Dan Wakeham Pipelife Webcasts

Nike ACG Team Rider Dan Wakeham has teamed up with the Extreme Channel and ACG to make a series of small webcasts documenting his life as a professional snowboarder. It s called Pipelife

PIPELIFE is a six part documentary, which follows Dan through every waking minute of the day, as he prepares for the World Championships in Arosa, exposing the guts and determination it takes to compete at the top level.

Catch a brand new Pipelife chapter from Mr. Wakeham every Wednesday for the next 6 weeks at:

http://www.extreme.com/video/video.asp?sWhich=latest&sPN=1&vID=301

or just go to the Extreme Channel website and look for pipelife.

Sweet.

Andreas and Mirjam place in Nippon Open

Another comp, another couple of Nike ACG riders grace the podiums...

Last week saw the first ever Suzuki Nippon Freeski Open go ahead. Sadly, as seems to be the trend over in Europe, so it was in Japan and another Big Air event was cancelled due to bad weather. Never mind. The organisers of this competition had spared nothing when it came to recruiting the best skiers in the world. Although called an 'open' comp, there was a list of invited riders that would have made anyone go weak at the knees. Yup; Tanner, Candide, Dumont, Gagnier, Pete Olenik, Sammy, Jon Olsson....you get the picture.

Oh yeah, and there was some guy called Andreas Hatveit there too, and guess what? He came second in the Slopestyle event. In an event which Andreas is making his own, he did not disappoint. With a top run of 93.4 you'd think he have it all wrapped up and ready to go, but with a field of riders like the one here, this unfortunately wasn't the case.

Andreas was extremely unfortunate to be pipped to gold by Charles Gagnier who stomped a massive run of 93.8!

Elsewhere Mirjam Jaeger proved that she is still one of the best female freeskiers in the world. In a field as daunting as the mens, she came third. This time it was the superpipe. Mirjam's first run was something of a disappointment, but she bounced back on the second to claim 3rd, behind Grete Eliasson and Sarah Burke.

Congratulations to both Team Riders who have again worked hard to demonstrate their abilities and consistency at competitive riding.

Henning's Interview

Last month Nike ACG rider Henning Marthinsen came second in the Quaterpipe at the O'Neill Pro Freestyle event in Avoriaz. Henning was naturally super-stoked and since then has moved up to 5th position in the TTR rankings.

After his podium placing Henning gave a rare interview in which he discusses the fundamental issues of todays professional scene..well, not really, but its a good crack so check it out at

Check da Jacket!!!

http://www.ttrworldtour.com/index.php?id=89

go to the page and look on the left hand side for a thumbnail of Henning, below Miss Bleicher.

A Barrow of Laughs

So you thought you'd done it all did ya??

You've gone up against the gnarliest of all the gnar lords and they've all bought you a beer after, you've shredded big mountains, leaving locals weeping at your superior style and balls, you've taken hits that would have Danny Way crying to his Mum about. You've conquered all.

But have you tried.....drum roll please...






....Extreme wheelbarrowing?

er, what the blazes?

Thats right folks, after perusing Vice mag's website we came across a blog by a couple of lads who had spent the summer in France working on building sites, moving stuff with, thats right...wheelbarrows.

Due to spending too much time with their one-wheeled friends, as well as having too much time on their hands and probably a lack of french skirt to chase, the boys pioneered the first freestyle wheelbarrowing tricks...

So excited by their new pastime the guys set about devoting all the memory space on their mobiles to recording said activity.. and since returning to the UK they've spent a number of gruelling nights at the editing suite. The result is that the boys have put out a short, documenting the skills, ground-breaking moves and overall dedication that it takes to be an extreme wheelbarrowing legend. Laird, step aside please.

Sadly, the XWB's soon discovered that they were not the only ones to have let their creative juices flow while shifting the compost heap...to their dismay they discovered that there is actually an Extreme Wheelbarrowing Community! And these guys are GOOD! With their ideals of glory shattered and egos bruised by a rather unimpressed extreme wheelbarrowing community, the lads still had the faith to let the rest of us in on this anti-climatic tale of severed dreams.

For the full story, plus the footage, follow this link...

http://vice.typepad.com/vice_magazine/2007/02/broing_out_with.html

A Good Day At The Austrian Open

Last weekend saw the Austrian Open go ahead after it was postponed by two weeks due to a lack of snow. Although the superpipe event was cancelled, the slopestyle went ahead and it was a good day for Nike ACG riders Paddy Graham, Murray Buchan and Kim Misof. All three riders gained podium places and stuck down some awesome runs.

(Pads sticks his railslide at the Austrian Open)

Paddy, having recovered from trying to gnaw his way through the forest and as a result dedicating one of his teeth to the bark of a particuarly gnarly tree, was back on top form. In a mens line up of 26 skiers of high quality, Paddy showed us once again why he's the best freeskier representing the UK. On a course which was both challenging and high on the gnar scale, Pads stuck his runs to make it to the final where he put down a best run which consisted of a sw 900 nosegrab, followed by a huge bio 900, and finished with a cab 720 tailgrab to finish second behind France's Kevin Rolland.

(Paddy proudly clutches his accolade on the far left of the picture)

In the Rookies event, Murray, currently on half term and bereft of any recent competition, blasted the rest of the field out of sight with a huge switch 900 with double nose grab and a super smooth 720 in the final. It was a moment to cherish for the young scot whos prowess on a pair of skis is growing every time he clicks into his bindings.

