Two Riders Locked In A Spot At Natural Selection Tour Via Research And Development
Two weeks ago, fifteen women competed at the Research and Development contest at Whitewater Mountain Resort. Today, two of those women are scheduled to drop as competitors in the Natural Selection Tour.
Amelia “Billy” Pelchat and Yuka Fujimori finished in first and second place at the backcountry freestyle snowboarding event designed by women, for women, and held in British Columbia.
They'll drop in at NST's Revelstoke stop later today with the chance to prove themselves even further.
Maisy Hoffman/RnD
Katie Kennedy finished RnD in third place. In addition to $4,000 in prize money, she got the chance to head to NST as an alternate.
This was the third year that RnD was held. It was dreamed up by Robin Van Gyn to create more opportunities for women to push the boundaries of backcountry snowboarding. Riders included Estelle Pensiero, Egan Wint, Katie Kennedy, Ellery Manning, Billy Pelchat, Enni Rukajärvi, Marissa Krawczak, Celia Petrig, Stefi Luxton, Ellie Weiler, Fujimori, Eva van Vugt, Maria Hidalgo, Audrey Doan, and Olympic wildcard Juliette Pelchat.
“RnD was created to get more women deep in the mountains and give them a
platform to showcase their riding,” Van Gyn said. “It’s about creating space for
progression, collaboration, and visibility in backcountry freestyle.”
Not only is there a contest, but RnD gives riders the opportunity to film for three days. Final scores for the events rely heavily on the best contest run - 70% of riders' scores come from that day - but 30% is derived from the strongest filmed clip.
The daughter of legendary rider JF Pelchat and sister of Juliette Pelchat, Billy's championship winning line at RnD featured a frontside 180 and a Cab 540 on the final jump. Pelchat also left Whitewater with $10,000 in prize money.
Maisy Hoffman/RnD
Fujimori took home $6,000 in prize money with a second-place finish. She qualified for RnD through The Draft, an online video submission contest for Japanese riders organized by Arc'teryx and Yeti.
The RnD 2026 recap premiered Monday, March 9, 2026, at the Natural Selection Tour Revelstoke watch party. You can watch it online at Red Bull TV here.