Official video from ProFreestyle in The Hague
Check out the official video from the rail jam… so stoked to make the finals and come 4th overall.
Can’t wait for the same event next year!
Thanks to Reuben Principe for the invite!
Comps
ProFreestyle in The Hague
I was lucky enough to be invited to the ProFreestyle rail battle which took place in The Hague over the last few days!
I had the privilege of spending two days riding with the nicest group of guys at one of the sickest events I’ve been to! The set-up was amazing, right in the city centre. At the end of the first evening they announced that I’d made the finals but the final itself was delayed to the following day.
The finals kicked off on Saturday late afternoon – it was awesome with everyone throwing it down. At the end of the session I was stoked to learn that I’d come fourth overall!
You can read all about it on the ProFreestyle website round up (in Dutch!)
Thank you to Reuben Principe for organising this weekend I won’t forget it anytime soon…
Nine Knights Entry
Check out my entry for the Suzuki Nine Knights comp. I never made it to the final but there’s always next year!
Thanks to Joe Webster at Webster Aesthetics for putting the edit together!
My B & E Invitational Video
Thanks everyone for voting for me in the B & E Invitational. I made it through to the second round but unfortunately not to the final. I was pretty pleased with my overall 9th position in the European vote though!
Full European Results
The Brits, The Oatcake Jam and Sports Aid Workshop
To kick off last weekend we had a gruelling 5 hour journey to Manchester for the Indoor British Champs. When I eventually arrived I was greeted by a perfectly groomed course. The set up provided options to be creative but also to throw some big tricks. The Format of the competition was the same as last year. Each row of features on the hill were ‘zones’ – the competitions would go through 1 zone at a time and each time the field was halved, until the final zone was reached and only a select group of riders remained. In the final there was only supposed to be 4 riders, but the competition was so tight the judges decided to allow more than this through. The Final itself has to be one of the closest finals I have ever ridden in – every single rider threw down! I was more than happy to walk away with 2nd overall, alongside Chris Wadsworth in 3rd and Chris Mccormick in 1st.
The day after the Brits we took a short drive to Kidsgrove ski slope for their opening day, as well as the Oatcake Jam! Despite it being autumn in the UK, it was still pretty hot! After a lot of laughs and some good, classic, sweaty British Dryslope skiing I was so Happy to find out I had ended up in 1st place! Chris Mavin and the folks at Kidsgrove put on an awesome day at a great new venue.
Recently, I had the privilege to go up to London in order to take part in a SportsAid workshop organised by my SportAid supporter – Prudential. The workshop gave me the chance to learn how to be interviewed successfully, how to use social media to raise my profile and also how to tailor my diet to suit my body’s needs as well as the physical requirements of skiing! It was an excellent day!
English Slopestyle Champion!!
Last week I headed up north, to Manchester, to compete in the English Champs. After registering we got the opportunity to head out onto the slope, scope out the course and get a few chilled practice runs in. The course was a lot more creative than set-ups here have been in the past, with multiple lines and potential for a lot of creativity, everyone was loving it. This was then followed by a verylong wait while the snowboarders did their qualification runs.
When the time eventually came round I put down two solid runs with some of my better tricks in them and managed to qualify first for finals for the under 18’s.
Finals was the same format as qualifications, two runs, best score counts. I flaked out a little on my first run but managed to put down a solid second run which I was very happy with.
© Brandon Griffiths
I managed to walk away with a 1st for Under 18’s Male Ski and a 1st Overall! I was over the moon with this result and becoming the English slopestyle champion. My mood was then lifted even further when I looked on the score sheet and found out that one of the three judges had given my run a perfect 100 out of 100!!!
I am so happy with these results and I can’t wait for summer to start!
3 Weeks Away
Recently I headed off with team GB to compete in a few comps and also to get some training in.
The first comp we headed to was the European Open. Held in Laax, it was the first time the previously annual competition had taken place in 2 years! I was so happy to be there. In practice, because of the course having extremely flat landings, everyone was in a bad mindset having not landed a single trick! But, the next day, after a course reshape…it was perfect! Unfortunately I only got one run down as on my second run I went way too big on the first jump and crashed out! I ended up 9th in my heat, qualifying for the semi finals the next day (although we didn’t know that at the time!)
After a seemingly endless train journey through little Italian towns and being interrogated by the police for 15 minutes we arrived in Valmalenco, Italy, for Junior World Championships.
The course was a lot more mellow compared to a lot of the other contests I have been to. With two jumps and three rail sections it suited the way I ski very well. After two full days of practice plus some perfect weather I felt really confident and comfortable with the course and my run. I managed to get 2 solid runs down that I was really pleased with and came 6th place in my heat! Huge well done to Katie Summerhayes for getting 1st and Cal Sandieson for making finals!
After the Junior worlds we all got some quality training time in Mayrhofen setting up for new tricks!
All in all, it was a brilliant 3 weeks and thanks to Pat and the team and all of my sponsors for their support!
Quick Update on the Last Month!
