Wyatt and Riley Denkers made a powerful return to Snowshoe Mountain this year, clinching first and second place in all three USASA Snowboard Cross races. Their dominance on the course comes as no surprise—these brothers have been tearing up the mountain for years, both on snowboards and mountain bikes.
At just 15 years old, and with only three years of serious snowboard competition under their belts, the Denkers family made a bold move. They left their home mountain at Snowshoe and committed full-time to the racing dream, relocating to Palisades Tahoe Resort in California.
“We didn’t really get practice our first year,” Riley admitted. “We just went into the racing, and it was so much fun we did it again.” From that moment, the twins were hooked.
The Denkers began their competitive journey with the Forever Wild Freestyle team at Snowshoe, competing in a variety of disciplines. “They competed in every event, I believe, except for halfpipe,” recalled their former coach, Clay Edwards. Their early competitions included Rail Jam, Slopestyle, Slalom, Giant Slalom, and, of course, Snowboard Cross.
The move to California was a strategic decision. Palisades Tahoe boasts a dedicated SBX team and a permanent course for daily training. For those unfamiliar, Snowboard Cross resembles BMX or Motocross racing, with four riders battling head-to-head down a track filled with rollers, stall walls, berm corners, and jumps. Once the gate drops, it’s an all-out race to the finish, including high speed, physical battling for position.
“If they’re like a 200-pound dude, I’m not gonna mess with them,” Wyatt joked. “They could just push me over. I weigh about 120. If it’s someone like Riley, I can push him a little, and he’ll push back but not knock me over.”
Brotherly competition has led to some dramatic finishes. At the 2023 Snowshoe Boardercross race, Riley and Wyatt finished in a dead tie, so close that even a finish-line photo couldn’t determine a winner. In this year’s edition, Wyatt edged out Riley by just half the length the nose of his snowboard.
But their biggest battle extends beyond the course. Wyatt and Riley are the first athletes with Cystic Fibrosis (CF) to compete in Snowboard Cross at the FIS (International Ski and Snowboard Federation) level.
According to the NIH, “Cystic Fibrosis is a genetic condition that changes a protein in the body. The faulty protein affects the body’s cells, tissues, and glands that make mucus and sweat.” With CF, mucus becomes thick and sticky, leading to blockages, organ damage, and infections.
“It makes salt not go where it wants to go, so it makes you very dehydrated,” Wyatt explained. “If you don’t drink a lot, we get kidney stones and stuff like that. But the lungs—it just makes us not be able to breathe. We get gunk in our lungs.”
The twins take special precautions when racing. They use inhalers before runs to open their airways and take Trikafta, a medication designed to clear mucus and correct the mutations in their genes to combat CF. Despite the challenges, they refuse to let their condition define them.
Their packed race schedule continues with three FIS races at Gore Mountain in New York and another three at Horseshoe Valley Resort in Canada. Their goal? Breaking into the top 16.
Earlier this season, the Denkers competed at the FIS SBX event at Steamboat Resort in Colorado, where Riley finished 24th and Wyatt 37th—impressive placements given their young age in a highly competitive field.
“They put us, Riley and I, in the same heat,” Wyatt recounted. “And there were 50 people.”
“What are the chances?” Riley chimed in. With only the top two advancing per heat, Riley managed to secure second place—just behind the eventual overall winner. “It was tough. I wasn’t far behind him though,” he added.
Despite CF, Riley and Wyatt remain some of the most enthusiastic and determined athletes on the mountain. When not racing, they continue to push their limits on boards and are both self proclaimed park rats. Wyatt even landed his first Cork 5—a trick combining both a spin and a flip—just days before the Snowshoe SBX event.
“Obviously these boys are talented, and their story is pretty inspiring,” Edwards said. “It was an honor to coach them and help them progress through those three seasons.”
With their talent, passion, and relentless drive, Wyatt and Riley Denkers are names to watch in the years to come. Their journey is just beginning.
