Last Saturday (8th June 2013), riders from all over Europe flocked to the land of windmills, bicycles, clogs, coffee shops and red lights (Holland to you and me) to ride the Burton Jibfest at Snowworld Zoetermeer.
For a country that’s pretty much as flat as Keira Knightly’s chest (we tried and failed to think of a flat-chested dutch celebrity…), the Netherlands have produced some rather notable jibbers in recent years – Kas Lemmens (who bossed Alex Tank’s Head Jib Factory this year) and super talented female jibber Rachida Aoulad are two perfect examples.
Burton had stumped up 2000 Euros worth of prize money to dish out to the top riders and Whitelines travelled out with Burton UK riders Ollie Dutton and Ross Needham to document their progress.
As predicted, the standard of riding on the day was pretty next level but our UK lads – joined by fellow Brits Will Smith and Jake Terry more than held their own. Sparrow Knox and Gaz Andrews both also pitched up to give moral support as they couldn’t ride owing to injuries.
Both Ross and Ollie did enough in the intense qualification stage to make it through to the men’s sponsored finals while Jake made it through to the under 16 finals. In the end, Ollie walked away with 4th place and Euros 100 – a proper result considering the overall standard.
After the contest, our man on the ground Aivars Zarins sat down with Ollie and Ross to get their thoughts on the comp, the scene in Holland, Dutch coffee shops and more…
Photos and Interview: Avairs Zarins/Motionstoppers
What have you both been up to this winter? Who do you think has been more productive?
OD: Between me and Ross?
Both: [laughing]
OD: I’d say in different ways we’ve both been productive.
RN: Dutton’s got a movie part [with the Grindhouse], I just got drunk all winter! [laughs]
OD: I was trying to give the right answer there but you just kinda ruined it…
RN: Alright, I got this… yeah so you’ve got your part in Grindhouse and then I’ve done quite a few comps around Europe and stuff – so two different winters really.
OD: – but he made money and I spent a lot of money… [laughs]
Are you stoked with how the comp went down today?
OD: Yeah I’m pretty stoked, I got 4th and 100 Euros so I’m pretty happy with that!
RN: The level was pretty high and I was pretty happy with what I got, but I definitely could have done better if I was a little more comfortable, y’know if we had more time. They were quite short, intense jam sessions – but I’m just making excuses!
OD: Yeah it was hard, the slope was a lot mellower and you went a lot slower than what we’re used to at home.
RN: – the speed was pretty weird!
OD: Yeah, it was super slow and it’s the first time I’ve ridden here so we had to hit the rails a lot slower than we wanted to. When we arrived it was straight into the qualifying and then like nothing for a while and then straight into the finals, so it was pretty intense.
RN: I was pretty stoked to just make the finals because in the qualifiers people were just shutting it down. What was it? Top 8 or top 10 that made finals? I was pretty stoked just to be classed in that.
OD: Yeah definitely, I didn’t really expect 4th so just to get to the finals – I was buzzing.
were there Any tricks that you wanted but couldn’t quite get?
OD: Yeah, I was trying a switch front board through the elbow and I got one but I would have liked to have done it nicer and I was trying that for a while. But that was it really.
RN: I was pretty happy with all the other rails but the gap to the down rail – in the quails I got my gap back 270 which I was stoked on but I couldn’t get it in the finals because the speed was a bit different and I got mind freaked! Yeah… it would have been nice to get that. But meh!
The course was designed with the help of Gerben Verweij – what was your favourite feature to ride and why?
RN: I quite liked the gap to down rail – it’s kind of a simple feature that you can try stuff on but adds a bit of a gnar factor to it…
OD: [laughs] It did have a ‘gnar’ factor…
RN: Once you landed on it it was sweet but by the time you got to the end of the rail you’re going so quick. If you tried to spin out you had to be so fast. But it felt nice.
OD: I liked the down flat down – the elbow, just ’cause it wasn’t too gnarly, it was pretty mellow. It was real nice actually, and I never really hit elbows, so I was real stoked just to ride one and get some tricks on it really.
Who was killing it out there today? Any locals we should be keeping an eye out on in the future?
RN: Everyone! Everyone in Holland!
