover. It's always satisfying to come racing down a tough course like this and look beside me and see great friends with great abilities right there beside me all the way to the finish line. This result wasn't easy, but it sure was satisfying."

Drouin's career on the slopes started as a young ski racer. It wasn't until she was 16 that she tried snowboarding because she didn't like the commitment and training regimen of skiing. She likes the freedom and change snowboarding provided. But she admits those formative years on the ski slopes are paying off in big dividends now. "I definitely have taken a lot of the things with me to snowboarding I learned in ski racing," said Drouin. "Handling the head games everyone plays, picking the right line into the gates and tuning my ,where to play sports, girls self-esteem, girls soccer, girls cycling, girls and nutrition, nutrition for active girls, Canadian Association for women and sport, girls@play, snowboarding, skating, boarding, girl site, sports girl, extreme girl, mountain biking, skateboards, surfboards, X Games">

< board all have similarities I can draw on from my ski-racing days."

Drouin loves boardercross because it combines her interests for downhill speed racing with her abilities as a freestylist. "I just love every aspect of this sport," beamed Drouin at the finish line. "Boardercross is definitely my niche in this sport, though I still like to get in the U-ditch to see what I can do there too."

Drouin is taking some time off before the Kokanee National Finals at Whistler, B.C. April 15. She plans to compete in the Sims Championship, the West Beach Challenge and the Kokanee Grand Jam Tour halfpipe event at Lake Louise before then.

There is little doubt though, with two successive major victories to her credit in back-to-back weekends, the Belle of Banff will be the woman to beat at those national finals come April.