2016 FEATKids MC Announcement : Hunter Sones
A previous speaker at FEAT Kids 2015, Hunter Sones will be making a second appearance at FEAT in 2016 as the MC. Hunter was only 5 years old when he was pulled towards competing in the sport of biathlon. Since his parents had him on cross country skis by the tender age of 2, the sport was much easier to pick up and his mother decided to take on the role as his shooting coach. As he grew, so did his results; podiuming at the majority of his provincial races from ages 7-12 before placing 3rd at the 2012 BC Winter Games, as well as being presented with the W.R. Bennett award for athletic excellence. In 2013, Hunter competed at his first North American/National championships and placed 25th before returning the following year to take bronze at the coveted event.
At the beginning of the 2014/15 biathlon season, Hunter took gold at the North American Cup as well as a bronze the following race. He also snagged a gold at the Mission BC Winter Games. It was the beginning of a near perfect year for Hunter, placing no worse than 2nd at any provincial level races, as well as shooting the only perfect score in a 20 shot biathlon race of a Junior level athlete in all of North America with a 20/20 at Canadian National championships.
The 2014/15 biathlon season would be the last for Hunter as he was in the midst of a transition from biathlon to trail/mountain running. He did however finish off the summer by competing in Canada’s largest 2 position precision shooting competition in which he broke the competition record that had previously been held by Olympians.
Hunter started his 2014/15 running season with heat and altitude training on the big island in Hawaii followed by an attempt at qualifying for the National Mountain Running Championships at 5Peaks Golden Ears(One of Canada’s most prestigious trail running races) of which he was successful at meeting the qualifying standard for. The championships also served as a trials race for the Canadian team that would accept the top 4 junior (16-19) finishers to compete at the World Mountain Running Championships in Wales early September, 2015. He was again successful at meeting the qualifying standard finishing 3rd in the junior category at National Championships and earning a spot on the National Team. At the 2015 World Championships, Hunter finished in 60th place as well as 3rd Canadian.
For the 2016 season, Hunter will be competing in races all over the world such as Xterra Trail Running world championships in Hawaii, mountain running national and (hopefully) world championships as well as many other races. He aspires to one day place top 10 at world trail and/or mountain running championships as well as finish in the top 10 at UTMB(Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc). We look forward to having Hunter as our 2016 FEATKIDS MC!