Making Miki’s Magic, a short film that placed third at the Whistler Film Festival in the Sea to Sky Shorts Showcase in December, tells the story of how Squamish rallied to build and dedicate a trail in honour of the late Mikayla Martin.
Martin, 22, was a promising and beloved local alpine and ski cross athlete who died in a mountain biking accident in 2019.
The Miki’s Magic mountain bike trail was built in only two weeks — the average hand-built trail usually takes one to three years— by volunteers including well-known local trail-maker Ted Tempany.
“Every trail has a story behind it and how it came to be,” said Steve Andrews, the director of the film.
Making Miki's Magic from Steve Andrews on Vimeo.
“It's still important to highlight her life and give her a legacy that, you know, other people can discover who she was about, and may see her as an inspiration,” said Andrews.
To Andrews, the film was his way of helping carry on Martin’s approach to life — making the world a better place and brightening it up with her go-getter attitude. He also wanted to show that local trails don’t happen on their own and to highlight the people behind the work that goes into making and maintaining amazing biking trails.
The trail was built in a ski-cross style to reflect Martin’s ski-cross career.
“It was to have something like a community asset that everybody could enjoy,” said Andrews.
He said that the trail is unique in the way that you can find professionals and children enjoying it side-by-side in a way that most trails cannot accommodate.
“It’s a life-sized art piece that everyone can enjoy,” said Andrews in an interview with Mountain FM on Dec. 10.
“I think it just really shows that Mikayla’s spirit is living on and this trail is a good sort of vehicle to allow that to happen because it's so fun,” he added.
“The whole point of the story is to show that, I guess, trails don't build themselves, that it takes a lot of effort to do it, and with the right motivation … you can leave a lasting legacy that will hopefully live on for generations.”
