THE LONDON Ride 2007 |
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This year's event was an amazing display of what is going on right now on the UK Freeski scene. The event which took place at the Metro Ski and Snowboard Show 2007 (www.metroskishow.co.uk) was the 4th London Ride and the UK location for the Ride series of Freeskiing events which include the Verbier Ride (www.verbierride.com), Saas-Fee Ride (www.saasfeeride.com ) and Davos Klosters Ride (www.davosklostersride.com).
The 1/4 Pipe competition gave London a taste of the international level of freestyle skiing. Skiers such as Henrik Harlaut (9th Ward), Flo Wieser (Völkl), Andy Bennett (Line), Paddy Graham (Volkl), Mike Wakefield (Oakley) and Murray Buchan (Nike ACG) travelled to Kensington, London for the Metro showcase event. After an amazing qualification round showing some incredible riding from event favourites Mikey Wakefield and Henrik Harlaut the top 14 were taken through to the finals. Henrik Harlaut came out top in the finals with Mikey Wakefield and Paddy Graham coming in the next two positions.
These 3 riders were taken through to a Super Final which was a One Hit event. This got the atmosphere of the crowd electric and really pushed the riders nerves to the limit. In the end Mikey Wakefield took the judges top score with his signature ‘Wake ‘n’ Bake’ leaving Henrik Harlaut to take 2nd and Paddy Graham to take 3rd. It was an amazing result for Mikey as it was his first return to competition since his neck injury 11 months ago. Mikey was over the moon and this result has set him up for hopefully an amazing winter season.
The event was by filmed for international television broadcast to help further exposure the incredible riding skills of today's freestyle skiing athletes. Before the new year over a million people will have watched the London Ride 07 through TV, Internet and PODCAST broadcasts.
Watch this space over the coming weeks for the latest TV, Web and Podcast broadcasting information. Look forwards to seeing you in Verbier on the 18th January 2008 for the start of the Verbier Ride 08.
Warren Smith
Event Director
To view Images of the London Ride 2007, click here
To view Event Summary of the London Ride 2007, click here
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