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Tignes Spirit riders dominate at the Brits!

 

Last week the British Championships came to Tignes seeking out the top freestyle skiers and boarders in the UK! As well as competitions, the Brits is a week long festival with apres parties, great deals and amazing riding to be had! 

 

Skier Cross

The week kicked off with the Skiercross on Monday morning.  Unlike the rest of the week Monday was stinking hot so despite the course being a little slushy it was the perfect weather to see in Ed Drake for the men, holding his title for the third year running and Olympic hopeful Pam Thorburn picking up the women’s crown.

 

Skiers of all ages were racing down the course starting with individual races to set qualifying times and ending with the 4x4 races which saw Ed Drake flying above the rest putting himself more than a second ahead in the qualification and a flawless run in the final.  Sam Gerrett was hot on the heels of Ed qualifying for his 2^nd silver medal in two years.  Sam Allen topped off the podium moving up from 6^th in the qualifiers to 3^rd overall. 

 

 

For the ladies Pam Thorburn took the top spot by a mere tenth of a second from Emma Peters who claimed her second silver in two years also. Andrea Seaton also matched her 2014 performance with a shiny bronze medal.  Pam commented “Hells yeh!! Great trip to Tignes. Proud to be British Ski Cross Champion 2015. Cool to see so much young talent and everyone getting stoked on Ski X. Another best day.” 

 

For the under 16s there were so many entries breaking the Brits previous records.  Matthew Ray flew through the qualifications taking the top spot whilst 11 year old Elektra Brown took the medal for the under 12s. 

 

 

 

 

 

Snowboarder cross

Day two saw the snowboarder cross with Tignes Spirit’s very own Rhys Jones taking the silver in the masters.  On reception of his medal Rhys commented ‘Last time I did the boardercross I was off my face on Jaeger Meister!’

Despite the snowy weather, with an entry number of 75 snowboarders taking to the course it was a damn good watch.  Two timed runs qualified each of the riders into the 4x4 racing across 5 age categories.  In the men’s race 19 year old Max Thidling bumped up into the adult category showing that he was well deserved of the gold.  Following close behind was 2014 champion Kyle Wise, until now Kyle had held the British, Indoor, English and Scottish snowboarderscross titles!  Closing out the podium was Si Nicolson who forwent his Masters categorisation to take on the younger men with an incredible turn of speed, claiming the bronze.  Disability Snowsport UK athlete Ben Moore was competing alongside able bodied athletes, and showed off some epic speed. Without the use of his left arm, he was at an obvious disadvantage out of the gate, but once on course his incredible pace saw him into the small final, and to an 8th place finish.

For the women it was Stephanie Gehrig who toped the podium closely followed by Anna Richardson who despite placing fourth in qualification showed some real skill bumping herself up to silver.  In third was Mayerhofen seasonnaire Coco Merz who smashed the day with a real solid days racing, just a warm up for her for Thursdays slopestyle comp!

The men's Masters category was one of the most closely fought of the day, with locals racing against professionals it was intense. Tignes Spirit Rider Ben King was heads above the rest but fell on his final run. In the end the gold went to Ian Sanderson who would have definitely have given the youngsters a run for their money! 

 

Bangers and Cash 

The beginning of the week also saw two Tignes Locals and great friends of Tignes Spirit, Lewis Sonvico and Ella Fry-Taylor cash in at the Bangers and Cash rail jam. The weather was perfect for the jam session, bright blue skies and slightly slushy landings making it great for people to try new tricks and really throw down.  Thanks to the relaxed jam format, some of the best UK jibbers of all ages battled it out with the hopes of taking home some hard earned cash. 

Sonvico smashed it with his creative use of the course and consistency with a huge bag of big tricks. Two of his most notable tricks were his massive rodeo gap from the box take off to the rocket landing, and a huge frontside boardslide over the flat rail to the down rail.  Jamie Trinder grabbed the silver medal who stomped a rodeo 7 off the rocket and third was Henry Shackleton who impressed the judges with a lofty gap over the flat box to front boardslide.  Lewis commented..  ‘It was cool to win. The set up was rad and everyone was throwing down and I really just got lucky. I wasn’t expecting to win at all.”

 

 

For the girls last year’s winner Ella Fry Taylor locked first place with a massive japan grab off the rocket.  Leeds Snowrider Gillian Finnerty came second and a huge shout out to Tignes local Amelia Fisher who regularly gapped the boxes and rails, using the whole course yet managed to fracture her sternum in the process.  A huge get well soon to Amelia!

The young riders also killed it all day proving that the future of the sport is in good hands.  Ciaran Tucker used the entire course going bigger than some of the older riders.  Scott Walsh nailed two front flips off the box and Bradley Rowell 270ed on and off almost all the rails!! 

Skiers

Bangers and Cash for the skiers also saw amazing weather, just above the cloud in resort the sun was shining for the riders.  Two zones presented boxes, cannons, up and down rails and wall ride and with such a compact area it created a great atmosphere for skiers and spectators!  So many skiers entered, making the 4-hour qualifiers fly by.  In the finals 18 finalists from all 4 categories continued to ski together with a go big or go home attitude it went off!

