Parker Jax Ward, age 9 and local resident with his father, Shaine Ward (Nordonia ’92) of Sagamore Hills, qualified for Nature Valley Nastar National Championships at Steamboat Springs, Colorado.  What a week it was at NASTAR National Championships at Steamboat Resort. Father and son enjoyed an exciting week together, as Steamboat Springs received 14.5 inches of snow in one day as a snow storm arrived at the same time.  From March 21st through March 27th, racers learned new skills, made memories, earned medals, fostered friendships and formed new bonds in the picturesque backdrop of Colorado’s Rocky Mountains.  NASTAR is the largest known recreational ski and board competition program in the world. This year, Nastar added snowbike racing for the first time.  Anyone can run one of its public racecourses located at 115 resorts and qualify for the program’s annual championships. As such, this creates quite a mix of interesting folks and stats at Nationals. This year, nearly 1,000 racers from ages 3 to 89, qualified from 107 resorts and competed across five different ability divisions.
National racers also received advice from the best ski racers in the world including members from the U.S. Ski Team. Sochi Olympian and U.S. Nationals champion Travis Ganong led a race clinic. Ganong gave his expert advice on good race stance and clean starts.
On Wednesday, March 23th, competition began. Five-time alpine Olympian Casey Puckett paceset courses as hundreds of racers compared themselves to his times and competed against their peers for medal’s and the chance to race in NASTAR’s Race of Champions.
On Thursday, March 24th, two-time Olympic gold medalist and U.S. Ski Team member Ted Ligety made a guest appearance at Steamboat Gondola square, lending his encouragement to racers. Parker was one of only 15 National Championship competitors who were bumped up to a higher division competition started as his times were too fast for his fellow qualifying competitors.
By Friday, March 25th, National Champions and podium slots had been determined and the awards ceremonies began. Even though Parker was bumped up to a higher division, Parker received a gold medal earning him a National Championship title for the 1st time.
The big day was on Saturday, March 26th, where by earning a top spot on the podium meant Parker was invited to the Race of Champions where all National Champions of all ages compete for the Overall Nature Valley NASTAR National Championship title in a final handicapped race.  Each National Champion carried their winning handicap into the final race and a discounted time was used to determine the Overall Nature Valley NASTAR National Champions. Parker finished 21st out of the 60 National Title winners in the Race of Champions.
Parker has been ‘racing’ since he was two years old, where he learned to ski locally, both by his uncle, Brandt Ward Nordonia ’85, and his father, Shaine Ward. Parker recently became a member of the Boston Mills/Brandywine Ski Racing program last year. Parker has qualified for the Nastar National Championships four times in 2012, 2014, 2015 and 2016. Parker previously competed in the Nastar National Championships in 2014, which was held in Aspen, Colorado when he was only 7 years old finishing in 2nd place. Parker attended Goddard School in Macedonia and is now a 4th grade student at Holy Family in Stow.  Parker is also a member of the St. Barnabas Cub Scout Pack #575.
