Avalanche Safety and Transceiver Training

Lowlander – Own It 2011

Lowlander – Own It

On Saturday October 22nd, Aberdeen Snowsports Centre hosted Own It, a freestyle competition that is now part of the Lowlander/Highlander series with points going towards the Scottish and UK freestyle standings.

Here’s the report!

Aberdeen dominates medals at Lowlander event

Aberdeen dominated the medals at the first Snowsport Scotland freestyle competition of the winter season.

The annual Lowlander “own It” event which took place at the Aberdeen Snowsports Centre and was hosted by Aberdeen Snowsports Club, saw the riders pulled out all the stops with a spectacular array of aerial and jib tricks.

A very strong display saw the local riders dominate the Gold medals this year with Fin Jacobs (Ski) and Zarek Samdani (Snowboard) taking top spot in the kids’ section. With very strong performances from Hannah Mile (Women), Cameron Wood (Youth) and Grant Donald (Open) Aberdeen dominated the leader boards.

However, Vaila Cherman (Edinburgh) and Matt Corry (Glasgow) readdressed the balance in the snowboarding competitions by placing gold in the women’s and youth categories respectively. The men’s snowboarding category was a hotly fought competition, but in the end it was local boy Kris Bell that secured the open snowboard title in a tight battle with Jamie Trinder (Cairngorm).

As is traditional at Aberdeen a rail jam completes the competitive day with combined winners of the Lowlander and the Rail Jam being awarded the prestigious (and very large) “Own It” trophy! This year Grant Donald took the honours for freestyle skiing and Jamie Trinder did enough to take the snowboard title by slaying the rails.

The Lowlander Aberdeen and “Own It” has quickly become a firm fixture on the freestyle calendar, mostly due to the range of young Scottish ski and snowboard talent and level of competition it attracts.

Dave Rutledge, Competitions, Events and Volunteering Coordinator for Snowsport Scotland, says: “ The Aberdeen Lowlander and “Own It” competition has fast become a place for Scotland’s up and coming elite athletes to showcase what they have got on the dry slopes. There is no doubt that we will see many of these names featuring in the upcoming Scottish Dry Slope Freestyle Championships and the Scottish “Edinburgh” Freestyle Invitational both in December, and I am sure that many are names to look out for as professional stars of the future.”

The Glasgow Lowlander takes place on the 20^th November 2011 at Glasgow Ski & Snowboard Centre.

Full results for the Aberdeen Lowlander “Own It” are listed below.

Grant Donald - 2011 Own It Skier

Jamie Trinder - Own It 2011 Snowboarder

Pictures are available to view by clicking Here.

Results

Ski Women
1st Hannah Milne
2nd Erin Sharp
Kid
1st Fin Jacobs
2nd Rory Cameron
3rd Hamish Farquharson
Youth
1st Cameron Wood
2nd Andrew Hadfield
3rd Angus Jacobs
Open
1st Grant Donald
2nd Sam Harrison
3rd Rory Deasy
Snowboard
Women
1st Vaila Cherman
Kid
1st Zarek Samdani
2nd Fraser Jack
3rd Joseph Dionne
Youth
1st Matt Corry
2nd Sam McGrath
3rd Nathan Sim
Open
1st Kris Bell
2nd Jamie Trinder
3rd Chris Mahoney

Thanks to our Sponsors

OWN IT 2011!!

Own It Is Back!!

Aberdeen Snowsports Centres’ Annual Freestyle Competition returns to the slope on Saturday 22nd October.  This competition never fails to delight and this year will form part of the Lowlander series ran by Snowsports Scotland meaning not only will there be some amazing prizes up for grabs but also some all important series points.

There will be more information to come but for now here’s a wee taster of the juniors battling it out at last years event.

 

Skiing Halfpipe to be in the next Olympics

Another step towards freestyle skiing being recognised came today as the International Olympic Committee came to the decsion to include men’s and women’s halfpipe skiing in the 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, Russia.  Great news for freestyle.

Slopestyle is also being considered but a decsion will be made at a later date on that one. 

This is all big news and something that many have fought hard for for many years so big cheers to all involved.

Radar Final Edit & Whitelines

Check out the groms ripping it up at the sunny Radar Final in Tignes.  Look out for Fin in the No 8 bib. 

