[EVENT] High Standards For The British Ski & Snowboard Championships 2016

The eagerly-awaited British Championships, AKA The BRITS, staged this month, attracted some of the best riders on the planet as well as a lot of very talented up and coming young athletes from the British freestyle scene.

Laax – A Swiss gem

For its 26 edition The BRITS headed back to LAAX – Switzerland – a life long love affair ! Anyone with any vague interest in freestyle has heard of Laax – Europe’s (and probably the world’s) biggest and best freestyle resort – Just look at how many edits have been shot here. Most recently Jamie Nicholls’ heavy top to bottom through the park.

The five stars snowpark is clearly the biggest asset of the Swiss resort – a comprehensive freestyle area with a good sporting vision and a dedicated park team always working on improving the overall course with new features installed every year – it provides a stage to some of snow sports’ world class events. You don’t need to be there long before you can see just why the top scene is visiting Laax all winter long.

Let’s have a look at some figures which makes one’s head spin :

The Slopestyle course, ready mid-December, is 550m long. It’s composed of three kickers, their size gradually increase and measure from 18m to 23m.

Credit – LAAX

Laax’s superpipe is currently the highest and longest halfpipe in the world, and measures 200m long and 22 feet-high. The term “superpipe”, which applies to this intimidating beast, is used to describe a halfpipe which at least measures 160m long and 21 feet-high.

With more than 90 obstacles spread over four snowparks and about 40 features from top to bottom of the main run down – the P60 – you need strong legs to complete the 1.2km long course !

20 people keep the place in shape during the day and rebuild it over night so the park constantly changes and is redesigned every day.

Credit – LAAX

A snowsports community

The British Snowboard and Freeski Championships welcomes pros, amateurs and first-timers. A true celebration of the flourishing freestyle scene, The BRITS acts as a springboard for the younger ones, giving the opportunity to anyone who wants to give-it-a-go.

Besides offering a strong competitive experience on one of the best terrain parks to its promising young athletes, the move back to LAAX helped to attract international professional riders, with the Team GB athletes there in force!

Olympic stars Jenny Jones, Katie Summerhayes, Billy Morgan, Jamie Nicholls, Katie Ormerod, Murray Buchan and recent Youth Olympics Halfpipe Gold Medal, Madi Rowlands were all there.

Success for The Brits 2016

As its April it was reasonable to expect nice spring conditions – but mother nature wasn’t playing ball.

Waiting patiently for the clouds to clear and show what they are capable of, competitors’ patience was severely tested during the week. They needed to adapt to unexpected circumstances !

The competition brought together all ages, enabling the up and coming talents to learn from and ride alongside the established GB park and pipe team.

The younger competitors already have the attitude, the confidence and some of them are already used to standing on the podium (a special mention to Mia Brookes). The British ski and snowboard scene has a bright future ahead !

Despite the less than favourable circumstances, athletes battled hard to be crowned British Champion 2016 across four freestyle disciplines : Slopestyle, Halfpipe, Skicross / Snowboard cross and the Bangers & Cash Rail Jam.

The conditions did not always permit all competitors to complete the qualification runs and the finals, so it had to be right the first time as it often ended up as a one judged run.

But it would take more than that to weaken the general enthusiasm. Carrying on no matter what, even when the fog came in intermittently and made it practically impossible to continue the halfpipe and slopestyle competition, and to meet judging requirement.

As explained to the competitors on the first day, the judging criteria are diverse : amplitude, grabs – hold as long as possible – and consistency. The difficulty and the execution of the tricks is taken into account as the overall impression.

Showing their talent, sometimes in several disciplines, competitors demonstred style, creativity, and technicality. Tyler Jay Harding even dared to put together his halfpipe run wearing only underpants.

Well, when I say it’s all about fun…

There was amazing skiing across all age categories, the riders pushing themselves to the next level. There was nothing but happy faces and a vibrant atmosphere !

In the end, whether you topped the podium or not, you can tell everybody had a good time riding amongst friends. Because yes, above all The Brits feels like a big family gathering.

It was four days full of action, good vibes and powder. There was no better way to end the season. The sun even made its way out from behind the clouds for the closing day.

See here for our daily reports and results Day 1 / Day 2 / Day 3 / Day 4

Additional Images Credit – Aivars Zee Zarins

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