Freestylers go on the rampage for F.I.S. points at The Remarkables this Friday and Saturday with two F.I.S. rated events.

Top New Zealand riders and some from around the world will display their talents in the Parklife Superpipe on Friday and in the UP & GO Terrain Park on Saturday.

The Remarkables youth action coordinator Josh Clark promises a massive couple of days.

“We’ve got a large prize pool with heaps of cash up for grabs, one of the best Superpipes around and a sick Slopestyle course. You won't be disappointed as a competitor or as a spectator. There’ll be great viewing from the chair, down on the ground and even from your armchair at home or your office… in fact, wherever you are.”

The Remarkables Rampage kicks off in the Parklife Superpipe on Friday (August 24) with an event expected to attract most of New Zealand’s top riders as well as a line up of visiting internationals.

The competition continues on Saturday (August 25) with athletes heading into the UP & GO Terrain Park to display their skills in the Slopestyle.

“We’re expecting a massive display of riding as athletes work to build their F.I.S. points tally. It’s an international level competition and it will be fantastic to see the Parklife Superpipe and the new UP & GO Terrain Park used to their full potential.”

“I’m rapt to see it streamed this year – this will extend the audience to everyone with a broadband internet connection.”

For those entering the competition, registration is $45 per event or $75 for both events along with a $20 fully refundable bib deposit.

This is a massive competitive event and numbers may be restricted so it is advised to pre register by emailing admin@theremarkables.co.nz. Alternatively, you can register on the day on a space available basis, at The Remarkables Terrain Park Shack between 9:00am and 10:00am Helmets are mandatory. .

Luke Porter & I jumped in the STS truck & headed over to pick up Stu, Woody was already up on the Mtn clicking shots off. As you can see from the pics it was bluebird, what a pleasure heading up to the Remarks on a friday, tunes on, coffees in hand, sun beaming down and pipe action ahead of us! Once we'd made it to the top & geared up we headed straight to the park & pipe area where Josh & the Parklife crew were set up & the reggae beats throbbing out. Riders were gathered at the top waiting for their number to come up & cue from the MC then time to step off the plate into pipe world for the judges to score.

The Rampage is an FIS sanctioned event so an important one for riders keen to rack up world ranking points or qualify towards a spot in the upcoming World Cup at Cardrona next weekend.
Judges & the FIS tec. deligate were from 4 different countries.

The Parklife park & pipe is nestled in a large bowl surrounded by amazing looking terrain reaching up into the clearest deep blue sky you have seen, a big quad chair rips right up the middle from way down giving a great perspective of the park action on your ride up. The pipe was looking fantastic, immaculate with firm walls holding solidly for the comp & running spot on to time. From the onset of our arrival it was cool to see a good crowd on the side, cameras out & the moves being thrown down in a thoroughly chilled out scene. Move wise it was all go, the stock airs were there with spins - 5's, 7's & 9's a strong part of the mix.

From early rounds the field was cut to a 6 person final in both womens & mens with the top scoring of two runs the ranked run. The field was pretty mixed on an international level & today it was the Spaniard's turn to show up the technical skills with the Verges brothers taking 1st & 2nd!!!! back to back clean grabbed 5's & a 900 to corked 7 combo sealed the day for a stoked Isacc Verges over his brother Ruben with 0.9 separating the two, stepping into 3rd was Klemen Flisar of Slovenia giving the Euros a clean sweep, On the local front Bene Stewart slipped into 6th as top Kiwi.

For the girls Miyahara Akari of Japan took gold! she put down some solid grabs then scored up with the back to back 5s spin combo before heading into the 3's. Queralt Castellet of Spain pulled into second only 0.9 behind Miyahara, with the well know Elle Richards of New Zealand stomping the tricks into 3rd place & Paula Mitchell right behind her.

We finished the day of pipe action with a quick hike up from the shadow basin chair to drop one of the shoots as a total contrast to the freestyle rocking we'd seen - as you do with the Remarks insane big mtn. riding & sick park/pipe mixed together........now, with everyone else that was up there, we're perfectly lined up for a couple of cold ones & friday night in QT.........

Tomorrow it's the Slopestyle starting at 10am, the forcast is for another pearler of a day, Queenstowners will be up the Mountain in force & huge props to the Remarkables & the Parklife Crew - the park is looking sick!!!!!!!!!!

talk to you again soon......

LUCA SOULOS
Sub20.com

mens
1st isacc kerges spain
2nd ruben kerges spain
3rd klemen flisar spain

women
1st akari mixahara japan
2nd querari castellet solvena
3rd ellie kiraaras nz

Photos: Jeremy Pierce

Quick sumup of finals with Luca
sub20.com

Today it was all about slopestyle with the event kicking off at 10am under yet another clear blue sky in Queenstown! Once again the boys were on the case heading up to catch the happenings. If you haven't been up to the Remarks to check the park then you should seriously put it in your trip plan.*

The park is in epic form showing that the Parklife crew have been busy & serious about creating a full blown feature packed area in it's own bowl (with the big 4 seater running straight overhead) focused on all levels of freestyle riding with rails, boxes, 1/4's, skate features including a wall ride & spine, kickers of varying sizes with big run outs & a 1/2 pipe. You get a long run with a good choice of options allowing you to vary it up when doing laps - good work boys & chicas!

Riders stepped up to kickoff & the line up included a few big names in NZ snowboarding - RMB - Roland Morely Brown & Heath Patterson who were the ones busting out the big point scoring runs & managed to pull the gold & silver respectively. Rolly's winning run went front board pretzel off the first down rail then straight to the clean solid grab cab 5, stomped for the speed drop to the second big booter and off with the huge floaty slow mo back 5 then down to a front 180 on the box with a switch back 180 off, next up a front board down the down/flat/down finishing off with another sweet f/s 5 on the last water race kicker & out..............nice!!!!!!!!!!! He was 2.4 points ahead of Heath who was banging off the sweet 5's all day also into the big wind that had picked up as the day rolled forward.*
3rd up was Joram Makuru NZE also with the highest scoring fat back 7 getting the big respect & thumbs up from the judges.*

On the girls side it was the high amplitude Callie Conaghan of Australia who stomped the big tricks in true Pro style taking the win with a 50/50 on the down rail to huge straight air into backside 360 on the second booter, then to front board slide on the box, next boardslide on the down/flat/down finishing off with the clean frontside 360 on the water race kicker. Kiwi Charlotte Trundie stepped up to take 2nd place & Japans Mina Shimizu took away 3rd place!

The wind was up at the end of the runs but great snow & features & judges had plenty of numbers written down to dish out the cash so all in all a sweet comp to wrap up the successful Rampage weekend!!!!!! The rest of the afternoon was free for riders to hit the mountain & since the wind was blowing across the kickers, the area of choice became the shadow basin where we, along with plenty of others, put in lap after lap of constant windblown powder slashes & face shots through the middle shoots & shady lady face, & trail jibs until lifts closed & our legs were falling off. As 4:20 pm rolled around we finally packed the truck and headed down the dusty snake.........it was another epic day at the remarks!!!!!!!! - freestyle park action & fast paced freeriding.......now it's saturday night in Queenstown........riders are*celebrating*with their winnings......people are stoked & the bars are starting to pack out, i'm about to crack into a cold one.........i'm sure you can imagine the rest.......

enjoy your sunday

LUCA SOULOS
Sub20.com

Photos: Miles Holden & Jeremy Pierce