Fin’s efforts out at the Radar Final in Tignes showed he can represent against the groms from the rest of Europe, his effort have also got the attention of Whitelines and Fin gets a big up from their online pages.  Check out the article here.

Clean Sweep From Fin!

Huge congratulations to Fin for his clean Sweep at the Brits, 4 events, 4 medals, two silver and two gold!! Looking at the results it seems that Fin and Jake Terry had a head to head battle throught the whole comp.

Kids – Boardercross

1st -  Jake Terry

2nd – Fin Bremner

3rd -  Tomski Robinson

 

Kids – Big Air

1st – Fin Bremner

2nd – Jake Terry

3rd -  Tomski Robinson

 

Kids – Halfpipe

1st -  Jake Terry

2nd – Fin Bremner

3rd -  Brandon Bow

 

Kids - Slopestyle

1st -  Fin Bremner

2nd – Jake Terry

3rd -  Brandon Bow

Looking forward to hearing all about it from the man himself.  Good work Fin.

 

The Medals Keep Coming…

Our latest on the news desk from The Brits 2011 being held in Laax.
Yesterday saw the Halfpipe action take place in glorious sunshine, with Fin bagging another Silver medal for his skills.

Fin with his Silver Bling

That’s his 3rd medal in three comps which is amazing, we are super proud of you Fin.  We are also super stoked for Ben Kilner our local hero for getting Gold in the Mens Halfpipe.  Ben has been recovering from various injuries this year and it is looking like he is back on form, fending off some tough competition from Dom Harrington and Dan Wakeham to take the Gold.

 

Ben Kilner with a supersized backside air

Ben is a great guy who kindly popped down the slope last summer to recount the inspiring story of his snowboarding career to our young rippers, you can read about it and see more of the photos here.

 

Story time with Ben Kilner last summer at the slope

 

Fin is, understandably a huge fan and I’m sure he’s stoked that he not only got to ride the same pipe as Ben but pose with their medals together.

 

Ben Kilner and Fin proudly wearing their halfpipe medals.

Next up it the Protest Slopestyle happening today as I write this.  Fingers crossed for a clean sweep for Fin.

Where are you in the British Snow Tour Rankings?

Earlier this year the British Snow Tour wrote a Competition Pathway Mission, this was to…

“Develop a pathway for the general enthusiast to become a global top athlete. Partner with global organisation’s such as World Snowboard Federation (WSF), Ticket to Ride World Tour (TTR), FIS, and national organisations such as Snowsport England, Scotland, Wales, and Combined Services etc to deliver the national objectives.”

For the first time events such as the Scottish Freestyle Series would be included alongside the British Snow Tour and other events, the objective to “Create a ranking system enabling athletes to assess their ability and progress and for coaches & home nations to identify & cultivate talent.  Expand the successful British Snow Tour (BST) to include existing National Championships & new UK based competitions.”

Big steps towards a fair way of spotting talent and creating a National team.

Scottish Freestyle series at Garthdee

This means if you entered any of the Lowlander events this season, or any of the British Snow Tour you’ll have a ranking… exciting stuff.  There are a few Aberdeen names on there so click here to see the British Rankings so far, top of the lists from Aberdeen are Fin Bremner with a ranking of 18 and Emmet Strachan close behind at 19.  On skis Grant Donald is rated at 25 with young  Keilan Bremner coming in at 33.

Still to be added to these results will be the Brits happening now out in Laax (more to follow on this) and the final Highlander Round to be held at Cairngorm on 2nd April so it’s not too late to climb higher up that ranking ladder.

 

FIN TAKES SECOND!!!

Radar Winners

Huge Congratulations to Aberdeen’s Fin Bremner who held his own against riders from the rest of Europe to get 2nd place in the Quiksilver Radar Final!!  With a high 5 from Jenny Jones and an interview with Whitelines we should be hearing a little more about Fin’s efforts soon but for now here’s the news from Quiksilver on the winners.  The other UK finalist Monty Right took 3rd in the male skiing too so big things for the UK scene, nice one guys. 