Urban Trip
It’s been a hectic month or so! In February I headed out to Finland for a spot of urban. With a sick crew and a rented 5-man RV, we spent just over a week shooting and logging shots for Tom Coe’s Uni project/longer cut movie. We had plenty of sites lined up in Helsinki but unfortunately, it was lacking one thing – snow!! So we set off in search of features in Finland but also covered Sweden and as far north as Lapland.
We hit some sick but potentially dangerous features and a good time was had by all despite Webbo dislocating his knee doing possibly the raddest attempt at a trick on an urban feature that I’ve ever witnessed and the fact 9 of us were sleeping in a 5 person RV!
SFR Vars Stop
Just three days after getting back I headed off again. This time to Vars for the SFR slopestyle comp! The course, as always, was incredible … and big! Unfortunately, I didn’t have the best of days and only managed to get 10th in my heat! Overall I came 34th out of 78 riders so it was still a good result for me. Overall, I had a brilliant week skiing with friends and getting some tricks down!
Early tomorrow, I’m heading off again for the European Cup in Switzerland, the Junior World Cup in Italy and finally, a couple of weeks’ training in Austria – Watch out for updates!
London Freeze – Battle of Britain Winner!!!
Saturday I rode at the London Freeze Festival. I had to wake up at a not so reasonable time to get a train from my home in Kent to Clapham, London. When I arrived I got the chance catch up with friends and have a walk around the site before the public were allowed in which was cool.
After riding the setup in practice and getting some tricks down I knew it was going to be a good day. Everyone was riding extremely well and they were all in really happy, positive moods.
After a short relax and some food, the Battle of Britain got underway. The format for all of the competition stages were pretty tight with a 20 minute qualification and then a 20 minute final. This was exhausting. The level of riding was unreal. Everyone in the battle of Britain was riding to the standard of some of the international guys which just goes to show how although Britain don’t have mountains or snow we can keep up with the athletes from countries that do.
In the battle of Britain I managed to bag myself the first place and qualification through to the international competition alongside Josh Birch (2nd), Jamie Lawson (3rd) and Andy Collin (4th.) Josh was extremely consistent throughout the competition, landing big and bold tricks like his big transfer from the kicker to the Sure Deodorant Can feature. Jamie also killed it with his iconic nose butter two on pretzel two off.
I also want to give a special mention to Sam Brennan for doing my favourite trick of the day, fastplant 270 on switch out. Props!
As well as qualifying through to the international competition I also won one of the five ‘Sure’ best trick prizes. Which bagged me £100.
After the Battle of Britain we had a long wait until the start of the International competition. Most of this time was spent eating, trying to sleep and getting to chat with some of the international riders.
The International competition started in front of a massive crowd and the atmosphere was buzzing. The fact that I was competing against some of my idols in skiing was unreal. I have looked up to the likes of Sig Tviet, Kim Boberg, Juho Kilkki and LJ Strenio over the past years – admiring their style, love of life and riding, so to be competing against them felt absolutely mad!
During the qualification round in the International competition the standard of riding was crazily high! I didn’t expect to do very well against the huge line up of skiers so I put down the best tricks possible and hoped for the best. I then won another £100 for the Sure best trick award which made me feel even happier with how I was skiing.
I was totally stoked following that to find out that I had made the final 7 in the international competition, I was the only Brit through and the pressure was on!
In the final everyone killed it. Juho with a mad 540 switch up on the close out rail to Sure can feature and LJ sending a disaster 450 on to the kink. Not to forget Sammy Ortlieb, he was easily the most creative out there, especially when he used the scaffolding along the side of the set up as a feature.
Towards the end of a really intense final I went back up to the top to have one last run. While recovering from running up the stairs, James Webb (who was on the Mic and did a brilliant job of MC’ing) shouted “Come on Mikey lets see a trick!” and then got the entire audience to chant my name before I dropped in. With everyone yelling “Mikey! Mikey!” I decided to try the trick I had been attempting for a couple of runs earlier with no luck. But, I guess with the pressure of the huge crowd watching it helped me to land the blind swap front swap pretzel 270 out. Being the only Brit left in the final, the whole crowd erupted and I can easily say it was one of the best feelings I have ever experienced.
I am over the moon with the final result of coming 4th overall. Congratulations to Juho for 1st, LJ for 2nd and Sammy for 3rd.
Thanks to all my sponsors for their continued support and to everyone who supported me at The Freeze with words of encouragement or loud cheers!
K2 Skis, Fulltilt, Planks, Bawbags, Orage, Adidas Eyewear, Ski Bartlett, Waterbird and Alpoholics you are all amazing!
Today, it was back to school and down to Earth with a bump as a 15 year old studying for his GCSEs – wish me luck!!
Shoreditch Showdown
I was stoked to get an invite to the O’Neill Shoreditch Showdown. It was an amazing event – I made it through to the finals and eventually finished 4th overall. Well done to Tyler, Ross and George!!
Love the photo taken by Kyle Meyr – awesome!
Crazy Couple of Weeks – Japan & The Brits
Japan
The last month or so of my competitive season have involved a lot of travelling and competing.
