Zoe Gillings Sets The Pace in Kaprun SBX

Rounding off an outstanding weekend for the Nike ACG team, Zoe Gillings has been back on the podium having competed at the SBX Europa Cup event in Kaprun, Austria.

With the World Cup season yet to start, Zoe has been biding her time to get into a competitive race and led the British field over in Austria this weekend. Zoe’s eagerness to get back into race mode was never in any doubt as she posted by far and away the quickest time in qualifying for the knockout stages. She was half a second quicker than her closest competitor in a field that mainly comprised of World Cup athletes.


Zoe eased her way through the knockout stages by winning her first two heats with relative ease.

In the final she set herself a target of getting to the front of the field by the first section of the course in order to save herself from possible injury and tangles with other competitors. When it didn’t fall into place for her she shadowed the front two runners and coasted across the line in third.

The following day had a secondary race but Zoe was rested with her pace having been confirmed and good health in mind.

Zoe’s very much looking forward to the World Cup season kicking off. The next stop is Bad Gastein, Austria on 14th / 15th December for 2 World Cup Events.

Padski Lays It Down in Les Diablerets and Bags Fall Line Cover

Paddy Graham, British Half-pipe champion, has just savaged some of the fiercest competition out there to win the Monster Park Open Jam in Les Diablerets, Switzerland.

… and he’s bagged the cover of Fall Line Skiing this month too!

This is Paddy’s second international slopestyle title, having won the Polish Open last season as well.

Paddy beat off some outstanding competition with a variety of tricks that would have done him proud on a one hit Big Air event, let alone a slopestyle course.

His line off the kickers included a switch cork 7 true tail - switch cork 5 nose - bio 7 rev mute - bio 9 rev mute on the step up.

Paddy travelled to across from Laax having just heard he'd bagged the cover of the latest Fall Line. He also has a centre spread with more stunning shots from his trip to New Zealand in August.

It won't stop there though, on the back of his success over the weekend Paddy has been asked back to Diablerets next week to shoot with Weski Mag. He's also going to fit in the Jib Night in Verbier on 9th December.

Also in attendance was fellow Nike ACG rider Angus Leith, mixing it up amongst the snowboarders. Angus put down some great runs to qualify for the final which was eventually won by Tonton Holland.

Early Season Promise for Dan Wakeham

Dan Wakeham's nerve was tested this weekend by bad luck and poor conditions in Saas Fee for the opening Nokia FIS World Cup Half-pipe of the season. However, Dan can be more than pleased with what he has achieved over the past few days.

The FIS had scheduled a double-header mindful of the fact that this is the only weekend of World Cup competition before the World Championships in Arosa (20th January). This meant the riders had at least two days of competition to look forward to. In the first, Dan had to contend with a disappointing 37th position, having fallen in both his qualifying runs.

However, Dan's second day of competition (Friday) saw him back to form as he put down some really competitive runs in qualifying. In fact, his best score of 33.1 was good enough to qualify him in 3rd place in his heat and guarantee him a spot in the finals on Saturday.

Dan was very much looking forward to going head to head with the likes of Risto Mattilla and Marrku Koski on Saturday but woke to find high winds had closed the mountain. It was a real blow to contend with as Dan had seemingly been guaranteed at least a top 12 finish at the event a day earlier but the results were scrapped altogether with the cancellation of the finals.

Needless to say, Dan is upbeat about his performance. Amongst a highly competitive field he has once again underlined his credentials. According to Dan “it was a good start for the competitive season for me and it has filled me with confidence as I go in to my next event which is the world championships”.

only a surfer knows the feeling......

"When the honesty of everything around you is up to question, only nature's force is beyond reproach. And nothing clarifies that better, faster, and without compromise than an ocean wave. On this you can rely. Like your child saying, 'I love you,' the ocean is something you should be awash in every day."
- Gary Sirota (surfer, ocean advocate, rich in love)



Fylnns Reef - Phillip Is. Vic. - I had a dream day there when I went back to Oz for a couple of weeks. 

Nike ACG Team Rocks Winterjam

It was the Winterjam in Stockholm ( www.winterjam.se ) over the weekend and it was a great event for the Nike ACG team.

Friday was the big air ski event and we had a pretty good base of riders with Andreas, Rich, Roy, Martin and a new guy from Norway Thomas, who ripped and blew everyone away for his first big contest.



The event was called the ‘King of Style’ and the judges made it clear they were looking for style ahead of rotation.

Rich was determined from the start of the day and it showed in his face as you can tell!!

However you needed to be doing stylie 10’s to make the final. Even Jon Olssens double Lincoln Loop to switch (which has been perfected over summer in a water jump and he now puts down perfect every time) was not rated by the judges and he made the final only by a wildcard (home town favourite!!) entry.

Roy was bummed not to make the final but rode exceptional for his first major big air contest and has a big future no question.

