Dan Wakeham: Olympian!
Hope you managed to catch a glimpse of the halfpipe event yesterday: it was quite a spectacle and one that Dan can be hugely proud to have been apart of. His final position of 26th is an amazing achievement for him as well as British Snowboarding, and although he didn’t make the final his riding belonged right up there on the world’s biggest stage.
Dan’s second qualifier received the better score of 27.8. His run consisted of a huge f/s double tail off his first hit, into a super smooth McTwist, into a f/s 7, then a Haakon Flip into an air to fakie. It was a really polished run that had a range of technical tricks and some great style: Dan was elated as he faced the cameras at the bottom and his achievement sank in. Thanks to injuries and hectic schedules never before have all the world’s best been in attendance at the same pipe, and to finish 26th amongst that company (and beat some major names in the process) is a great achievement.
The final results are available here: http://www.torino2006.org/ENG/IDF/SB/C73F_SBM060000.html. Also, you can check out a quick BBC edit of Sean White’s winning run which has the last 3 hits from Dan’s first run at the end. The last one he went for was a ‘Viking flip’: if he’d landed it he would have pulled off a 1080 himself! Check it out http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/video_and_audio/help_guide/4304501.stm
Prior to yesterday’s comp, Dan had spent time mixing with Olympic bigwigs: check out the photo of him with fellow team members (including Zoe) and Princess Anne!
His plans now may take him away from the Olympic village early so he can catch his breath and look ahead to the rest of the season: there are still valuable points to be scored on the World Cup circuit.
Zoe Gillings
The spotlight now turns to Zoe who has to wait until Friday for her big moment. She’s counting on some class support and has been sending back instructions to buy some Union Jacks which we’ll make sure are adorning the grandstand. By the looks of it, the BBC’s coverage on digital allows for viewers to choose the sport they want to watch, so it may be possible to watch the qualifiers live before their dedicated coverage picks up midway through the quarter finals.
Also worth noting that Miss Gillings sat and watched Dan compete yesterday alongside Princess Anne (at her request): we’re not worthy!
Paddy Graham
Paddy has just made it back from Andorra having been called out to a Fall Line shoot. He had a great time but is looking forward to hitting the Laax park again.
Paddy’s also just found out that Dark Summer is doing a major feature on him in their upcoming issue. In addition, Fall Line has lined him up for a kit selection piece similar to what SUK have just done with Dan.
Tom Last
Tom’s switched location over to Lake Tahoe and has hooked up with some of the crew he was riding with last season. He’s feeling really positive about the next few weeks out in the Rockies now that he’s riding with some good friends. They got a major dump and the kickers are looking great so he’s been enjoying throwing his whole repertoire of tricks in preparation for the Brits.
Before heading back to Europe, Tom will be shooting over to Breckenridge for a few days before cramming in a couple of weeks training with Mike Wilson who will help him push his riding up another level.
Retail Activities
The latest ACG retail communication (aka: Flash News) has arrived in stores in time for the start of the Olympics. The ‘Groms to Glory’ edition focuses on Dan and Zoe’s journey to Torino as well as tracking the progress of the rookies in the team. The fold out poster is dedicated to Murray Buchan: an awesome shot of him shredding the pipe at the Brits last year.
That’s all for now: looking forward to bringing you more news on Zoe as soon as we have it
All the best
Jimmy
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