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Posted on Sunday April 11th at 9:20 a.m.
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He finished the season with two golds at the USASA National Championships, one in slalom and the other in giant slalom; a silver in snowboard cross at the WSF Adaptive Snowboard World Cup in Mont Tremblant Canada; fourth place in snowboard cross at a World Cup race in Copper Mountain, and a silver in an able-bodied race at Crested Butte in Colorado.Despite all the successes, he was a bit disappointed with his fourth-place finish at the WSF Adaptive Snowboardcross World Cup at Copper Mountain on Tuesday.
"It was hard to swallow, especially after all the hard work I have put in and the dedication of my coach, Adam Dooney, who has made a huge contribution toward my development," said Murphy.
"After a great build up and placing second in the Canadian World Cup, the USA World Cup proved to be challenging on many levels. The weather conditions were variable and I was up against a talented international field. I ended in fourth position, just missing the podium by 0.01 second."
Murphy congratulated Tyler Mosher of Canada for coming in first, closely followed by Evan Strong of the USA and Ian Lockey of Canada, who placed third.
Murphy regrouped focussing on his next two races at the United States of America Snowboard Association (USASA) National Championships where he took double gold.
"Yesterday in the slalom, I raced against some of the best adaptive riders in the world," said Murphy. "I woke up feeling confident and ready for the challenge. I ended up winning Gold, with a combined time of 52.77 seconds."
Murphy finished nearly three seconds ahead of Strong with a time of 55.62. Mosher placed third with a time of 55.77.
Friday Murphy lined up for the giant slalom hoping to continue the momentum from the day before.
"I was 0.07 seconds off first place after the first run and knew in the second run I would have to step it up. I lined up in the gate with some insightful advice from Adam: ‘smooth and fast.'"
A steady, clean run saw Murphy finish with a combined time of 77.54 sec, enough to win his second gold of the USASA National Championships by almost 2 seconds over Mosher and still further ahead of fellow Canadian Ian Lockey.
Murphy expressed his thanks to all his supporters, including SPARC, who helped fund Murphy as part of a small team of snowboarders who enjoyed enormous success in the Northern hemisphere this season.
"I'd also like to take this opportunity to say a huge thanks to Adam Dooney, my coach and good friend, for helping me out and taking his own time to work with me. Without his coaching and friendship, I am sure I wouldn't have achieved my goals for the 2009/2010 season."