Nike ended up with 4 of the final 8 qualified entries to the first final and after the first round of jumps we placed 1- 4. However, after the second jump, it was Andreas and Rich who made it to the ‘super-final’ with Sammy Carlson and Jon Olssen (who kept doing the same trick – not rated in the early rounds but with the TV cameras rolling for some reason it was getting points!) His entry edged out Martin to 5th so with good reason, Martin was pissed right off as he was riding amazing, going bigger than anyone all day and deserved to be in the final four. Here's martin going massive as he was all day.

Our new rookie Thomas came 6th overall so before the super final Nike had a guaranteed 4 of the top 6th places.

In the super final, Rich and Andreas kept stomping everything and either could have won except for Sammy Carlson leaving his best amplitude and style to last and rinsing the final field on his last 2 jumps.

We were all stoked for Rich especially as it was his best placing in a field of this calibre and will set him up for X Games entry and hopefully a bigger and better career from now on.

Results from King of Style 10:th of November

King of Style: SAMMY CARLSON
2:nd: Richard Permin
3:rd: Andreas Håtveit
4:th: Jon Olsson
5:th: Martin Mishof
6:th: Thomas Dölpads
7:th: Peter Olenick
8:th: Niklas Karlström
9:th: Charles Garnier
10th:Taisuke Kusunoki

Saturday was snowboarding big air and part of the Nokia FIS series. Nike ACG had Flo Mausser riding for the Austrian team. Again in the snowboarding, it was a world class field. Flo was riding in top form from the outset despite the crap weather...he just had to keep uping the ante as the riding from the rest of the field improved over the course of the day. But Flo was well up to the task stomping 9's and 10's in the final with perfect grabs and amplitude. At the end Flo finished forth in a field of over 80 of Europe and the worlds best.



Flo was stoked on his 4th. His next event is the Nokia big air in Paris early december.

1:st: PETEK MATEVZ
2:nd Peetu Piiroinen
3:rd Risto Mattila
4:th Florian Mausser
5:th Andreas Wiig
6:th Stefan Gimpl
7:th Giacomo Kratter
8:th Benedikt Nadig

Both events had pretty good after-parties. An amazingly high proportion of Swedish girls are stunners so the Nike team had a couple of great nights and look forward to heading back to next years event.

Nike ACG "Die-cut" DVD launch

Nike ACG is releasing it’s brand new snowboard DVD, “Die-cut”.

“Die-cut” will officially launch on YOZ (eurosport) on Friday November 3rd in the evening (check listings for exact time) with a special show around the athletes and their video parts. The DVD features the best riders from around Europe, including UK ACG riders Dan Wakeham, Paddy Graham and Murray Buchan, and was shot at locations across the globe.

For more information about the launch on Eurosport check out;
http://dev1.megalos.net/acg.html

You can also sign up on nikeacg.com to receive a free copy of the video and find out more about the riders and product; http://www.nikeacg.com

Burton "For Right or Wrong" dvd premier

Burton’s global movie tour premiering their new DVD, “For Right or Wrong”, will stop off in London on the 7^th November.

"For Right or Wrong" takes an inside look at what it's like to snowboard for a living and combines action and documentary-style footage about riders' lives both on and off the hill.

Not only does the London premier have the best venue but also gets the most amount of global team riders… Terje Haakonsen, Mads Jonsson, Keir Dillon, Kelly Clark, Nicolas Müller and DCP will all be hanging out and doing a signing session during the night. And the first 500 through the door will have the chance to win either a Burton Audex Motorola jacket or Motorola’s latest phone the KRZR. There will also be Burton giveaways and a few extra treats later on.

Pick up your flyer at your local Burton snowboard dealer as this is your ticket to the event and must be completed to gain entry. No ticket no entry and it’s first come first served!

Venue: Clapham Grand, 21-25 St Johns Hill, Clapham Junction, SW11 1TT. Entry from 7pm.

See the Burton website for a short film preview and tour stop venue details; http://www.burton.com/movie

Bob Burnquist's Mega Ramp

The largest skateboard ramp in the world can be found on a 12-acre farm north of San Diego, created by the Brazilian pro skater Bob Burnquist.

Approximately 360 feet long, the ramp is 75 feet high at its apex. That is where riders begin their run, speeding down a 180-foot-long roll-in to a ramp that launches them across a 70-foot gap with trapeze netting below. Landing on a 27-foot sloped section, they then boost up to 50 feet above the ground from a 30-foot quarterpipe. A shorter route begins with a 55-foot-tall platform leading to a 50-foot gap, and the 30-foot quarterpipe.
Completed in September after more than a year of construction, Burnquist’s Mega Ramp cost $280,000, part of which was covered by his apparel sponsors Oakley and Hurley. Although not the first — the X Games builds one each year — it is the world’s only permanent Mega Ramp.

The only visitor to ride so far has been professional skater and Mega Ramp pioneer Danny Way. Not wanting to risk injury, other elite skaters have been waiting for the end of the competition season. But beginning next month and continuing through the winter, many of them will descend on Burnquist’s backyard.

Read the full article; http://www.nytimes.com/2006/11/01/sports/othersports/01ramp.html?_r=1&ex=13200372&oref=slogin