A few weeks ago I took a gruelling twelve hour flight to Japan to compete in the Asia Open. I was so happy when I got the invite to travel out and compete. During my stay in the Japanese mountains I got to experience a lot of the Japanese culture. I ate some very strange food and took public baths. I also got to hang out with some of the coolest Korean guys. I skied on only a couple of days but for those few days leading up to the competition we had perfect bluebird weather. Unfortunately, come competition day high winds rolled in and every competitor only got one qualifying run. Luckily, my qualifying run set me up in fourth place overall. The weather didn’t improve and the finals ended up being cancelled so the podiums were decided on the first run score. I was stoked to make the journey and to come so close to a podium position.
A huge thank you to Dean Kistler for inviting me to compete and for looking after me while I was out there in Japan! And thanks to Kent County Playing Fields Association for helping to fund my trip!
The Brits – Tignes
After a week back in school I headed away again. This time for the Brits in Tignes. The Brits are usually held in Laax so this was a big change for the event organisers and the competitors. I think everyone handled this really well but a few things like lapping the halfpipe during practice on a 20 minute long lift and the small size of the jumps could have been improved.
Bangers and Cash
The first competition of the week was the first EVER ‘Bangers & Cash’ rail jam. The course was banging.
You had two chances to qualify for the finals as the qualification rounds were held on 2 different rail zones. After an exhausting 1 hour jam hiking and hitting rails I was so happy to find out I had qualified 1st in to the finals with a front 360 switch up 270 out on the down flat down. I was even happier when I found out that after the second qualification round on zone 2 my 1st place overall qualification still stood.
All 8 riders slayed it in the final with everyone stepping up their game. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to hold my first place but ended up with second overall! Well done to Chris McCormick for his first place and £1,000 cash prize!
SkierCross
After ‘Bangers & Cash’ came skiercross. I came first in my category last year so I had to prove myself. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to hold on to the title and came third in the Youth Mens to the excellent racing Fennely brothers in second and first.
Slopestyle
Wednesday was Slopestyle and the weather for my favourite event couldn’t have been better. Perfect blue skies, no clouds anywhere and low to no wind. After my two qualification runs I wasn’t too happy. I didn’t think I was going to qualify for finals. But as it turned out I actually qualified in third! My first run in the final went better than all of my earlier runs of the day. The second however wasn’t too great.
At prize giving I was awarded Gold in Youth Mens and and was absolutely stoked to get on the overall mens’ podium in second place overall! Congratulations to my Planks team mate Julian Ball for his overall first and to Tom Coe for his third position!
Halfpipe
The weather the following day for pipe was not so good. Heavy snow and poor visibility. But everyone pushed through it and managed to get two qualification runs in! I was so stoked to find out I had qualified for finals as pipe isn’t one of my greatest strengths and I have little opportunity to practice this discipline. The finals got called off because of the bad weather. Unfortunately I just missed out on a podium in Youth Men and ended up in fourth.
Big Air invitational
This year big air had been scrapped this year and was replaced by an invitational big air Britain Vs France. I was overjoyed when I found out I was invited. I had tons of fun showing off to the crowd and beating the Frenchies 
!!
A massive thanks to all of my sponsors for supporting me and helping me to continue to add to my medals collection!
Vars SFR Tour Stop
I’ve had an awesome time in Vars.
This was my second SFR comp this season and I was keen to improve on my results from the first one.
The course was amazing with huge kickers and decent rails. Practice day went well and I was really looking forward to the competition.
Today was comp day – we had to be up the hill pretty early for practice but the course was looking great.
I was really pleased with both of my actual comp runs and managed to get some new tricks into them too.
I was in the adult category with 104 registered riders and there was some pretty serious competition so although I didn’t make it to the final, I was pretty stoked with my 38th placing overall.
Next stop is the Austrian Open!
Val Thorens SFR Tour Stop
Last week I headed out to Val Thorens, France to compete in my first international competition. We had three fantastic skiing days with bluebird conditions and a perfect park. In the last couple of days there was loads of snow so I got a few days skiing powder on my awesome K2 Pettitors – the best powder ski I have ever ridden.
The competition was split into three heats and I managed to get 14th out of 28 in my heat. This placed me 44th overall out of 100. I didn’t quite manage to lay down the run I wanted but I am still happy with this result because it was my first competition in the overall mens category against some major competitors!
The Bracknell Jam
At the weekend we headed down to Bracknell for the Bracknell Jam!
It was pouring with rain the whole time we were there!
The competition was really relaxed and mellow! There was a really fun, friendly vibe and everyone threw down!
At the end of the night after a really good session I was really happy to get 1st place under 16’s!
Well done to everyone who competed and got a prize!!
Air Attack 2.0
Yesterday I headed up to Snowtrax for the second edition of Air Attack!
The comp had a really relaxed, fun vibe and the setup was really good! I love the Proslope surface it is great to ski on.
I skied well and ended up winning 1st place under 16’s!
Thanks to the guys at Snowtrax for a really good competition and for some amazing commentary from Dazza!!!
