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!
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
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 1st under 14’s male title.
Oakley Grom Games
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 2nd place!!
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 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.
1st Place under 14's
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.
2nd place overall at Chatham
Now all that is left is the final comp at Bracknell. So let’s wait and see what happens.
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
Getting air in the Pipe!MJ grabs silver in HalfpipeStoked 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
Nosepress in 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 bags bronze in slopestyle
Day 3 – Trespass Skiercross
Cruising the 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
Nose grab in 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!
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.
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
MJ comes 1st in the Youth Mens Slopestyle
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.
MJ gets 2nd overall in Slopestyle
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.
This weekend we went to the final event of the Southern Freestyle Jam Series at Warmwell in Dorset.
MJ bags some trophies
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…
MJ Wins at Warmwell
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.
2nd against the big guns!
I still can’t believe I beat some of the the big boys!!!
MJ wins the Southern Freestyle under-14's Series
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.
The Madster wins 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
The Geezers
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!