 

 

Josh Fawcett was going huge, destroying the cannon rail with corked flips off and the down rail with huge spins on and off.  Second went to Andy Collin who also grabbed some cash for the most creative use of the bottom line. Andy was one of the most stylish skiers there with a massive zero spin transfer, wall ride, lipslide line, outrageously consistent and always entertaining Andy fully deserved his spot!  Third was Grant Donald making a full podium of sponsored Armada riders.  After being crowned champ, Josh had this to say: “It's pretty rad, I'm stoked. The weather worked out which was really nice. I hit my head pretty hard trying a cork 6 out of the cannon, but the 450 onto the the down rail, I was pretty proud of that.” 

In the women’s final three ladies fought it out for the colour of their medal.  Tignes Spirit rider Sophie Offord threw down some 270s on and off including some tasty tail taps and lazy boy 3’s however in the final after a big crash she couldn’t quite land the same tricks grabbing herself a bronze medal.  Rachel Walsh came in second and closing the ladies podium at the top was Deux Alpes’ Katie King whose impressive technical tricks wowed the judges.

Slopestyle

 

Unfortunately for the snowboarders competing in the slopestyle the weather was really bad.  Low light, snow and high winds meant that the boarders ended up using the top two rails and one jump to decide who got the top spot.  Additionally, the poor weather convinced both the athletes and competition officials to base the final score on the best qualifying runs of each rider rather than prolonging the contest with poor weather conditions.  The 65 competitors showed that despite the weather they could really throw down. 

 

 

For the men it was a really tight podium with a 2-point different out of 100 between each riders ranking.  Taking first place was Henry Shackleton with a 50/50 to front 3 off the flat bar rail, a gap to frontside boardslide on the second set and a big floaty front 7 on the biggest kicker.  In second was Matt McCormick who put down a 50/50 front 3 out on the first rail section, a boardslide fakie on the second set, and a smooth cab 5 in his 1st qualifying run. Jamie Trinder (20) took home third place with his 1st qualifying run with a boardslide 270 out on the first rail, a gap boardslide on the second, and a massive front 5 on the biggest kicker.  Upon winning, Henry explained, “It’s been great to win. It definitely would have been nicer with better weather; it would have given us the chance to spin more, go bigger.”

  

For the women Ella Fry-Taylor snapped up the double gold with one of the most progressive runs for the girls.  Combining technicality and amplitude Ella’s run included a 50/50 tail grab, a 50/50 boardslide and a massive method over the biggest kicker.  15 year old Cerys Allen landed a frontside 180 a big boardslide and a front 3 nosegrab on the medium kicker.  Rounding off the podium was Coco Merz sending a big boardslide on the first rail, a 50/50 on the second and a tail grab on the medium kicker.  Stoked on her win, Ella states, “I’m really excited to have landed a couple of runs today. The course was better than last year and it was even alright to have just the first kicker to use.”

For the young guns it was 12 year old Scott Walsh and Amber Cordingly who really wowed the judges with 50/50 back ones and cab underflips!

Skiing

The riders in the ski slopestyle had to battle it out against the wind, changing textures in the snow and strange light which meant that in the end the medallists were determined on the qualifying results. 

Harry Wright’s clean and effortless style landed him the top spot with a massive double off axis back off the first kicker, a 900 off the second and a switch 5 off the third kicker,  In second was Kyle Wood who with a solid run, made strong use of the entire course for a front 450 off the flat rail, a switch 270 on the second, a cork 7 540 and a switch 540 on the kickers.  In third bagging his second bronze medal of the week was Grant Donald who killed it with a blind 270, a 270 on a cork 7, 540 and an underflip 540.  Winner, Harry Wrights describes, “I’m just happy to have been able to put down the run I wanted. The course was amazing; the rails section was super fun and the three jumps were perfect.” 

For the women Eve Mackenzie nailed her run of the flat rail, a huge 7 off the medium jump, a left 360 on the second and a right 360 on the third.  Tignes Spirit rider Sophie Offord also bagged her second medal of the week with a tail tap on the top box, a slide on the street rail, two 360s and ending with a clean 540 on the last jump.  Jodie Grant rounded out the women’s podium by landing her various tricks, a flat on rail, a gap over the flat rail to the down rail, followed by a 360 on both the first and second small jumps, and straight air to top off the last small jump.

 

Halfpipe

The halfpipe competitors got some great weather in the snowboarding.  Lewis Courtier-Jones bagged the top spot with massive amplitude and technical tricks including a frontside crippler, a huge method, a front 9 another method and a front 7 and a cab 7.  Henry Shackleton grabbed silver and finished off the podium was Jamie Trinder who fought hard after qualifying in 5^th place.  Pumped about getting another gold, Lewis said: “It’s great to win, especially for the second time. I’m pretty happy about my run, I would have loved to land my second run a bit cleaner, but overall it was a good laugh!”

 

 

For the ladies Maisy Hill’s ability to get over the coping pleased the judges landing a frontside air, a backside air, a tail grab a method and a smooth stalefish.  In second was Alex Roberts who closed out strong with a backside alleyopp and in third was Cerys Allen came third with a huge indy and back to back frontslide to backside alleyoop.  Maisy commented “I’m well chuffed to win, especially since I was actually able to get high out of the pipe. The next thing is learning 360s without falling on my bum!”

 

For the under 12s Tignes Spirit rider Bradie Zimmer-Collins smashed it showing so much potential boosting big up the walls of the pipe and showing the judges a big bag of tricks.  We are looking forward to seeing what the future brings for Bradie!!!