Westbeach In and Out at Milton Keynes
Yesterday I headed up to Milton Keynes for the “in” part of the Westbeach in and out competition. Unfortunately on the day of the competition I injured my leg playing rugby and it was very swollen and bruised.
When I got up to the slope I started to get ready but my swollen leg wouldn’t fit into my boot so while everyone was out on the slope for the warm up I was sitting with my leg elevated, getting some ice to it trying to reduce the swelling. Eventually, I was able to ski just in time for the qualifiers. For the first 5 or 6 runs I was just trying to get used to skiing with the bad leg. After that the pain-killers set in and I was able to ski ok although it still hurt whenever I landed!
I was pleased to get into the super finals where I laid down 2 good, solid runs. When prize giving came I had bagged myself a 1st place in the under 16’s category. Well done to Monty for 2nd and Lewis for 3rd.
Respect to Chris Wadsworth for getting best trick, 1st in his category and 1st over all! Also a huge thanks to MK and Sue Garlick from Westbeach for a sick competition!
The British indoor Champs and The Wham Bam Thank you Jam
Last weekend I headed up to Castleford to compete in the British Indoor Champs and the Wham bam thank you jam!
The first half of the Competition was 2 individual judged runs, both of my runs went well and almost how I planned!
The second half was a completely different format than usual. Everybody got put on the slope for the competition. It consisted of a 1 hour long jam. The Entire field got cut in half and the people who didn’t make the cut got sent off! We then had a 20 minute jam session on the first set of features. At the end of this the field got cut in half again. This continued the whole way down the setup until there were only 4 riders sessioning the bottom features. I was lucky enough to be one of them along with Andy Collins, Chris Wadsworth and Monty Wright.
When Prize giving came around to my surprise I was presented with 1st Youth men. Unfortunately I didn’t make the overall podium for the Wham Bam Thank You Jam but I am more than happy with coming 4th overall out of 42 riders!
Summer Heat Rail Battle
The Unity Summer heat rail battle went off last weekend. This year it was held at Milton Keynes rather than Castleford. Now they have introduced a new format which keeps the competition flowing and running smoothly, riders from each category get sent out onto the slope in separate heats. The top riders in each category then go into the overall final where people get knocked out every couple of minutes until the best riders are left.
In my heat everyone skied really well! Tricks were going down from the very first run. Everyone was taking some decent slams going for some of the bigger tricks!
This year I was lucky enough to get into the final and not get knocked out!
When prize giving came around I found out I had come 1st in the Amateurs category and won myself a bag of swag full to the brim with sick prizes.
Thank you to Unity, Milton Keynes, and all of the sponsors of the competition for a well run and fun event! You can check out the full report from Unity here.
I also came 3rd the weekend before in big air at the farmers jam in big air so it’s been another great couple of weeks!
Les 2 Alpes and Gap Nation
I’ve just spent a fantastic summer in the amazing park of 2 Alpes, France learning some new tricks. I won a couple of competitions including the brilliant Kumi Yama.
I was back in the UK in time for Gap Nation at The Snow Centre, Hemel. The layout was really good for an indoor slope. The Kicker was a decent size and the rail setup was really creative. It was really good to see everyone after 8 weeks abroad and it was even better to get some riding in with them!
I was more than happy to walk away with a 1st under 16’s!
Victory at Kumi Yama! Les 2 Alpes 2012!
This summer I am doing a season in Les 2 Alpes! I was lucky enough to get here in time for the 5th annual Kumi Yama Competition!
The theme for this year was ‘Super Mario Brothers’ and the course was covered in Mario props like coins, giant flowers and mushrooms!The set up was amazing and really inventive with a really impressive layout as usual from the awesome park shapers from L2A!
Me and my team mate Alex Hall competed in the amateurs’ competition on the Friday but unfortunately my ski came off in mid-air during a cork 9, even though I landed it it didn’t count as I couldn’t finish my run!
On Sunday, Alex and I also competed in the Kumi-Kids event as team “Banana” and were totally stoked to make it into the final. We laid down a couple of great runs on the rails and were amazed to be announced as the overall winners! We both skied away with the title and a brand new pair of APO powder skis!
The Kumi Yama week was a totally awesome event – it was brilliantly organised and we made a whole bunch of new ski/snowboard buddies from all over the world including people from America (Dean – the Master of Kumi Yami), Estonia (Kelly and Henry Sildaru), Switzerland (Alex Hall), Japan and a few other countries too!
Thanks to the fantastic competition that L2A have put on I have also met my number 1 idol Sammy Carlson and I’m also skiing with him up on the glacier every day this week!
My life is officially complete!
We Still Ride for Japan!!!
Bracknell Jam – 1st Place
On Saturday I went to Bracknell for the Southern Freestyle Jam! The slope has only recently been re-matted so within the first hour of the jam there were already loads of people scratching their faces up on the perm-snow and sliding over and hurting themselves but despite this everyone still threw down.
