It’s the middle of summer and so far its been a good one with heatwaves and consecutive days of glorious sunshine. However, on the other side of the world its the middle of winter and those who hail from the Southern Hemisphere are shredding it up. If you miss the white stuff here is a sneaky peak at those Southern Hemisphere white caps. Warning this might give you the uncontrollable urge to shred!
All images Coronet Peak Ski Resort by Kyle Mulinder
Don’t get too jealous the snow gods have not been too kind to the mountains of New Zealand. Very little snow has fallen and the snow guns are having a busy season.
So far the snow guns of Coronet Peak have turned the equivalent of 100 Olympic size pools into snow.
But the Kiwi’s don’t care they will keep calm and sherd on.
UK Sport has just announced a major increase of £16 million, taking the total winter sports funding to £31 million, while this is great news to some – especially for the slopestyle team. It has delivered a devastating blow to the British No 1 Olympic Snowboard cross athlete Zoe Gillings. Despite finishing ninth at the 2014 Winter Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia, where she just missed out on the final by centimetres in a dramatic photo finish. This result meant she did not meet UK Sport funding guidelines and Gillings has now lost all UK Sport Olympic funding.
In simple terms this now means that the entire Snowboard cross Olympic program - coach, technician, physio performance manager, sports psychologist, nutritionist and strength & conditioning team has been dissolved. If Gillings can afford to travel, she will now to do so and compete alone in World Cup competitions without any coaching, financial or technical support - something which doesn’t happen with any other nation. Gillings commented on UK Sport’s decision, “I fully respect UK Sports decision, it’s obviously disappointing but my performance director made it very clear to me that UK Sport wanted a top six finish (reach the final) at the Olympics to continue funding – I knew this way ahead of the Olympic Games, so I’m not complaining. I was gutted when I realised I missed out on the final when I watched the photo finish on the big screen – it was literally centimetres that meant I finished 4th and this ended the funding.”
“I want to thank UK Sport for the funding they have provided to date and I’d especially like to say a huge thank you to the British Ski & Snowboard (BSS) performance director – Paddy Mortimer – I can say hand on heart he is absolutely athlete focussed and is a true credit to BSS. He says it how it is, he is honest and does everything he can to support the athlete. Despite not being funded I’m really looking forward to working with Paddy over the next Olympic cycle if I can raise the funds.”
Gillings is determined to do what it takes to generate funding in order to train and compete on the World Cup circuit, so that she can win back UK Sport funding and have a real chance of a medal in Pyeongchang in four years time.
To reach this goal Gillings has just launched www.PoundShaveClub.com – an online website where customers can choose from a selection of excellent quality razors at a fraction of the cost of high street prices and have them delivered to their door each month. Razors start at just £1 per month for the entry two blade and go up to £5 a month for the flagship five blade head.
“If there are any potential sponsors reading this then I would of course love to chat, I have an exciting four years ahead and it could be a fantastic journey.”
Zoe is getting married in August but she is already planning the start of the new 2014/15 Snowboard cross programme in the hope of getting the funds together.
The World Ski and Snowboard Festival has come to an end, and with it the official end to the winter season, though Blackcomb will stay open until May 26th.
The weather varied from snow to sun, to rain, to wind, to fog, and the conditions where typical for spring. The slopes were full of shredders getting their final ride in of the season and with seasonairs partying it up in fancy dress.
Credit: Cat Hughes
The World Ski Invitational took place with slopestyle and the big air. The crowd packed-out skier’s plaza to watch the world’s best freestyle skiers, including Britain’s James “Woodsy” Woods, pull of some hair-razing tricks of a 65 foot jump.
The top spot went to Sweden’s Jesper Tjader, who, on his second run, scored a 90.00 with a Right Double 1620 mute grab. America’s Bobby Brown came in at a close second, with a score of 89.00. He threw down a Switch Double Misty 1260 mute. In third place, flying the flag for Canada, was Vincent Gagnier, with a score of 87.60. Woodsy came in at a respectable fifth with a score of 83.60.
Low cloud hampered the slopestyle event as the athletes waited hours on the side of Blackcomb mountain, waiting for it to lift. During a break in the cloud, the girls managed to complete a two-run final, but the boys didn’t manage to ride a final run. Instead, the scores from the semi-finals decided the winner.
Credit: Robert McCrimmon
Canada dominated the women’s competition, with Nikki Blackall from Ontario coming in at first place with a score of 77.67. Second went to Anouk Purnelle-Faniel from Quebec with a score of 67.67, and third went to Cassie Sharpe from British Columbia, who scored 57.50.
Anouk Purnelle, Nikki Blackall and Cassie Sharpe. Credit: Cat Hughes
In the men’s slopestyle, Bobby Brown took another seat at the podium, coming in second with a score of 84.67. Jossi Wells, from New Zealand, came in third. First place went to Canadian Evan McEachran with a score of 87.17. Woodsy came in at 7th place with 76.83.
Bobby Brown, Evan McEachran and Jossi Wells Credit: Cat Hughes
The World Ski and Snowboard Festival is in full swing in Whistler, British Columbia and the snow conditions are getting better and better. Last weekend under a bluebird sky The Shred Show took place, where some of the best international snowboarders took to the slopes in the slopestyle, big air and boarderstyle – a boardercross-style race with slopestyle features.
USA’s Kyle Mack took the top spot at the snowboarding slopestyle at the Nintendo Terrain Park – with a best out of three runs Mack pulled, amongst others, a switch backside 1260 and a backside double cork 1080 Japan grab and a frontside 360 grab. His score of 86.5 was enough to earn him the $15,000 grand prize. Coming in second Canadian Sebastien Toutant scored 85.22 and Matts Kulisek, also Canadian, picked up third place with a score of 82.33.
Mack also podiumed at the Big Air event that took place at skiers plaza in front of a large crowd. Mack came in at a close second with a score of 93.55. First place went to Max Eberhardt (CAN). Eberhardt threw down a perfect backside triple cork 1440 mute grab on his second run to earn a score of 95.33. Coming in third place was Justin Morgan from the USA.
The boarderstyle a messy but thrilling race were four boarders race each other on a boardercross track but with rails and jumps. What’s not to like. On the track the crazy riders must take on three mandatory features at the start of the course. Ollie over a barrel, Pond Skim and Step up forest- (a step up with a few trees planted which riders must avoid)
After that there is a 15ft step up and a step down before the final 30ft jump with a mandatory spin – many riders were over shooting the jump but then it is hard to gauge speed when you are racing. Four Whistler locals made it to the final, Cody Logan, Chris Rasman, Rube Goldberg and Jon Versteeg. It was Goldberg who came out on top to win the $1,000 prize.
As the snow clouds descend on Whistler for some mid-April flurries the World Ski Invitational will take place on the 18-20 April. The ski slopestyle will see our very own James Woods take to the slopes – the only Brit in the competition.
At the intersection film competition a roster of world class athletes and talented film crew had seven days to make the best ski and snowboarding film they could. The winner was Nate Lav and the Man boys – who with their two minute video (see below) took home the $10,000 prize money.
A special mention went to Zac Moxely a 17-year-old Whistler native who is still in high school. He won the “best-on-the-mic-award” for giving credit to his mum.
In episode three part 1 of Brits on Boards the girls head up to Scotland. In the first part of the journey Brits on Boards head to rainy Braehead to shred the dome and catch up with adventurette, Lorna Dalgleish. Continue Reading →