The Quiksilver & Roxy Radar final took place on Friday in Tignes, during the Winter X Games. The winners of this pan-european contest whose aim is to detect tomorrow’s champions are: Amanda Gustavsson – Sweden (Ski) and Hanne Eilertsen – Norway (Snowboard). They both win a one-year contract with Roxy. Jens Johnsen – Norway (Ski) and Mathias Ecklhoff – Norway (Snowboard). They both win a one-year contract with Quiksilver. Amongst others, the contest was judged by Freddy Austbo, Markku Koski and Margot Rozies, and the prizes were awarded by Mathieu Crépel on the X-Fest’s main stage.

Snow Cross Video and Press Release

Ski and Boarder Cross – the event of the 2010 Vancouver Olympics returned to Scotland for a second time on Saturday 5th and Sunday 6th March 2011 with the Western Saab Challenge, Scottish Snowcross Championships dominating the slopes at Glenshee Ski Centre.

Organised by the highly regarded Aberdeen Snowsports Club and sponsored by Saab the event is the only one of its kind to be held in the United Kingdom.

100 competitors from all over the United Kingdom raced head to head in an adrenalin and action packed knockout race along a course consisting of man-made and natural rollers, jumps, kickers and banked turns, all at high speed.

The event took many days of preparation with Glenshee Ski Centre specially cutting the track and moving hundreds of tons of snow with two dedicated piste grooming machines. A dedicated organising team of 30 volunteer officials from Aberdeen Snowsports Club, supported by Snowsport Scotland and Ian Findlay, British Ski Cross Team Manager worked for 3 days to make the course safe and competitive. Specially commissioned starting gates, similar to those used at the Vancouver Olympics, were taken to Glenshee’s Meall Odhar slopes and erected by Maritime Scaffolding of Aberdeen, a firm that specialises in building such structures in harsh environments.

Fresh spring snow made the race conditions excellent, the sun shone and with no wind the course was fast and exciting. This resulted in spectacular conditions and the sun came out on the course for the finals.

Sponsored by Saab and supported by Salomon, Zaini Hats, Red Bull, Tierney Strachan and, of course, Glenshee Ski Centre, the atmosphere on the course was electric with Red Bull pumping out the tunes on their music truck.

Experience showed through as the men’s title of The Saab Challenge Scottish Skier Cross Champion was won by British Ski Cross Team member Ed Cozzi with his first ever visit to Scotland while Gordon Skiers Coach Louise Kochalski took the gold in the ladies category.

The Saab Challenge Scottish Boarder Cross Champion men’s title was won by Glasgow rider Tim McGregor who also recorded the fastest qualifying run with a time of 59.59 seconds. The ladies title was won by Anna Richardson.

Olympians Ben Kilner and Alain Baxter added to the event with their support to the riders.

Alain Baxter, “Last year’s Championships were a great addition to the Scottish and British snow sports scene and it is fantastic to see such a prestigious sport coming to the UK. It’s great that Saab have continued to support this new event. The standard of those competing was phenomenal and it was great to see all ages enjoying the race. “

Alain Baxter and Ben Kilner with big smiles

Local rider and Olympic Snowboard Super-pipe finalist in the 2010 Vancouver Olympics Ben Kilner said: “I learned to ride at Glenshee and it was amazing to see so many young riders throwing down some excellent moves as the raced the course. Snowcross is a great event and I’m stoked that Aberdeen Snowsports Club brought this to Glenshee. I’m sure some of those we saw today will go on to greater things!”

Neil Miller of Western Saab commented: “Here at Saab, we’re really pleased to have been invited to sponsor such an exciting event. It was fantastic to work with Snowsport Scotland and Aberdeen Snowsports Club, and the Western Saab Challenge was a great way to show our innovation and represent our Scandinavian heritage.”

Iain Findlay, British Ski Cross Team Manager said, “It’s been great assisting Aberdeen Snowsports Club with this event. That a local club can put together and organise a race of such quality is superb, raises the profile of Boarder and Ski Cross in the country and provides a genuine pathway for those wanting to enter the sport.”

Neil Cameron, Chairman of Aberdeen Snowsports Club, commented: “We were delighted with the success of last year’s event and were thrilled to run it for a second year with the support of Saab and all our other supporters. I hope that everyone who took part had a great time and we’re already looking forward to next year’s event.”

For a full listing of results click here for ski and snowboard.

For more photos click here