The day was extremely hot and stuffy! If it wasn’t for the southern freestyle crew keeping the slope watered and slippy the competition wouldn’t have been a success!
I skied well in the jam throwing down some Tyrants, super feds, super chris browns and Shifty 5’s!
I made it into the finals and threw down 2 very decent runs!
At prize giving I was awarded 1st In Under 16’s along with a brand new O’neil Jacket, a hat and some BUTTA wax!
Well done to everyone who got a podium.
Thanks to all the organisers and competitors for making it a successful day!
Check out the edit for the Bracknell jam-edited and filmed by Max Presky
1st Place at Scottish Indoor Freestyle Championships
Recently I travelled up to Glasgow in Scotland to compete in the Scottish Indoor Freestyle Championships. The set up was amazing and the slope was groomed to perfection! We only had 2 runs to make an impression and I threw down a run which I am very proud of!
At prize giving I received a bag of goodies and a gold medal as I had come 1st in youth men’s!
The following day I found out that I had also come 1st overall!
A great end to my weekend! 
Big thanks to Jeff Menday and Liz Cordingley for getting me all the way to Scotland
SNO!down
Yesterday we made the long journey to Castleford for the 3rd annual SNO!down. The SNO!down is always a relaxed comp which means that everyone is in their comfort zone for most of the time!
The set up this year was sick and everyone was throwing down in the jam! The team event was so much fun as usual! People were coming up with the craziest ideas like jumping over people, skiing with their sleeves tied together and with their jumpers on backwards!
At prize giving I got awarded 1st place in the under 16’s category! I was completely stoked!
Congratulations to my team mate Sam Gaskin on getting 2nd place in the under 12’s
Can’t wait for next year!
SnowTrax Jam – 1st Place
We went to the SnoTrax slope in Christchurch for Air Attack! – their first ever competition on a new type of matting called pro-slope.
The Proslope is definitely a lot different to any other dryslope matting I have ever skied on. It’s a lot softer underfoot than perma snow and snoflex and the upside is that it doesn’t seem to burn out your bases. When you crash it doesn’t hurt which is definitely a bonus when your trying new tricks! It is also very good for getting up speed and just for general all round skiing as well as freestyle! The only downside is that there aren’t enough slopes in the country with this matting!!
The competition got off to a good start with a warm up session and then straight into the jam itself. It was a fun, relaxed competition and was a great start to the summer (in the rain!!!)
At the end of the day we had the presentation in the clubhouse and I was stoked to get 1st place and land some hard cash too!!
Thanks to Darren and the rest of the team for laying down a great competition! You can read the full write up here!
Medals at the Brits 2012!
Just got back from two pretty successful weeks in Laxx!
(click on a photo to see it in full!)
Week 1 – GB Youth Freeski Training
I headed out to Laxx a week before all the competitions started on a GB youth training camp to get some practice in on the features! Unfortunately on the first day I badly injured my back! but with alot of neurofen and some massaging from the TENS machine I was able to recover quickly and still got in a very good week of training! Our coaches were the brilliant Neil McGrain, Dave Young and Jamie Cameron! I learnt a few new tricks in the pipe and hit some of the biggest jumps I have ever done in my life with the help from these guys!
Week 2 – The British Championships
Day 1 – Halfpipe
We got up to the top of the hill and saw that on the day of the competition the pipe was wrecked! The walls had chunks taken out of them and they were covered in fresh snow. We spent a while side-slipping and shaping the walls to make as easy a ride as possible. Despite the pipe, everyone threw down in the qualifiers. I made the finals, finishing 10th overall and placing 3rd in youth mens!
Day 2 – Skiercross
This year the skiercross course was a lot more dangerous than last year. There were a lot of high speed jumps and sharp corners! The competition started the same way as usual…2 timed runs which then put us into heats but because there was only 6 in my category we went straight into the finals. I qualified for the final in 3rd along with two extremely fast racers and Ethan Prince. The racer who was favourite to win overshot the first jump, losing his skis and crashing out!
The second racer, Ethan and I had to dodge him and his equipment which was scattered everywhere to carry on! At the finish it was extremely close with the racer catching up with me but I just managed to cross the line in 1st place!
Day 3 – Slopestyle
Out of all of the disciplines, I was looking forward to slopestyle the most! I had been hitting the biggest jumps on the course all week but when it came to the practice runs in the competition I could only just get enough speed to clear the mediums! In Qualifiers I was extremly dissapointed with my performance and went off the watch the boarders compete in big air and ride the pipe for a bit. I was more than shocked when my dad came over to tell me I had got into the finals. I got back to the course just in time to get one warm up run before my final runs! I was worried to hear that during one of his runs Harris Booth had knuckled and injured himself.
During the finals I put down solid runs and later went to prize giving hoping for a place – I was stunned to hear that I actually got the Gold!! Later that night I found out that I got the highest rail score in the mens overall final and placed 4th overall narrowly missing out on an overall podium!
Day 4 – Big air
To be honest, I didnt really hit the big air kicker that much until the day of the competition because I didnt really like it but on the day, the more I hit it the more I loved it! My two qualifying runs went really well! I stomped a 3 tail grab and a cork 7 nose! I was stoked to make it into the finals but narrowly missed out on a podium in my category coming 4th!
