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Mt Ruapehu Spring Festival 2002 |  |
2001 Spring Fest |  |
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| Whakapapa
& Turoa N.Z |
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since high emphasis is placed on having
a good time at this annual pilgrimage that's exactly what went down,
blended of course with freshies, spring jib slushies, a larger
chunk of New Zealand's best riders, debauched bar antics,parties,
golf, carrots, a 13ft rail in the main street and general chaos.
events started for me with a big session of sky movies when I arrived
with jms to stay at mike smith's house [marketing honcho of RAL, former
punk band member of the '
johnny's' & grommet from rangiora as with myself] while the rain
poured down and down and down.
once the torrential finally subsided we hit the big W for the long
awaited retro race. Dave suckling event commander and chief walky
talky user on the mountain assigned
every one a gate[pole] and said stick it in somewhere down there,
and so a course was born, The gear that came out was epic so many
early and mid 80's and 90's
classic boards and clothes, Sims switchblades, Burton elites, old
kempers, crazy bananas etc, I managed to pull out my one and only
ever pro model, a hand made
plywood Burton elite copy with my name on it that my brother Karl
made me in 84' - thanks mate; wasn't very fast with a spray can painted
base and 2 hose straps
screwed on sand paper for bindings but what bloody ripper of a day
I had on it!. sonny fisher tore it up, Ben Stewart rode a board twice
his height with almost no side cut,
some of the girls squeezed themselves in2 tight 80's ski suits[didn't
look to bad actually] Dave should get special mention for carving
off his hair in the badest mullet you've
ever seen for the day . so it was plenty of competitors/participants[however
that's spelt] and once again a big supa good day, something you just
never do. then we hit turoa for the Rossi slopestyle in the big park, the hunt bros & park crew had turned it on again with a sick park and two giant booters, they put you right up there, rails + ; the riding was unreal Tim jackways ruled it on the day taking the cash. we had tunes going, the judging panel, sunshine, and I was on the mic again talking up as much bullshit as I could .everyone just ripped it infront of your eyes. we all had plenty of time to session it before the event which made it fun and exciting as the riding level increased with the amplitude and variations. hana Sullivan threw down backers, ju bray went big, haidie ruled the rails and spins to name just a few of the girls. the local boys matty grube, the hunts and Dan F among others represented! dick Shultz who flew over from usa for the week and at 57!!!!! clothes lined himself on his first ever c-rail at the bottom of the course but got the biggest props from the riders for charging it like a legend . south/north everyone impressed and had a great day next event and straight after was the rossignal 1/4 pipe jam that ran pedal to the metal for a solid hour + of non-stop boosting in a little heat/sun trap area beside the cafe and below the pipe. spectators packed the sides - it was such a good jam, Stefan, will jackways and crispin from Canada/wanaka were the standouts, the airs were huge again, inverts/spins big stacks and double ups , Quentin Robbins, neilsy ,trev P and Jeremy caird charged it up for the methven represent! so well past the end of the day sunburnt and stoked we headed down for that nights entertainment. the nitro jib nationals were the next event up, roscoe, Ritchie hunt,matty G etc had been working for 2 days constructing a big take off tower and 13 ft rail, it was all down town and at night outside margies, well ,both bars going flat-out with spectators in the special booths upstairs and packing the street. the primo freerider guys were there filming, truck loads of snow were bought down by the road crew and everyone got in to make it a massive night. In sts format as we called it, the non -stop prizes and cash were shot out to competitors during the event for all kinds of called crazy stuff , attempted tricks and appreciated riding, respect to Ritchie hunt who took it on the night and haidee took the girls title. once again the jib nationals [born in the whakas car park 3yrs prior] ripped the bag. since everything happened during the event it was straight into party and intoxication mode for everyone that was..................and a substantial night as you can imagine [some good band was playing next door that I didn't quite make - it didn't matter.] the next night it was the NZSBA awards dinner , - massive is the word, heaps of people dressed up in mad costumes etc Sam deavol and hana as a pair stole that glory pimping it out with sex and style, Jamie basset rocked on the costume front with some big wig and headband action to go with the getup, everyone was rocking! Darcy gave hilarious spiels as he does, guy and Sheryl- higher ground giants party'd like they do so well! as did ants and Russ of Quest ,the two top freestyler of the year crowns went again to AJ[aaron jamieson], and Julian bray in the women's, Joel Webb took the jnrs and Kendal brown the jnr girls, took the retailer and cardrona -resort of the year, the racers got theirs also[can't remember all to be fair] riders and industry people all together between the powderhorn and the projection room got themselves to whatever state in a good old night in the battle between chaos and control in nz snowboard history 02 a bit of weather held off the pipe and boarderX, and Burton jam so we'll get that next year, instead we held the Burton invitational golf 9 hole pro am [ open to anyone ] such a good recovery cruise on a sunny day, most of us weren't that sharp with the clubs but had a top time unleashing. Jeremy northcote [nzshred] and local ripper tom took it out much to their surprise mike and Dave S took 2nd , jms and I teamed up and got to the podium for 3rd unbelievable! so plenty of team of snowboarders strolled the greens in 4's - very semi civilized[k2's Jesse pushed her mountain board around incase of the odd sand trap jib] ,Sonny fisher from Burton presented the athletes their winnings at the after function at mikes house - a great bbq! and fitting close to another adventure in ohakune at the week long channel z spring snowboard fest. big thanks to RAL, mike, Dave, Kim, Sophie and all the crew up there also all the sponsors see you next year Luca. / boarderzone team |
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| REACTION |
| CHECK THIS STUFF OUT |
Sub20 website Snowpark website
Harro Photography
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