SOMETHING A BIT DIFFERENT
So as we enter the heart of Autumn with the weather getting colder and wetter... I thought I'd delve into something a bit different from my usual Saturday night babble.
A few of you may already be aware that when it comes to Winter Sports I'm a little bit of a nerd. Quite often I'm left in awe of some of the ingenious tricks and bravery of the stunts that are attempted and occasionally pulled off professional Skiers and Snowboarders. Everything interests me and excites me about the Snowboarders and Skiers. The speeds they reach and the science behind their performance is particularly intriguing.
Well in early 2016 the Snowboarding Big Air World Cup is coming to London. Yeah, I'm expecting proportion of the people reading this to think "Right, He's off his head. Finally lost it" but this really is something I've been crazy about for a while. I had brought tickets and everything. Really hyped up.
So you can imagine my disappointment when the organisers (FIS) made putback the event from early November to "early 2016". I was not best pleased.
Basically "Big Air" is where riders (one at a time) fly down the mountain and hurl themselves off large jumps whilst performing a variety of audacious and ambitious tricks to try and impress judges. Kinda like diving but it's extreme slopestyle. The riders will be judged on the height, distance and landing of the jump as well as the difficulty of the trick they are performing. It's just as crazy as it sounds. It's only been in the World Championships since 2003 and the safety of the event has been questioned on repeated occasions. For those that prefer a more visual explanation have a gander at the picture and video below!
For any fellow keen Snowboarders that are thinking "Who's performing?" ,well as it's the World Cup all the best snowboarders from around the world will be present! Well, Those that are available and fit at least. However, if you're expecting to see Shaun White rock up to the top of the mountain then you may be getting yourself a bit confused with the half-pipe event.
Prior to the event being postponed in November, all the top "Big Air" snowboarding athletes were down to throw themselves off the ramp for our visual satisfaction. But, obviously there won't be a confirmed line-up for a while as injuries and availability of athletes could take their toll during the Snowboard season. They can be a busy bunch.
One thing that is for sure though is that there will be plenty of English snowboarders on show at the event including Jamie Nicholls after a sterling display at the Winter Olympics last year and Bristolian Jenny Jones after winning bronze at the games last year (even though she isn't competing. Other boarders competing include Billy Morgan, Aimee Fuller and Katie Ormerod who are all medal prospects.
We live in a bit of a mad world where we can have Football World Cup's in Qatar and Winter Sports in London. So how can London actually facilitate the Ski and Snowboard World Cup? Well, just grab around 360 tones of snow that you may have lying around, chuck in a few snow cannons, a 120m long course (longer than Wembley) in the Olympic Park and apparently that's more than enough to host the biggest competitive snowsports event in Britain to date. A record that was previously held by Scotland.
I guess you guys are now starting to wonder how all this stuff came around? Well, The FIS snowboard big air World Cup and international ski invitational will form part of UK Sport’s National Lottery funded major events programmes. So big up to UK Sport for sealing and now helping to play host to this event which won't just be all about Snowboarding and Skiing. Oh, no! There is also going to be a variety of food, live music and a crazy after-party if that's your cup of tea ofcourse. Even though the event has been postponed and a new date has yet to be announced the Big Freeze organisers have already announced the prices of tickets. This whole day is available for an apparently reasonably priced £50. "Crickey Chipp, That's a bit steep pal" Well, at least it's cheaper for students by £5. That's something I guess... yay.
I will be doing a Periscope QnA/Quiz on Friday the 13th around Snowboarding which will be a lot of fun! Please tune in to that one!
A few of you may already be aware that when it comes to Winter Sports I'm a little bit of a nerd. Quite often I'm left in awe of some of the ingenious tricks and bravery of the stunts that are attempted and occasionally pulled off professional Skiers and Snowboarders. Everything interests me and excites me about the Snowboarders and Skiers. The speeds they reach and the science behind their performance is particularly intriguing.
Well in early 2016 the Snowboarding Big Air World Cup is coming to London. Yeah, I'm expecting proportion of the people reading this to think "Right, He's off his head. Finally lost it" but this really is something I've been crazy about for a while. I had brought tickets and everything. Really hyped up.
So you can imagine my disappointment when the organisers (FIS) made putback the event from early November to "early 2016". I was not best pleased.
Basically "Big Air" is where riders (one at a time) fly down the mountain and hurl themselves off large jumps whilst performing a variety of audacious and ambitious tricks to try and impress judges. Kinda like diving but it's extreme slopestyle. The riders will be judged on the height, distance and landing of the jump as well as the difficulty of the trick they are performing. It's just as crazy as it sounds. It's only been in the World Championships since 2003 and the safety of the event has been questioned on repeated occasions. For those that prefer a more visual explanation have a gander at the picture and video below!
For any fellow keen Snowboarders that are thinking "Who's performing?" ,well as it's the World Cup all the best snowboarders from around the world will be present! Well, Those that are available and fit at least. However, if you're expecting to see Shaun White rock up to the top of the mountain then you may be getting yourself a bit confused with the half-pipe event.
Prior to the event being postponed in November, all the top "Big Air" snowboarding athletes were down to throw themselves off the ramp for our visual satisfaction. But, obviously there won't be a confirmed line-up for a while as injuries and availability of athletes could take their toll during the Snowboard season. They can be a busy bunch.
One thing that is for sure though is that there will be plenty of English snowboarders on show at the event including Jamie Nicholls after a sterling display at the Winter Olympics last year and Bristolian Jenny Jones after winning bronze at the games last year (even though she isn't competing. Other boarders competing include Billy Morgan, Aimee Fuller and Katie Ormerod who are all medal prospects.
We live in a bit of a mad world where we can have Football World Cup's in Qatar and Winter Sports in London. So how can London actually facilitate the Ski and Snowboard World Cup? Well, just grab around 360 tones of snow that you may have lying around, chuck in a few snow cannons, a 120m long course (longer than Wembley) in the Olympic Park and apparently that's more than enough to host the biggest competitive snowsports event in Britain to date. A record that was previously held by Scotland.
I guess you guys are now starting to wonder how all this stuff came around? Well, The FIS snowboard big air World Cup and international ski invitational will form part of UK Sport’s National Lottery funded major events programmes. So big up to UK Sport for sealing and now helping to play host to this event which won't just be all about Snowboarding and Skiing. Oh, no! There is also going to be a variety of food, live music and a crazy after-party if that's your cup of tea ofcourse. Even though the event has been postponed and a new date has yet to be announced the Big Freeze organisers have already announced the prices of tickets. This whole day is available for an apparently reasonably priced £50. "Crickey Chipp, That's a bit steep pal" Well, at least it's cheaper for students by £5. That's something I guess... yay.
Hope you enjoyed this read and I'll be back with another write up soon!
I will be doing a Periscope QnA/Quiz on Friday the 13th around Snowboarding which will be a lot of fun! Please tune in to that one!
Chao!
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