Overall
A huge thanks to Neil Mcgrain, Dave young and Jamie Cameron for coaching and looking after me, a massive thanks to Becky Hammond for cooking all our meals during the first week!
Thanks to all of my sponsors for supplying me with my gear and helping me to be out there! A special thanks to the Gaskin family for coming to the rescue with new poles at such short notice after I snapped both of my old ones!
Finally, thanks to Stuart and Spencer for putting on such a fantastic week, and congratulations to all of the other medalists!!!
Britains’s Got Skiers Entry for 2011
Hey – here’s my entry for this year’s BSG comp – Hope you like it
What a Month of Skiing!!
The past month has been amazing! I have been skiing at my best in a while and to my luck this month there has been three comps – the first and second legs of the Southern Freestyle Series and the Oakley Grom Games!
Swadlincote – Southern Freestyle Leg 1
The first of the month saw the first leg of the Southern Series, which was being held at Swadlincote dry slope. The competition was great with a fairly good atmosphere. Everyone was throwing it down, especially Tom Coe and Kiki Patel with his wizard tricks…
At the end of the day I walked away with the 1st under 14’s male title.
Oakley Grom Games
Next up was the Oakley Grom Games which, the same as the year before was being held at the Chill Factore. When my family and I got there we signed in and then went off to catch up with people we hadn’t seen in a while. When I finally got out on to the slope I saw how sick the setup was. After skiing for a while I started to get the feel for the flow of the course and from the way everyone one had skied during the jam I didn’t think I was going to get a podium at all (as my category was 12-17) but to my surprise I was called up for 2nd place!!
I then was even more amazed when I found out I was in the finals with James Machon, TJ Harding and Murray Buchan, who had all been skiing really well. It was a sudden death final and in the first round I was drawn against TJ Harding but because of my bad choice of line and his sickness I didn’t beat him. So I then competed against Murray (as he didn’t win against James Machon) to decide the 3rd and 4th places. I corrected my line and beat Murray for 3rd place overall with James Machon in 2nd and TJ Harding in 1st. Pat Sharples put on an amazing games it was totally awesome – can’t wait for next year!
Chatham – Southern Freestyle Leg 2
The final comp of the month was the 2nd leg of the Southern Freestyle Series which was at my home slope Chatham. As soon as I got there the atmosphere was already fun and intense and everyone wanted to go up and ski as the setup was really good. Everyone skied really well throughout the day especially Tom Coe, Tom Saunders, Kiki Patel and Ollie Powell.
The finalists were then announced and I was one of them. After a short break, everyone put down their final runs… there was such a high standard. At the end of a fantastic day, it was time for prize giving – I was called up for 1st under 14’s and 2nd overall.
Now all that is left is the final comp at Bracknell. So let’s wait and see what happens.
Sno!Down
The first of the summer comps kicked of in CasVegas last weekend.
The Jam was a 2 hour session, the set up was amazing with lots of awsome rails. As the Jam started, me and TJ Harding headed out to start warming up. After the first few runs I had really got used to most of the features, I was straight in doing K-feds, Super Feds and 450’s out. By the end of the night I had landed tons of sick tricks like nose tap 5’s and 630’s!
- Nose tap 5
After the jam we had a quick break and then got back on the slope for a team event. The rules were that we had 4 runs in our teams to go mad and crazy. The whole event was about creativity. Our team captain Adam came up with some fun ideas and we put them into practice in our first 3 runs and on our 4th we put them all together. We had Liam lying upside down with his skis up in the air for us to tap or ski slide. Then we had Tim sitting behind the gas pipe with his poles in the air for us to jump through and finally, we had a guy grabbing our skis/boards and spinning us on the box!!!!!
Results
At the presentation I was called out for second place in the 13-16 year old category, Josh Jenkins got third place and Tyler got first.
And yes, I was stoked!!!
My Week at the Brits 2011!!
Last week me, my Mum, my Dad and my sister got up at 4 o’clock in the morning to make a twelve hour journey to Laax in Switzerland for the Brits! On the way there we got lost a couple of times but one of the worst was when we got lost in the roadworks around Zurich. The Sat Nav just kept us going round in circles! Eventually we got there and we were ready to go!
(Click on the photos to get the full picture)
Day 1 – Halfpipe
The first event of the week was the half pipe. We got up the mountain for half past nine. I got loads of practice runs. In my first competitive run I threw down some big air out of the pipe with solid, tweaked grabs. I tried to keep the style into it with a big 540 at the end! Unfortunately, I did not land my second run cleanly as I tried back to back 540’s and crashed on the last one…The pipe was running well and there was some stiff competition but I was pleased with my runs and I landed a silver medal!
