Last weekend saw the last event of the 2010 British Snow Tour indoor series: the Protest Slopestyle Championships.

Over 150 of the UK’s top riders hit the slope at Castleford SNO!zone to showcase one of the most hotly contended UK slopestyle competitions to date.

The slopestyle jam kicked off the day’s snowboard action and displayed the standard of riding to-come with Katie Blundell (women’s) Matt Cory (under 16’s) and Tom Hunt (over 16’s) crowned as the overall jam session winners.

In the Women’s Protest Slopestyle Championships an impressive 22 riders hit the slope and the standard of riding was really high making it a tough call for the judges. 2009 Champ, Lynsey Ashdown who had been riding consistently well all day cemented her position as one of the UK’s top slopestyle riders by adding the 2010 title to her collection. Lynsey’s winning run included a frontside 50-50 to fakie on the top street rail, a cab boardslide, switch-up to fakie on the box followed by a switch 50-50 to 180 out and 180-on 180-off on the bottom rainbow rail. Second place went to Katie Ormerod after a faultless final run which included a noseslide on the street rail, a backside 180 switch-up on the box and a technical 270-on 270-off on the rainbow box. Sophie Nicholls who’d been charging the course all day walked away with third place after she threw down a solid run which included, a backside 180, switch-up on the box and cab 180 boardslide to fakie on the bottom rainbow box.

Protest Freeski Slopestyle Championships

The afternoon’s freeski action kicked off with the relaxed slopestyle jam session with Katie Summerhayes (women’s), Harris Booth (under 16’s), and Josh Jenkins (over 16’s) walking away as the overall jam session winners.

During the Women’s Protest Slopestyle Championships Katie Summerhayes continued to impress all and stepped it up to retain her title on home turf. Katie’s winning run included a blindside switch-up on gas pipe, a 360 switch-up on the flat down rail, a blindside 270 off on up box and a technical k-fed on bottom rainbow box. Second place with an impressive 270 disaster on the flat down box went to Castleford local, Kerry Daines, whilst 13 year old Molly Summerhayes, the second youngest female competitor of the day finished in third place with a smooth switch on, switch-up and switch off on the top rail and 270-out on the bottom c-box.

The inspirational Schools Tour programme also finished with a bang at Castleford, replacing the time-tabled double-physics at two local secondary schools with an interactive presentation and the chance to have a FREE ski or snowboard lesson, courtesy of the Protest Learner Academy. Hanging up their satchels for another year the schools tour team have successfully visited eight schools, presented to over 4,000 kids and given away 500 FREE taster lessons. A special shout out goes to team including, Becky Hammond, Paddy Graham, Pat Sharples, James Thorne, Sean Miller, Andy Bennett, Charlie Richards and Tom Coe.

To check out the photo galleries and videos from the Protest Slopestyle Championships and for a full list of results go to:britishsnowtour.com