Elsewhere Kim finished second in the ladies event.

For more information, photos and clips from the event visit www.austrian-open.com

Zoe Gillings X Games Report

Nike ACG rider Zoe Gilling was one of 7 Athletes to compete at the Winter X Games in Aspen this year. Below you can read her testimony of how she got on....

The way the format works at the X games is there are 18 girls invited and all of them do one qualification run with the top 8 girls going straight through to the heats and the remaining 10 do a second run with the top 4 from that run going through.

The X games course wasn’t as long or as crazy as I thought it was going to be. It did however have a large box near the end that was about 10 foot high with a jump in front of it that you had to ollie off otherwise you wouldn’t make it on top and would just slam into the front of the box!

In my first qualification run I was in 6th after my run but then got knocked down by a few girls to 9th (very annoying place to be!) So I had to go up again for another run and this one went really well so I won that run by about a second and a half.

So I was in 9th for the heats the next day. There were 12 girls in total in
2 heats of 6 with the top 3 from each heat going through to the finals. In my first heat I got a pretty good start out of the gate and was in 2nd then went into 3rd, 2nd, 3rd, 4th back to 3rd around the 2nd to last bend then I took too much of a wide line and got passed on the inside so went over the line in 4th.

So I was now in the small final to decide places 7 - 12. I got out of the gate fast again and was in the lead from the start and stayed there all the way to the end. Switzerland's Sandra Frei tried to catch me up all the way down but didn't succeed. Craig (my coach) said the commentators were talking about the 2 Americans in my heat while we were in the gate and didn't mention anyone else then when I got in front they were like "And Gillings is in front! Wow she is really far in front!" Where did she come from?!"

So brief summary first heat not to good but second one brilliant!

Park Rail Jam, Shoreditch

So, if the recent record snowfall in London has got you moaning nostalgically and making you itch to bolt from the office or uni or wherever you are that is keeping you from shredding then read below...

The boys from the Park Team are putting on a Park Rail Jam in Shoreditch in London this Sunday at 6.30pm. Its an open event so anyone can drop by and rip it up. The jam will be held at the Z Rooms, The Old Truman Brewery, 91 Brick Lane. If you are interested in putting yourself forward and having the chance of winning some cash for tricks, then email the boys at the park team at registration@thepark.biz Even if you aren't feeling up for participating then go along and a be a spectator and give props to all the riders. Additionally an after party will be held in a secret location after the jam.

Check out the details of the set up below and the exact location of the event, and we'll se ya down there...

Check these guys....

No wonder these guys need sponsorship. I bet they go through a few tyres and bikes. If you can help get in touch with Toby ....tobszx636@yahoo.co.uk

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Cab-zanyno

X Games Round Up

So another year has come and gone, and as usual there were ups and downs, movers and shakers, and of course, the best exhibition of freestyle snowboarding and skiing on the planet.

With Seven riders competing across our teams in comparison to 1 last year, we were stoked going into this years X Games. Read below how our guys and girls got on .....

Snowboarding:

Nike ACG riders Gary Zebrowski and and Zoe Gillings were participating in the mens superpipe and womens Snowboard X respectively. Gary finished 18th in undoubtledly the strongest field of pipe riders on the planet. It is remarkable how much bigger the Americans go in the pipe and this was illustrated bythe fact that the first six riders in the finals were all American.

Zoe was unfortunate not t0 qualify for the final, coming 5th in her semi. Her return to form was marked by her victory in the consolation final, placing her 7th overall. We expect to see bigger things from Zoe in the rest of the season. Catch her on the 17th Feb out in Japan riding in the FIS World Cup.

Flight Zoe Gillings (right) comes into land.

It was up to the members of our Nokia Team to prove themselves in this intimidating field of riders and Mathieu Crepel, a legend on this side of the pond did not disappoint, but could not recreate the form which saw him win the overall TTR accolade last year. Mathieu came 5th in the slopestyle and 9th in the superpipe, aswell as being knocked out in the quarters by Danny Davis.

Hampus Mosesson qualified for the final of the mens slopestyle and finished 9th. On a course which caused some or of the European riders some difficulties, Hampus competed with real drive and was unlucky to come away in 9th. He fared slightly better in the Best Trick and like his team mate Mathieu, was knocked out in the quater finals after throwing some huge 10's, but failing to reach the semis. In the end he was knocked out by the eventual winner Andreas Wiig, whose gold in the slopestyle had given him a real boost of confidence and he was untouchable once again in this event.

Hampus during the mens slopestyle. (Photo credit: EXPN.com)


Skiing

As the sole Nike ACG competitor at last years event, Andreas Hatveit was joined by those mentioned above aswell as Mirjam Jaeger and Rich Permin in the skiing events. Andreas againwas the most succesful, finishing 4th in the mens superpipe and 7th in the Slopestyle. Alongside Candide Thorax and Jon Olsson, Andreas stands up as the other standard bearer of European freeskiing. He's still young and we expect to see him killing it again at next years event.

Andreas pops out of the pipe during training.
(Photo credit EXPN.com)

For Mirjam, her qualifying runs inthe pipe were flawless and in the final she was beaten by a very strong field and finished up in 5th.

Mirjam after her final run in Aspen


Rich Permin, fresh from his victory at the Tignes Airwaves, competed in the slopestyle and finished up in 14th place.

For more info and further results go to http://expn.go.com/expn/winterx/2007/index?event=wx11