Day 2 – Protest Slopestyle
On the second day, it was time for the slopestyle. The top part of the course was a awesome setup of boxes, rails and gas pipes. The bottom half were three booters! On my first run I landed the top part of the course with loads of technical moves on the boxes like K-feds, Blind switch ups and stalls! I came down to the booters and got a styley 360 with a nose grab but then on the second jump I overcooked it and nearly wiped out! On my second run I landed everything I wanted to! I walked away from the comp with a bronze medal!:)
Day 3 – Trespass Skiercross
Day 3 brought the skiercross. A day earlier, on the lift I had a chat with a boarder who was in the GB team for boarder cross. He said that the course was bad at the moment and bits of rock on grass were showing! On the day of the comp they still weren’t covered up which meant a really long wait for the comp to start! Finally it got underway, we only got one run and somehow I managed to miss a gate? Apparently loads of people missed it.
Day 4 – Giro Big Air
It was time for the final Brits event of the week – the Big Air! I had been hitting the big jump, getting styley threes off of it! So I did a huge, styley three with a nose grab off the big kicker for my first run. On my second and final run I did a 720 off of the middle kicker! I didn’t think I was going to win a medal as Tom Saunders really pulled it out of the bag with his run! In the end I think it all came down to the cleanness of the landings…it was a close one but I just managed to get the bronze medal!
Overall
I had a brilliant time competing in the Brits this year – as the youngest in my age category I really wasn’t expecting to land any medals, so to come away with three medals out of the four competitions was absolutely amazing!! I even won a light sabre for showing off my moves on the rails in the Stair Wars event!
I had tons of fun messing about and having fun at the freestyle academy.
I also want to say thank you to all of my sponsors for your support and gear (Adidas eyewear, Ski Bartlett, K2 Skis, Kent Reliance Building Society and Waterbird ) and a big up to Pat Sharples for giving me a few pointers throughout the week to help me achieve my goals!
Silver at the Brits half pipe – Stoked
Fantastic day at the Brits in Laax today – I was competing at the Youth Mens Half Pipe comp which is for under 16’s – I was the youngest person in my age category and ended up finishing in second place with a silver medal, placing 14th overall out of 28 male entries in total!!
Absolutely chuffed with my result and a brilliant way to kick of day 1!!!!!!!!!!
Radar Comp entry
If you haven’t already seen it yet, here is the edit that Quiksilver put together for me from their UK final at Tamworth:
If you haven’t done so already – go to the following link and click on “Vote for this Rider”
http://quiksilverlive.com/radar11/rider.147.php
Westbeach Competition Prizes
The prizes that I won for coming first in the Male under 16’s Westbeach Backard Jib video competition finally arrived this week!! Here’s a photo of me opening my prizes – they were awesome.
Thanks Westbeach!
You can check my winning video out on YouTube or watch it below:
Kentstyle
We’ve had about 2 foot of snow in Walderslade in the past week – shame to waste it so I built myself a slopestyle course on the front drive! I had a bit of a problem getting speed up as there is a definite lack of mountains in our close but I solved that one by using the garden slide.
I managed to lay down a few steezy runs – check out my video here
2nd Place in the Morrow Jam 2010
The Morrow Jam at Hemel on Friday night was sick! The layout had loads of crazy obstacles including the “Rainbow of Death” which eventually died!
I had a wicked time meeting up with James from my sponsors Adidas Eyewear who brought along a heap of glasses for me to try out. I chose some sweet sunglasses and a wicked pair of reading glasses that are unbelievably light! Thanks James – I’ll be wearing them soon!
It took me a few runs to get the hang of my new K2 Silencers but I had a brilliant time hitting all crazy stuff on the slope.
It was a really fun and relaxed jam and everyone had plenty of time to show what they could do.
Results
- MJ comes 2nd in the Morrow Jam
At the presentation, I was stoked to find out that I had come 2nd in the junior category across both skiers and boarders.
You can check out the full results at Morrow Jam Results
Podium Finish at Castleford British Snow Tour Mini Brits – Slopestyle
Had an amazing time at the Castleford Slopestyle this weekend – we travelled up early on Saturday and arrived in plenty of time for a sausage sandwich before hitting the slope for a practice.
In the jam session I got a good feel for the rides and was stoked to win a spot prize.
In the actual comp I was first to ride in my age category (12-16) – I laid down a solid first run, my second was better and turned out to be my best as my third run didn’t quite go to plan.
Results
There were a lot of great skiers in the comp, including all the local Castleford crew so I was amazed when my name was called out to take the bronze prize in the 12-16’s category – Woooooohoooo!!! Harris Booth claimed silver, and my ski buddy Tyler Jay Harding got the well deserved gold.
Super-stoked at the Mini-Brits in Norfolk
Just got back from a brilliant weekend in Norfolk where I had a fantastic time seeing all my ski mates while competing in the mini-Brits!
On the Saturday we arrived early enough to search out the local Sainsbury’s for a good breakfast to set us up for the day. When we got to the slope we were stoked to see a good turn out and a challenging set-up for the slopestyle.
we kicked off with a rail jam – I got to work straight away, getting the feel of the slope and tried out as many tricks as I could. At the end of the session Pat announced that I was the winner of the Jam for the Youth Mens section. I was stoked with that!
