Pat Sharples

12 06 2011

What a Month of Skiing!!

Mike Comps, Slopestyle James Colclough, James Machon, MJ, Murray Buchan, Pat Sharples, Tom Coe, Tom Saunders, Tyler Jay Harding

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

Swadlincote Win — 1st in the under 14's!

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 1^st under 14’s male title.

Oakley Grom Games

MJ 2nd in Grom Games age category — 2nd in the 13-17 years old category

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 2^nd place!!

Grom Games Final — 3rd Overall in the Grom Games 2011 !!

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 3^rd and 4^thplaces. I corrected my line and beat Murray for 3^rdplace overall with James Machon in 2^nd and TJ Harding in 1^st. 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 2^nd 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 1^stunder 14’s and 2^nd overall.

2nd Overall at Chatham — 2nd place overall at Chatham

Now all that is left is the final comp at Bracknell. So let’s wait and see what happens.

02 04 2011

My Week at the Brits 2011!!

Mike Adidas, Big-Air, Comps, K2, Kent Reliance Building Society, Pictures, Pipe, Ski Bartlett, Skiercross, Slopestyle, Waterbird MJ, Pat Sharples, Tom Saunders

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

MJ Silver Halfpipe — MJ grabs silver in Halfpipe

MJ Silver Halpfpipe celebration — Stoked with silver

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!:)

MJ Bronze slopestyle — MJ bags bronze in slopestyle

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!

MJ Bronze Big Air — Bronze in Giro Big Air

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!