OD: The top three in the sponsored category are already killing it – Cees [Wille] and Kas [Lemmens], like, they’re unreal – they’re already filming with Postland [Theory] so they’re already killing it and Jesse [Augustinas] is smashing it on the comp side too so they’re already out there. You should already know about them but there were some young rippers too that were definitely shredding.
You’ll both probably spend a fair bit of time in the domes over the summer. Where would you rather ride, Tamworth, Milton Keynes or here? And why?
OD: Here?
WL: Yeah, Holland
OD: Well that would be sick just because they have a park out everyday. I ride Milton Keynes so we only get it Thursday and Friday nights really, so to ride all week round would be unreal. So I’d much rather ride here so I could come down on a Monday in the day and just… know what I mean? But then I love MK as well [laughs]… gotta put that in there! But yeah it would be sick to ride all year round, everyday.
RN: Obvious answer isn’t it? Tamlands! Can’t beat it.
OD: You can beat it!
RN: It is nice to come here – I mean I always have a good time when I come to Holland, all the domes are legit, they always have good parks and nice maintained rails. It’s never going to happen but it would be nice for somewhere in the UK to have a permanent park. But the domes have just got a lot more money here. They don’t only have one slope. I mean, this one has 3!
Have either of you sampled the delights of Holland before and what do you think of the snowboard scene out here?
RN: Well I’m going to go sample some delights of Holland tonight… [laughs] and so is Dutton! In two very different ways…
OD: The coffee shops that have excellent coffee that you can get [laughs] – we want to spend a lot of time in the coffee shops…
WL: Do you usually have coffee with sandwiches or cookies?
OD: You know, the coffee with the cookies is always good… anything that tastes good is good when you drink a cup of tea… or coffee.
RN: What was the rest of the question…?
OD: We got side tracked!
RN: Yeah I’ve been here a lot over the years recently and their snowboard scene is just… It’s probably a lot smaller than the UK actually, but their level is way higher. Like, all the kids just kill it – it’s unreal. In England it’s a bit more varied, but there’s more people overall.
OD: I’ve never been here before so it’s been pretty fun for me, but I’ve known the scene’s been sick for a while so I knew what to expect when I came out here. And it was exactly what I expected – Dutch kids killing it!
From your experiences, what is Holland best for: snowboarding, weed, canals, clogs, windmills… hookers?
OD: It’s so good that you can just go and smoke… Like, we’ve had the best time already and we’ve only been here a day y’know? So definitely the fact that you can smoke weed is a positive.
RN: All of the above! I think that’s the only way you can answer that! Actually I don’t really like windmills, windmills are pretty shit…
OD: I like windmills! They’re pretty cool.
RN: Clogs are pretty lame too – they’re like wooden crocs.
OD: Yeah I’m not a fan of the old crocs…
RN: Bicycles as well though – they’re everywhere.
What are your plans for the summer?
OD: I’m going to [Les] 2 Alpes for a couple of weeks with my friend Ben Wall – he’s sick, and yeah, that’s it pretty much! I’ll go and see my mum, she lives in France, and then maybe try and make a bit of money before I go away again.
RN: My plans for summer… chilling. Standard summer really, working, making money, try and ride as much indoors as I can, and do a few camps for kids and stuff. It’s not certain yet but I’m going to try and get out to 2 Alpes as well. Just do as much as I can and spend as little money as I can!
OD: You got bare money mate from your season!
RN: Mate, I haven’t…
OD: So much – look at the car he’s driving!
WL: You bought it before your season right?
Both: [laughing]
OD: that’s how much money he has!
Well I think that’s it. Good times. Cheers FELLAS!
Stay tuned for the full photo gallery from the trip dropping tomorrow.
BURTON JIBFEST 2013 RESULTS:
Men Sponsored:
1st: Kas Lemmens
2nd: Jesse Augustinus
3rd: Cees Wille
4th: Ollie Dutton
5th: Jacco Boss
Women:
1st: Rachida Aoulad
2nd: Veroniqi Hanssen
3rd: Melissa Pepercamp
4th: Evy Poppe
5th: Iris Brandes
Kids Over 16:
1st: Roe van Oosterholt
2nd: Max de Vries
3rd: Jochen Greven
4th: Jeroen Kooistra
5th: Jessie de Vries
Kids Under 16:
1st: Erik Bastiaansen
2nd: Quint Kroondijk
3rd: Oliver Maes
4th: Senna van Drunnen
5th: Niek van der Velden
