The London Ride 2005 (www.thelondonride.com), presented by Oakley (www.oakley.com) and in association with Gizmondo (www.gizmondo.com), was hosted by the Daily Mail Ski and Snowboard Show ( www.dailymailskishow.co.uk ) in Kensington Olympia on Saturday 15th and Sunday 16th October. It proved to be one of the most awesome indoor freestyle events ever held on British soil. The excitement in MC Pat Sharples voice was matched by the 3,000+ audience. Before the athletes threw it down there were some special guest appearances by UK rappers L Star, Skinnyman and J2K and human beat box Mr Mouth. This was designed to get the Riders amped and it did just that!
Skiers such as Laurent Favre, Andy Bennett, Loic Collomb Patton, Jon Olsson, Flo Wieser, Mike Wakefield, Craig Coker, Arnaud Rougier, Laurent Thevenet and many other top names hit the big air kicker, delivering to the crowd different tricks such as Switch 9's, Switch Cork 7 Mute's, 1080's and Switch backflips. |
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The London Ride took place for the first time in 2004 adding another variation to the Ride series of events, that is the well established Verbier Ride - a Big Mountain , Skiercross and Slopestyle extravaganza mid winter in Verbier, and the Saas-Fee Ride, a slopestyle, halpipe and skiercross event on the north facing Saas-Fee Glacier in the summer. The London Ride completes the series with an indoor autumn comp. |
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Owing to the growing reputation of the Ride series, all of the big names in Europe appeared for the comp in London. Laurent Favre from France, currently one of the worlds best, Flo Wieser from Austria, the 2005 Oz X-games champion, Arnaud Rougier, regarded as one of France's top riders, and of course our own favourite British riders such as British halfpipe champion Mike Wakefield, and Andy Bennett to name but only a few of the great names that turned up. On day 2 even Jon Olsson brought some of his flair to the event.
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The competition ran over two days in which 4 jumps were judged and of the 4 the best jump would win 1st place. Judges Andy Topping and Jon White both scored out of 10 on each jump and their scores were combined to give an overall out of 20. Pro Rider Paddy Graham was head judge and over looked the final scores.
The kicker measured 53 meters from top to bottom with a 50° in run and then a 6 and a half meter transition, which meant that the technical standard of the tricks had to be high to complete them in such a short space at speed. This did not appear to put any of the riders off, but made the onlooker aware of the technical and athletic ability of the riders.
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With the level of all the riders being so high, it was a difficult competition to judge, however, there is no doubt that Laurent Favre from France deserved the 1st place which he was awarded. With a Switch Cork 7 mute which was HUGE and the grab massivlely tweaked out there was no doubt in the judges mind. He stomped the landing almost with a casual ease with what was to be the best trick of the comp. |
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Close behind taking second place was 13 year old Henrik Harlaut from Sweden. He did not seem put off by the fact that he was up against some of the best in the world, twice his size and with a few more years on him. He pulled off an incredible Switch 9 and was clearly stoked with himself on the landing. With an obvious influence from his older counterparts, Henrik is definitely one steezed out kid, and is one to look out for in the future!
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3rd place was a difficult one, but both Flo Wieser from Austria and Fabien Maierhofer from France tied. A joint third place was deemed fair by the judges as both riders performed equally well. Flo Wieser, the 2005 Oz X-Games champion won the crowd over with his 1080 rotations.
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A truely charismatic and happy person, who brought some colour to the competition. Fabien Maierhofer, pulled a Switch Cork 7 Mute out of the bag on the Saturday, and was set to be in the winning 3 from this alone.
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| Just when you though there couldn't be a better trick pulled off, another rider did it again. The level was consistently high and it kept the crowd pinned to the spot. Laurent Thevenet from France, who came to the comp last year once again pleased the crowd with huge air and individual steeze which was clearly recognisable. David Lacote, Craig Coker, Arnaud Rougier, Jon Olsson, Andy Bennett and Mike Wakefield were all seperated by only one point after the 4 jumps which showed the consistantly high level of the riding throughout the 4 jumps. |
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The British riders really stood their ground against the international field with 5 British riders making it into the top 5. Andy Bennett came first out of the Brits scoring 16.5 points followed by Mike Wakefield on 16, Andy Collin on 15.5, Joe Tyler on 14.5 and Murrey Buchan on 14.
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The younger brits of the competition, James Woods 13 from Sheffield and Murray Buchan from Scotland , did not let the pressure of riding with some of the big names get to them, but they seemed to be encouraged to their best by the buzz aroud them. James pulled of a clean 7, landing it nicely and receiving high applause from the crowd. Murray Buchan seemed to benefit from the small and technical area to perform in, and got some big air, and spun a 9.
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Finally to end the day was the London Riders Rail Session, which turned into a pumped up jam with a super cool vibe. Everyone kicked off pushing their tricks and encouraging each other. Laurent Favre stood at the top of the rails acting as encouragement at the top, giving all his fellow riders tips on tricks. Flo Wieser and Henrik Hariaut took the rails apart and got the crowd and fellow riders amped.
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Alexis Mouthon from France was taking some encouragement and some fun banter form his mates on the rails. With his clothes soaked through from the effort he was putting and a jovial look, you could see he was having a great time at the event.
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Photography: Yves Garneau |
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