A local snowboarder who found gold in last year’s East Kootenay regionals has set a big goal for himself, heading into the 2011-12 season.

And if all goes according to plan, Faro Burgoyne will be off to the 2012 Snowboard World Junior Championships in Sierra Nevada, Spain next March.

After boarding with the David Thompson Secondary School team in his teens, Burgoyne joined up with the Calgary-based Canadian National team, and is planning a busy winter circuit on the Nor-Am Tour.

“Overall, I want to do good at junior worlds,” he says of his goals for the season, “and I want to have a decent overall ranking in North America.”

The nine-date tour begins with two stops in Copper, Colorado November 11 and 15.

Burgoyne’s performance in these events will help determine whether he’s one of those on the tour picked for a spot at the top of the hill in Spain.

All athletes vying for world championship spots are monitored by Canada Snowboard, Burgoyne explains.

“For every race you do you get FIS (International Ski Federation) points. So they look at your FIS points and how you’ve been excelling, they look at all sorts of aspects,” he says. “They told me to apply for it this year, so I feel like I have a good chance.”

Burgoyne says training with the national team has been a big change from his early days learning the sport on the Fairmont Ski Hill and at Panorama.

“I went from not ever having a coach or anything to training with the national team,” he says. “It’s a different lifestyle, it’s pretty cool.”