Thanks to all of you who read and supported the Goat Post this last year. That’s me away now, but be sure to keep checking back here for all the news from Garthdizzle!
A special thanks to Dave and Mal for supporting the idea, and to those of you who sent me articles and photos. A final shout-out to all the riders at the slope, for giving me stuff to write about! Keep it up!!
Cheers,
Duthie
Saturday 5th December - Hillend, Edinburgh
Round 3 of the Lowlander will be held at The Midlothian Snowsports Centre Centre (AKA Hillend) on Saturday December 5th.
As promised we will be taking the team bus down to the comp, registration time is still to be finalised but is likely to be around midday. We will be leaving Aberdeen Snowsports Centre at 8.30am to give us plenty of time to get there.
Make sure you get your name on the list at reception if you want to come on the bus, and leave your phone number so we can get in touch with you.
Travel costs as per the last trip will be £10.
Contact Beth by email at bethwoodall@btconnect.com if you have any questions.
Cheers, see you on the bus.
You may have heard by now but it’s worth saying again: On Wednesday 25th November, The Airbag is coming to Aberdeen!!
The price is £35 for a two hour airbag session, this also entitles you to an open session either before or after you have had your airbag session. PLACES ARE LIMITED SO YOU MUST BOOK IN ADVANCE TO GUARANTEE A SPOT, PLEASE CALL 01224 810215 TO BOOK NOW!!!
Headover to http://www.theairbag.net for a preview!
After six months and twelve rounds, the G.O.A.T. series all boiled down to one night, where riders’ ability to call upon all the tricks learned during the series would be put to the ultimate test. The likes of Andy Wilson, Frazer Rennie, Vanners McLean and Andy Laird were absent, but it was still a strong field that headed out to compete, with Nicol encouraging a fun and relaxed atmosphere to the competition right from the start.
Barry Parker reaches for the air up there. LeBron who?
The rules were simple: three attempts at each trick, the rider with the most tricks landed wins. With the temperature dipping below zero, the riders were keen to get moving and soon set about stomping their stock tricks. In a hectic start it was Grant Donald and Ally Gray that stood out early on, landing trick after trick on their first attempt. Kris Bell struggled at first, missing his signature backside 540 twice in a row. Still, with the pressure on he managed to deliver on his third attempt, and soon he was right back on form. Fin Bremner was in a similar situation with his cab 5, eventually nailing it off the kicker after two sketchy tabletop attempts.
After a while the field started to separate, as the more challenging tricks proved too much for some riders. Ally, Nicol and Barry Parker had cruised through the rest of the list, with all air tricks coming from the kicker, but they all came unstuck on the switch backside 5. Barry came agonizingly close on his last attempt, throwing a perfect spin but bailing over his heel edge on the landing. Andy Gibson managed to step up and land his first ever switch back 5, but came up short over the battleship. In the end it was only Fin and Kris who got all the tricks on the list, both finishing off with a switch back 5 over the tabletop.
Matt Hellingoe throws in a grab, and borrow's Wilson's 'Blue Steel'
The ski final was a three-way battle with all the riders giving it everything. Matt Hellingoe hit a smooth 720 on his first attempt, but previous missed tricks meant that it was too late to catch Grant and Angus Jacobs. Grant couldn’t get his switch 5 but, as Angus had missed a trick earlier in the night, it looked like he’d done enough to take the win. Angus required his first ever switch 5 to draw level and take it to sudden death. With nothing to lose, he charged at the table and floated it round perfectly on his first attempt. With that, both competitions were still very much alive, and it headed into a sudden death trick-off…
First trick out the bag for the boarders was a frontside 3 in the quarter pipe. Kris dropped in and nailed it first time. Even with the pressure on, Fin hit a 3 that was just as big and smooth as Kris’. While the boarders headed back up for the next round, Grant and Angus took on their trick: a 720. Grant had fallen on his first attempt earlier in the night, while Angus had stuck his, so it was a very apprehensive Grant that was first to drop. Much to his own surprise, he nailed it, getting a solid rotation and showing great strength to ride away. Angus couldn’t match him and Grant was declared the winner, the crowd showing huge appreciation for both riders.
Meanwhile, the snowboard contest got more and more tense. With a backside 3 called, Fin once again followed Kris’ lead to send the sudden death into a third round: 50-50 to boardslide to fakie over the battleship. As usual, Kris owned the feature, even throwing in a noseslide on the down section. Fin was looking good but slid off the side of the rail before the end, and it was all over.
The riders headed to the shack for the prizegiving and a chance to warm up. As well as Grant and Kris, there were prizes for Fin, Angus, Matt, Andy Gibson and Natalie Riley, who all picked up some of the swag that had been generously donated by the slope. All in all, we’d seen a phenomenal dedication to progression from the finalists. It was also amazing to see just how well the younger rippers coped with the pressure, and how strongly they stood up in a comp dominated by older, more experienced riders. A huge congrats to the deserving champions Grant Donald and Kris Bell, and to all the riders who made the final such a memorable event.
