Photos by Jon Williams and Joe Dagnall
We’ve just had word in that a young British snowboard cross racer called Jamie Barrow has set a new British snowboard speed record.
The 20-year-old absolutely hooned it down the Mont Fort speed track in Verbier on his board yesterday morning, reaching a top speed of 151.60 kph – that’s over 94 mph!
If he was pulled over doing that speed on the M4, that’d be at least three points and a potential 12-month ban.
Jamie had apparently been planning the feat for a little while, and conditions on the day were perfect – 12 degrees, no wind and great visibility.
He took two cracks at it, reaching 142kph on his first run, before heading back up for another go.
The fastest ever recorded speed on a snowboard still stands at 201kph (125mph), achieved by Darren Powell in Les Arcs.
While there was no officially-recorded British Speed Record before, it’s reckoned that James Foster, the GB Snowboardcross team coach, had clocked the fastest-ever speed, at 132kph.
His young protegee has now smashed that by nearly 20kph, so understandably he was pretty stoked. He said: “I can’t explain how happy I am with the speed that I set.”
But he added: “It’s very daunting. You just have to grit your teeth, point the board down straight and hope you make it to the bottom.”
You just have to grit your teeth, point the board down straight and hope you make it to the bottom.
The man must have balls of steel! Having bossed the record, Jamie is apparently hoping to go one better and break the 100mph barrier soon.
But in the mean-time, there’s the small issue of that little-known competition in Sochi next winter…