Slopestyle
After the rail jam we began the slopestyle competition where we got three runs each – my earlier practice during the jam session paid off and I laid down some steezy tricks with my best run including a K-fed on the top gas pipe followed by a switch-up, pretzel 270-off on the box rail and then finishing off on the down-up-down with a slide followed by a 450 off.
Slopestyle Results
At the end of the day we had the awards and I was announced as the winner of the Youth Mens Slopestyle which was fantastic for me as I was up against 14 of the top guys in the country. TJ Harding came a close second with my Southern freestyle squad team mate Tom Saunders coming third.
After the rest of the awards were announced they moved on to the overall positions for the day and when they called out the results I was stoked to hear that I had been placed 2nd overall in the mens Slopestyle across all age groups – 52 competitors including most of my heroes. Local legend Tom Coe secured the top spot with an awesome run while Chris Wadsworth came third.
Big Air
There was an entertaining quiz night where some of the adults took may be a little too much advantage of the local hospitality but the Chatham Chavs did well to finish second against some stiff opposition.
We got to the slope early on Sunday and started with a practice session for the Big Air. My best run in the comp was a cork 720 which Pat said I had put my own style to, but I very nearly landed a cork 9 in my final run.
When the results were announced I was mega-happy to find that I’d come 4th in my age category against 14 other competitors and 12th overall in a field of 45!! Super-stoked!
SkierCross
SkierCross was a total riot! I put down a respectable time of 16:56 seconds in the timed heats which put me 6th in the heats – not bad for a freestyler! I got through the quarter finals, despite having to run the race twice! I finally got knocked out in the semi-finals after a very tight battle that saw me cross the line holding three ski-poles – what a fight!!
Special thanks to my sponsors Waterbird for continuing to support me with my skiing and to Ski Bartlett and K2 for supplying my skis.
Farmers Jam
Had a brilliant time at the Farmers Jam at Norfolk Snow Centre over the August bank holiday weekend.
I came 4th overall in the Slopestyle against some of the biggest names in the country so was totally stoked with that. At the end of the prize giving I was also named as the best non-local skiier of the weekend which blew me away!
Thanks to Rick Hutchings for the photo.
Southern Freestyle Jam Series – Warmwell
This weekend we went to the final event of the Southern Freestyle Jam Series at Warmwell in Dorset.
We arrived nice and early and got straight out onto the slope. Warmwell is amazing – a small but fun slope with built-in kickers in a fantastic surrounding and the park staff were all really friendly.
We had an hour to warm up – the built in kicker was really nice and the rails were totally smooth although the SnowFlex was running pretty slow in the heat.
The Comp
As soon as the comp started, I got straight to work stomping 7’s on the kicker – landing them every time. Hitting the street-rail was fun – getting 4’s off.
My skis were pretty sticky in the heat so lots of thanks to Chris and Sally at Ski-Bartlett for “lubeing” me up with a huge bottle of lube!!
We had a brilliant fun session with the skiers trying to land the longest airs, while the boarders had a high-ollie comp – man those guys can jump!
At the end of the comp I was stoked to hear my name called – making it into the final 6 against some of the big guns!
The Final
In the final, I put down two solid runs on the big kicker – landing two solid 7’s with a slight cork. I followed this with two runs down the rails – landing a 4 off on the first run, and narrowly missing a 6 on my second.
The Results
Then it was time to announce the results…
I was made-up to be announced as the winner of the day in the under-14’s category but was blown away to hear that I had also come second across all age categories for the day.
I still can’t believe I beat some of the the big boys!!!
Finally, I was announced as the overall winner of the under-14’s category for the entire series – winning a trophy, a camera and a host of goodies.
Well done to my ski buddies Tom Saunders and James Colclough for coming second and third in the series.
Oh – and my sister Madison also came first in the female under-14’s category on the day and for the entire series… we’ve got matching trophies on the mantle-piece at home now!
The only downer on the day was England’s performance in the World Cup – couldn’t even beat the Yanks!!
Big Up’s
Big up to John, Darren, Paul and Dave for organising such an awesome event… can’t wait for next year’s – I believe we’re going national!!!
Big up to Chris and Sally at Ski-Bartlett for the lube!
And finally, thanks to Vince and Ally for their continued support!
Cheers,
MJ.
Castleford !
I went to Castleford for the Summer Heat Rail Jam… I got there after a 3 hour car journey! I put my gear in a pile and went upstairs to the bar to see the setup. When I saw woodsy we said hello and my sister turned up with her Nintendo DSI playing on brain training :/ (Woodsy had a go he got a brain age of 51 … not very good )
Anyway the comp started with the warm up session where I got used to the setup and the rails. The actual jam got underway and I got some great advice from my mates. During the jam I got tons of sick 450 grab’s off of the rocket rail.
Unfortunately I didn’t get into the final :( but oh well there are other comps :)
Big Air Comp at the Brits 2010
Check out the video of my final run at the Brits 2010 in Laax Switzerland
http://www.mjski.com/Vids.html