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Dodgy Gear Rider goes to his First Brit Competition
MY FIRST BRITS

By Andy Webb In March 2007
I travelled to Laax, Switzerland for the British Snowboard Championships, better known as 'The Brits'. I'd decided to enter everything, mainly to see how well I could do.

I was staying at the aptly named 'Rider's Palace' (not exactly a palace, but it was nice enough) and conveniently this would also turn out to be the main bar and meeting point for the week.

The first day on the mountain was the official practice day, so I decided to concentrate mostly on re-learning how to ride a superpipe, as I hadn't ridden one for 2 or 3 years.
The 6metre high walls were a bit intimidating at first, but after a few runs I got a feel for it again and by the end of the day I was a lot more confident.

Boardercross was the first comp of the week, and although I was nervous about it, I knew it would also be a right laugh. We would have a timed qualification run alone, and from there the 16 fastest riders would advance to the quarterfinals, where you race in groups of four.

I spent my practice runs trying to memorise the course as best I could, in order to anticipate the sharper turns, where vital speed could be lost. Many riders were losing control and crashing (organiser Stu Brass chipped his tooth on the last kicker) so I thought my best chance would be not to go too fast, so at least I would finish the course and hopefully qualify.

My qualifying run went well, and I just managed to stay on my feet after landing a pretty big drop off the last kicker. After an anxious wait, the results were put up and I was stoked to qualify in 12th. In my quarter final, two of the other riders had full face helmets and motoX vests on, so I guess some people were taking it seriously! When they were ahead by the 2nd or 3rd roller, I decided all I could do was keep up the chase and hope that they would bail. Unfortunately they didn’t, and I came in last but I was pleased that I’d made it that far and wasn’t too bothered.

The next day was Big Air day, and along with slopestyle, I thought this would be one of my best events.

This time I wasn’t really nervous about the comp itself, rather the gap we had to clear for the biggest kicker. In addition to that, there was a short and unwelcoming landing. A lot of other riders (in this case some of Britain’s best ever) said they didn’t like it much either, so I was relieved that it wasn’t just me.

In the practice session I straight aired it, then tried a misty flip on which I clipped the knuckle and bounced my way down the landing. Thankfully the landing area was reasonably soft, so I emerged unscathed. Following what I thought was a ridiculously short practice time, the comp got underway and for my first of two jumps I went for backside 720 which I managed to land. For the second jump I went for a switch backside 180 double shifty..... which I knew was a mistake as soon as I left the ground. After flying through the air for what seemed like an eternity, I hit the floor way down the landing and bounced a couple of times more for good measure. Again thankfully I came out unhurt and I possibly earned stack of the day for that one!

In the end I finished 14th, just missing the cut for the final but I was stoked on my performance and also got a couple of good video clips.

I was glad I had the chance to practice riding pipe on the first day, so by the time the pipe contest arrived on Wednesday, I was much more confident. Before midday the pipe was still pretty icy, but after an hour or so it was more manageable so started to piece together a half decent run. By the time of the qualification runs, the pipe was a slush pit and it was very hard to maintain speed from wall to wall.

The pipe contest itself was super chilled, with less than 10 riders in my category, and everyone was cheering for one another. The qualification runs didn’t go as well as in practice because of
the slush but I was so pleased at how id done with so little pipe riding. I came 22nd overall. Some of my friends said they didn’t know I could ride pipe that well so it felt great to surpass their expectations.

The last contest of the week was slopestyle, and from the start the course wasn’t filling me with excitement. The jibs were great but the landings on the kickers were rock hard (being out of the sun for most of the day) and I couldn't seem to land any tricks. I was thinking about not entering until I spoke to my friend Nelson who said to just treat it like any other day in the park. It seemed to work and from then on I was more at ease, doing tricks I knew I could do with style. The riders were only allowed one practice run, as it was such a popular event, with about 70 guys in the contest. I put down my run as best I could and finished 26th overall (11th in senior men category).

That result, in combination with the pipe meant
that I was now on the TTR world ranking list in about 400th position which was awesome!

;

Overall I was really pleased with my contest results, I’d made loads of new mates, and surpassed some of my own riding expectations.

I am definitely planning to return next year to do even better.

 

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