This summer, the inaugural Championship Ski and Snowboard league was launched at indoor snow and dry slopes across the UK with 64 snowboarders and 70 skiers from around Britain taking part. Six ski and six snowboard teams battled it out across five months of head to head competition, with Bearsden Freestyle from Glasgow officially crowned 2016 Champions of both Championship Skiing and Championship Snowboarding.
Bearsden (pictured above) took their win in emphatic style, clinching victory in the last round, overtaking Hemel in their final head to head ski match and again beating Hemel in the final snowboard round. This resulted in a tie for second place between Hemel and Braehead, with Braehead edging ahead to take the runner up spot with greater trick points scored throughout the season.
10 skiers and snowboarders from Bearsden Freestyle in Glasgow travelled down to the Ski & Snowboard Show in London this week to collect their prize money donated by The Snowboard Asylum, Ellis Brigham and Delancey.
(CSS demo at London Ski and Dnowboard Show Yesterday – Credit James North)
Bearsden took home £2000 for winning the ski competition and another £2000 for winning the snowboard competition. The runners up were The Snow Centre, Hemel in ski and Snow Factor Braehead for snowboard, who both received a cheque for £1000. Half of the prize money must be reinvested into their freestyle scenes, allowing each facility to develop their offering to nurture talent.
Some of the winning skiers and snowboarders from Micro Machines (the one off competition for kids aged 12 and under) were also present to accept outerwear combos from Picture Organic Clothing.
Graham Bell & Lesley McKenna kick off the CSS prizegiving at the London Ski and Snowboard Show Pic Credit James North.
Picture also presented to Josh Yeo from Hemel a one year sponsorship as best overall Young Gun from CSS. The team of snowboarders from Warmwell Drylsope in Dorset also accepted their prize as winners of Battle Royale, the one off team competition that ran over the summer alongside Micro Machines.
“In its inaugural year CSS has been a huge success, you will not find this kind of development in another country in Europe,” said Ed Leigh, presenter of TV show Ski Sunday who has followed the Championship Ski and Snowboard league and added, “Not only does it give our best riders a stage to showcase their skills but almost more importantly it is nurturing the culture of British snowboarding. Having the luxury of an international perspective on snowboarding I know that our close knit scene is the envy of most nations. The camaraderie, rivalry and banter that CSS has created already will only further that.”
Championship Ski and Snowboard (CSS) is the first competition of its kind aimed at showcasing young British freestyle talent, with each team, consisting of 4 riders including one “Young Gun” (a rider under the age of 15) and at least one female rider, uploading videos of tricks. Each edit included their best kicker, rail and EX (execution) trick, each month, and was matched against another team. It was then up to the high profile panel of judges to decide on the winners of each match.
“CSS was a great concept to get slopes around the UK fired up to compete against each other from the comfort of their home turf. It gave a lot of motivation to many of the younger riders to raise their game and promoted a great team spirit. The level of competition was strong and this really stepped up over the five rounds, meaning it all went down to the final round. We were stoked when we won Championship Snowboard but that went through the roof when the Skiing result came through too! It has been a fantastic competition to be part of and look forward to next year!” said Neil McGrain from Bearsden after collecting their prize cheques.
(Below: Overall Championship Skiing Winners 2016 Bearsden Freestyle with Olivia Gregory from Delancey & Mark Brigham from Ellis Brigham. Image credit James North)
CSS 2016 – The Winners:
Championship Skiing
Overall 1st Place Team – Bearsden Freestyle
Overall 2 Place Team – The Snow Centre, Hemel
Overall Best Male – Chris McCormick, Bearsden Freestyle
Best Young Gun (under 15) skier – Josh Yeo from The Snow Centre, Hemel
Best female skier – Kirsty Muir
Championship Snowboarding
Overall 1st Place Team – Bearsden Freestyle
Overall 2nd Place Team – Snow Factor, Braehead
Overall Best Male – Matt McCormick, Bearsden Freestyle
Best Young Gun (under 15) snowboarder – Lewis Moore from Bearsden Freestyle
Best female snowboarder – Cerys Allen
CSS Battle Royale
1st Place Snowboard Team – Warmwell
1st Place Ski Team – Braehead
CSS Micro Machines
Best male skier – Fynnlay Loupis
Best female skier – Layla King
Best female snowboarder – Mia Brookes
Best male snowboarder – Lewis Hopkinson
CSS 2016 – The Stats:
- 75,200 views of CSS videos online so far
- 64 snowboarders and 70 skiers
- CSS Snowboard Male 47 / Female 17 / Youngest Member 9 years
- CSS Ski Male 49 / Female 21 / Youngest Member 9 years
- 12 teams each competing in 5 matches over 5 months
- Around 15 coach/managers
- 7 artificial or indoor slopes involved
- 8 judges and 4 head judges
- 10 sponsors or partners
CSS is endorsed by GB Park & Pipe and supported through The Snowboard Asylum, Ellis Brigham, Delancey as well as Picture Organic Clothing, The National Lottery, UK Sport and national governing bodies Snowsport England, Snowsport Scotland and Snowsport Wales.