GOAT Champion (ski): Grant Donald
GOAT Champion (snowboard): Kris Bell
Best Junior (ski): Angus Jacobs
Best Junior (snowboard): Fin Bremner
Most improved (ski): Mathew Hellingoe
Most improved (snowboard): Andy Gibson
Dedication award: Natalie Riley
Thanks to Dave Jacobs and Katie Bremner for the photos, and to all the riders and supporters on the night.
Lowlander – Round 2
November 21st – Bellahouston, Glasgow
Leaving time 8.30 am
Round 2 of the Lowlander will be held at The Glasgow Ski and Board Centre (AKA Bellahouston) on Saturday November 21st.
As promised we will be taking the team bus down to the comp, registration time is still to be finalised but is likely to be around midday. We will be leaving Aberdeen Snowsports Centre at 8.30am to give us plenty of time to get there.
Make sure you get your name on the list at reception if you want to come on the bus, and leave your phone number so we can get in touch with you.
Travel costs are to be confirmed but should be around £10.
Contact Beth by email at bethwoodall@btconnect.com if you have any questions.
Cheers, see you on the bus.
It’s the last one…
That’s it for the trick list, but we’ve still got the final to go! The G.O.A.T. page has all the info you need, as well as the complete final standings of the competition.
The final is this Saturday, and it’s also the debut of the Saturday night freestyle sessions which will run all winter, don’t miss it!
Lowlander at Garthdee 31/12/09
Nicol’s given us the lowdown on the Lowlander, have a read. Also check out the photos in the gallery below, courtesy of the Strachans and the Camerons:
The first round of the Lowlander series at Aberdeen Snowsports centre saw skiers and boarders flock from all over Scotland. With over 40 competitors this was the busiest Lowlander to date, not to mention all of the spectators at the bottom who helped add to the atmosphere.
With the sun shining, red bull flowing and some good tunes playing it was set to be a good day. With the practice session starting at 12, the southerners were flipping, spinning and jibbing in all directions, this gave our local riders a wee shock and they seemed to be slightly nervous at first. The competition was to be based on slopestyle, where you link features together. First off everyone had 2 judged runs on the kicker and quarter pipe and then it went onto the rail run where we had Mal’s box linked onto the battleship.
Stand outs at first were the well known McCormack brothers from Glasgow. Danny was spinning not only backside 7’s but switch frontside 5’s, frontside rodeos, these were all landed flawlessly and linked onto the quarterpipe for some more spins and flips. His younger brother Matt on his board and Chris on his skis were keeping the crowds attention with a consistent flow of well executed manoeuvres.
By this stage our local riders at Garthdee realised that they were going to have to pull something special out the bag if they were to claim a place on the podium. Local snowboarder Kris Bell was one of our competitors that was looking strong and confident and was giving Danny McCormack a run for his money on the quarter pipe. Angus Jacobs was most definitely giving it his all by putting a lot of effort into his newly learned 720’s, unfortunately Angus didn’t land many of them but kept on showing his true spirit by getting back up and trying again. Once Ross Cruickshank’s nerves had settled he was pulling off some nice stunts with some sizeable switch backflips and mistly flips. Close friend Mathew Hellingoe was also improving as the afternoon progressed. Local skier Grant Donald finally found his feet after a shaky start with some sweet switch 3’s followed by his signature flare in the quarter pipe. Whilst the older, more experienced Andy Wilson and Mike Hewson owned the slopes with some huge spins from Mike followed by big airs in the quarter pipe, it seemed Andy was going to be the guy to beat with his switch 7’s followed by switch rodeos in the quarter pipe, although Hector Barbour stepped up his game as the competition went on.
It was great to see the few females that we had busting a gut for a prize, although disappointingly there was only a total of 6 girls. I’m sure there are a lot more of you out there that are more than capable of competing so next time come on down and give it your best.
Stand out for the females was Natalie Riley, she was hitting the kicker with some solid 360’s followed by the same rotation on the quarter pipe; Sophie Addison did well to pull off some smooth nose grabs and later stepped up to some 180’s but unfortunately failed to land them, however she made up for that by pulling of some silky smooth jibs on the rail line. Rebecca Morrison was giving it her all on the table top with the backside 360 and some nice backside airs on the quarter pipe. Rebecca Eccles was looking solid with her line on her skis and Local Lass Beth Woodall showed off her multi talent by not only freestyling it on the skis but the board as well, good to see! Jessica Crichton had travelled all the way from Fort William and was practising the day before which secured her with some sweet 180’s.
Rowan Cameron was looking confident with his new boots and trousers, he was flying towards the kicker and quarter pipe pulling of some well executed airs, however to get a place on the podium will perhaps need to step up to spinning over features in the future.
