Saturday 20th October saw the culmination of the season’s inaugural Westbeach Snowflex Freestyle Championships at the Loisinard Stadt de Glisse, in Noeux Les Mines, France. The series has been the brain-child of AKA Snowskate’s Wayne Taylor & Gary Pickburn and sprung out of the successful Cock of the North comp that Wayne’s been putting on over the last few years.

Having passed through Halifax, Warmwell and Bearsden earlier this year there were a number of riders who had pre-qualified for the Grand Final, however, that other great sporting event, the Rugby World Cup threw a slight spanner in the works and meant that a number of people who’d left it to the last minute couldn’t get on a ferry or train and had to forgo what has to have been one of the funnest comps of the year. Add to that the value for money aspect (up to 4 days riding for £20) and you can’t deny it was worth attending if you could.

The comp day dawned with a slight autumn chill in the air but a bluebird sky on the horizon, on arrival at the slope at 9am we found DJ Tony unloading his decks and judging stalwart Steve Shea also in attendance.

As you pull into the car park you’re greeted by the awesome sight of 330m of slope including a half pipe, moguls, 3 permanent boxes and 3 kickers (the biggest of which is 2.5m high!). Nothing you’ve ever seen in the UK can prepare you for this, it simply takes your breath away and makes you wish you were a local.

Warm up kicked off and it was good to see that the slope was running well, the Snowflex surface is supplemented by a good supply of water sprinklers and meant that for this comp the dry slope standbys of furniture polish or silicon weren’t needed. With skiers and snowboarders from Scotland, England, France, Spain, Holland & Japan you’d have thought it would have been a bit hectic but a polite-ish queuing system for the kickers soon developed and all 3 sizes were being hit as everyone got their legs warmed up.

The comp itself comprised of Big Air qualification jam, Final Jam and 2 run Super Final Slopestyle with a fun “throw down your best trick” rail jam in the middle of the day just to mix things up a bit and give MC James Thorne and the judges the chance to empty a giant cardboard box of sponsor’s goodies.

It was great to see everyone really throwing things down and getting behind each other, although everyone was pushing their personal limits to try and win their category there was a really supportive atmosphere as well, with riders being encouraged to step it up and try new tricks rather than holding back for safety. This was never more apparent than in the over 16’s women’s when Kara Anderson from Scotland was coaxed into attempting a back-flip off the mid kicker by her fellow competitors.

I have to admit that I was too busy riding to be able to list all the tricks that were being pulled off but my favourite trick of the day had to be two of the riders from “Team True” (one goofy, one regular) hitting the mid-size kicker while holding hands as part of the team competition. It was certainly an exciting day for spectators though and I defy anyone that was watching to say that they weren’t a) impressed by what they saw and b) just a tiny bit jealous that they weren’t able to ride as well as the finalists!

Personally I can’t wait for next year’s series, especially if it also includes the new Snowflex slope that’s currently being built in Valladolid, Spain!

TEAM SLOPESTYLE
Team Downy – James Webb, Josh Fawcett, James Woods, Chris Mavin, Teri Spencer, Josh Birch

RAIL JAM (best 3 tricks)
Ski – James Webb – 270 on revert 270 off
Snowboard – Big Will Smith – Back 180 gap
Best line – Andy Nudds

BIG AIR
Snowboard Mens
1st Matthew Gibson
2nd Andy Nudds
3rd Big Will Smith

Ski Mens
1st James Webb
2nd James Woods
3rd Javi Vega

16 & under boys snowboard
1st Daniel McCormac
2nd lil Will Smith
3rd Ollie Jackson

16 & under boys Ski
1st Josh Fawcett
2nd Josh Birch
3rd Joe Hides

Womens snowboard
1st Linsey Ashdown
2nd Kara Anderson
3rd Kat Miller

Womens Ski
1st Teri Spencer
2nd Sandra van Dommelen

16 & under girls snowboard
1st Gemma Marshall

16 & under girls ski
1st Charlotte Prince
2nd Ellie Birch
3rd Chelsea Prince

Option best unsponsored – Matthew Gibson

movement best unsponsored – Teri Spencer

overall best male – James Webb

overall best female – Teri Spencer