NEWRY – Coming home is almost always a nice feeling, no matter where ‘home’ happens to be.

For Dustin Sysko, it’s Western Maine.

And yes, coming home was indeed a great feeling.

Sysko, 32, who grew up in the shadow of Sunday River Ski Resort and attended Telstar Regional High School and Gould Academy, returned to his old stomping grounds Thursday to race in a World Cup snowboarding event.

“I’m old enough to be some of these kids’ father, I think,” Sysko said as he stood watching from the deck at Barker Base Lodge. “It’s exciting to be back here, though, and racing in front of this crowd. I’ve been living in Boulder, Colo., and training at Steamboat, so this is a great chance to come home.”

It’s the first time Sysko – or any of the other world-class riders zipping down the Monday Mourning trail – have competed at this level at Sunday River. That’s because this is the first World Cup-level race of any kind ever hosted at the mountain. And Sysko was pumped when he saw the schedule.

“It’s been a while since I raced here, 2005 I think, and I still consider this my home mountain, really,” Sysko said.

Sysko’s family is still scattered across the region, from Newry to Mexico, and everywhere in between. Despite the hectic schedule, the stop is allowing him to take a few days off.

“I’ll be around for five days after this is all done,” Sysko said. “I told them all that I needed to concentrate on the racing this week, though.”

This week’s stop at Sunday River is the only U.S. stop on the circuit’s North American tour. Competitors have spent the last two weeks competing in six events in Canada, each leading the athletes closer to Maine.

But not Sysko.

This race was his first in six weeks, and he only stepped back onto a board one week ago after a serious ankle injury forced him to take some time off. The injury almost forced him to miss this event on his home mountain.

“I’m used to healing pretty fast, but as time wore on, it was taking a while,” Sysko said. “I was a little worried, but I figured I’d come and just do my best no matter what.”

Sysko raced Thursday in the Parallel Giant Slalom event, an event which pits riders head to head on side-by-side courses. Results are based on time for qualification, and then straight up on who wins, head to head, in the finals.

His first-run time of 47.05 wasn’t good enough to be among the top 32 qualifiers, but Sysko didn’t mind all that much. The fact that we was out there at all was gratifying.

“I’ve only had a few days on snow since that happened,” Sysko said. “It’s nice to be healthy enough to make some turns, to be here at all, and I was happy with part of my run. I’ve got a lot more healing to do, but it’s getting there.”

Sysko hopes to compete in an FIS race at Steamboat Springs in a couple of weeks, and try to get back into the form that allowed him to win a Nor-Am World Cup qualifier days before his injury.

“Two weeks after that, I head up to … Quebec, for North American finals,” Sysko said. “Healing is really important to me right now, and next season, if we have anything like the improvements we had this season, it’s going to be really exciting.”