Findlay Bremner started off a little nervous then pulled things together to getting some sweet runs under his belt, Fin didn’t even use half of his trick book. Emmet Strachan was looking really strong landing almost everything he tried, linking features together not only with style and precision but you could tell Emmet had in mind just exactly what he was going to do. This is what you need in a competition like this, a little bit of pre planning and most importantly a back up plan. It is also important to sometimes sit back and gauge what everyone else is doing and landing, this will then give you a better idea of what to go for.
The Glasgow guys seriously started stepping it up with Matt McClement going for a 1080!! Unfortunately for Matt he failed to land, never the less he kept everyone else on there toes. Pete Medows ‘two feet Pete’ was pulling of some very smooth 7’s followed by Mctwists on the quarter pipe, this wasn’t enough to gain him first as his good friend Matt McCormack matched his 7 on the kicker and followed through with a barrel roll on the quarter which was smoothly landed.
8-11yrs Snowboarding Emmet Strachan 1st Findlay Bremner 2nd Brandon bow 3rd
12-15 Snowboarding Matt McCormack 1st Pete Medows 2nd Matt McClement 3rd
16’s and over Snowboarding Danny McCormack 1st Kris Bell 2nd Mitch Flynn 3rd
Female Boarding. Natalie Riley 1st Sophie Addison 2nd Beth Woodall 3rd
Female Ski. Bex Eccles 1st Beth Woodall 2nd.
Ski 8-11 Chris McCormack 1st Cal Sanderson 2nd Angus Jacobs 3rd
Ski 12- 15 Ski Ross Cruickshank 1st David Bilsland 2nd Grant Donald 3rd
Over 16’s ski. Andy Wilson 1st Hector Barbour 2nd Mike Hewson 3rd
All in all it was a great day and apart from our amp blowing and losing our music and MC everyone seemed to have a great day, let’s hope we can tempt all competitors up to our very own ‘OWN IT’ on the 19th of December 09.
Grant Donald was the Goat Post’s man on the scene at the Dundee University Rail Jam last weekend. Sounds like it was great event, with Aberdeen boasting a solid team. Read Grant’s report below:
Skills of the Irish: no luck required as Emmet Strachan locks in a boardslide
On the 24th October 2009 the University of Dundee was set to host a Rail Jam. With real snow being taken from the Sno!Dome in Glasgow as well as some features it was to be a good set up. The rails that were taken were a street rail
Grant Donald gets the landing gear down as Fin Bremner looks on
(single rail wide) , a short box and a down box. With a few familiar faces from Aberdeen such as Will Smith, Ben Kinnear and Mark Watson. With Matt Helingoe, Emmet Strachan, Fin Bremner and Grant Donald riding together as a group with some of the Glasgow crew alongside them. As the Jam began the rain began to pour and the snow hardened and became very icy.
On Emmet’s first run he struggled with the rail and ended up on his head next to it. Through-out the competition he stepped up his riding and showed the crowd what hes made of with a stomped 180 on 180 off the down box. Fin was sticking some sweet 180s off the rail and hit the street rail a few times which was pretty good going. Sophie Addison was throwing down some sweet 5.0s and boardslides and a 6 foot mudslide that made everyone smile ! The Mens Boarders were mostly hitting the street rail and attempting 180 on 180 off with Mark Watson and Kevin Cowie nailing a few. Despite the run-in being slower to skiiers than boarders, the skiiers were throwing lots of varieties of tricks. Switch-ups, 270s on and off galore. Bellahouston riders Gareth McLean, David Bilsland, Pierce and Rory Houlihan were doing pretzels and spinning on, making an impression to the judges. But it was Rory Houlihan who make everyone laugh by bailing into and under the rail and tearing out the boards
Matt Hellingoe, 270-on: learned at Garthdee, stomped in Dundee.
underneath. Matthew Helingoe and Grant Donald were representing the skiiers form Aberdeen. Matt was droping in on all the rail and doing some sweet railslides. He stepped up to 270s onto the small box, which gave us some funny bails to laugh at because of the speed problems. Grant Donald was also having problems with the speed but managed to do some switch-ups, ski-slides and attempting some 2s off.
Soon prize-giving was upon us and we headed into the union bar to be first to the seats. The first set of prizes being given out were the JUNIOR SKI: 3rd place went to Grant Donald , 2nd place to Gareth McLean and 1st to David Bilsland. JUNIOR BOARD: 3rd – Fin Bremner, 2nd: Jessie (Glasgow) And a Grand first place to Emmet Strachan who won himself a pair of size 9 thirtytwo boots. Overall barring the heefin’ rain and wind everybody had a great day out and we will be back next year.
Thanks to Dom at DUSC and all the sponsors for the tee’s, do-nuts on great prizes and a brill but very wet day out.
Rogues' gallery: Fin, Kielan, Grant and Emmet.
One round to go!
The deadline for round 12 has been extended by another week. This will allow for the final trick tip to be filmed, and for the last few riders to step up and make it to the final!
The final page has been updated too, take a look!
