Dan Wakeham
Dan’s out with a bunch of the European team, as well as fellow UK riders Angus Leith and Rebecca Cullum, at the Burton European Open in Laax. He has been riding hard since arriving from the World Champs in Arosa and went through 2 boards in as many days. However it hasn’t held him back and he’s safely in to the semi finals tomorrow after a strong display in the qualifying heat earlier today.
The Half-pipe comp in Arosa was frustrating for all the guys. Thanks to bad weather and plenty of rain the schedule was disrupted badly and the practice and qualifying were both held together as opposed to over consecutive days. Dan slammed on his first (and only qualifying run) hurting his wrist, but it’s certainly not holding him back in Laax at the moment. Check out this shot from Tash of him sessioning the pipe during practice:
Prior to heading across to Arosa Dan did a few days filming for a 6 part series which is going out on Extreme before long. Dan gives an insight into what it takes to be a pro rider and how he gets the most out of his riding. We’ll have news on when it airs soon.
In additional Dan’s bagged the latest cover of Document Snowboard. It’s a shot taken on the Saas Fee glacier in the summer during the British Team training camp by Mike Weyerhaeuser. Nice work Dan.
Angus Leith
Angus has been on the road with Dan over the past few weeks, taking in his first World Champs in Arosa as well as the BEO. It’s a great level of progression from the Europa Cups and Angus is getting bags of invaluable experience out of it.
Angus didn’t make it through the qualifiers today but has taken a huge amount from his first Burton Open event. There will be many more to follow.
Rebecca Cullum
Rebecca’s flying the flag for the Nike ACG team in the junior’s category at the BEO. She was entered into the slopestyle earlier this week which was unfortunately cancelled due to storm force winds. She was in action in the pipe yesterday however and bagged a very respectable 11th place. This will give her a real boost to push on during the season in a category that is not her main strength.
Rebecca is also following in the footsteps of Zoe by competing in the European Youth Olympic Winter Festival (EYOWF) in Jaca, Spain from 18th -23rd February. Rebecca has been working closely with Zoe to hone her SBX skills and will also be competing in the pipe.
Zoe Gillings
Zoe was laid low with a heavy cold in the build up to the World Champs in Arosa. Frustratingly for her, she was unable to take pharmacy stocked cold remedies due to doping restrictions and she had to shake it off herself. It meant she wasn’t fit enough to train fully on the course prior to the event. She did however place a very respectable 20th under the circumstances and duly handed the cold over to Craig Smith who she says complained ‘way more’ than she did.
Zoe has been out in Aspen for a couple of days now in preparation for her XGames debut. Having been more of a spectator at the World Champs she may well find she will be able to surprise a number of competitors as opposed to being a target for the other girls. Watch this space and keep your fingers crossed…
Noddy Gowans
Noddy’s been busy setting up his own film production company in Serre Chevalier over the early season. Given the poor snow conditions it’s been a very productive few weeks for him.
His reward however will be 2 weeks out in the powder fields in Canada where he is just about to shoot a major heli trip for a wide range of publications. Expect to hear a lot more from this trip through Fall Line and a host of International media well into next season.
Fingers crossed when Noddy gets back to Serre Che the snow will have arrived across Europe and he can start charging on home pow again.
Paddy Graham
Paddy’s early season form shows no sign of letting up. Since his win over in Les Diablerets last month he has returned to slaying the pipe in Laax as well as hitting the road for a couple of trips. Of note was his appearance in Engadine where he grabbed 3rd at the Big Air there amongst some illustrious company (including Murray Buchan no less). It’s great to see Paddy continue to dominate across disciplines. With podiums in Big Air and slopestyle already this season you wonder what he’s going to start doing in pipe comps…
That is if any survive the weather. Unfortunately several World Cup pipe events have fallen victim to the lack of snow already this season. Paddy is hopeful however of getting a couple of comps in before the Brits and the Orage European Open, both of which will take place in Laax again this season.
Other news from Paddy is that he’s secured his second cover of the season (look out for the new Dark Summer). It’s a shot taken in Les Diablerets soon after he won the slopestyle out there. Also- Paddy’s been spending some time in the dentist’s chair recently thanks to a big spill whilst riding trees. Check out the picture below- Paddy managed to imbed his tooth in his knee and snap it at the root! Ouch
Murray Buchan
Muz spent a fortnight out filming and riding with Chris Asquith and Paddy in Laax over the New Year Period. He was also hoping to make it over to a couple of World Cup half-pipe comps earlier this month but had to contend with similar frustration to Paddy.
However, both the guys headed out to Engadine together and Muz put down some tidy runs. He had something to say about the judges putting a local fella into the finals who wasn’t pulling anything near Muz’s switch 7s though. Don’t be fooled, he’s still a wee man but you wouldn’t mess with him when he’s got poles in his hand and a lid on his head in that mood. Needless to say though he’s wise beyond his years and was more than happy with the riding he put down, even if it didn’t get due credit!
Murray is back at school for a couple more weeks before he jumps back on a flight out of Edinburgh and into the hills over his half-term break.
That’s all for now but look out for more updates on the BEO and XGames soon.
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