The British World Cup Snowboardcross, Halfpipe and British Freestyle Teams kicked off the competition season in Colorado, USA over the weekend when ten riders, including Dan Wakeham, Zoe Gillings and Ben Kilner competed in the Chevy Grand Prix in Breckenridge and the King of the Mountain World Pro Championships in Telluride.
A Right Royal Event: King of the Mountain World Pro Championships
Zoe Gillings, Ivy Taylor and Tamsin Evans headed over to Telluride, Colorado on Friday 14th December to compete in the King of the Mountain World Pro Snowboardcross Championships. Hot favourite Zoe didn’t disappoint and finished in 9th place overall, despite a fellow competitor who was hot on her heels clipping her tail and forcing her off course during the final rounds. Ivy Taylor narrowly missed out on making it through to the next round and finished in a respectable 17th place. Tamsin Evans a newcomer to the team, who was competing in her first International Snowboardcross Event, unfortunately crashed out, but is determined to use the experience to her advantage and is already looking forward to competing in her next race.
Chevy U.S Grand Prix
On Saturday 15th December the British World Cup Halfpipe Team, including Dan Wakeham, Ben Kilner and Angus Leith along with members of the British Freestyle Team competed in the Chevy U.S Grand Prix in Breckenridge, Colorado. The huge prize purse of $10,000 and the 19 foot pristine Super Pipe attracted over 150 of the world’s best pipe riders including Olympic gold medallist Shaun White, Steve Fisher and Kelly Clarke. The standard of riding was immense and the British Team athletes linked together a variety of smooth and technical runs. Ben Kilner secured an excellent 44th position leading the way for the Brits, whilst Dan Wakeham finished in 47th place overall. The top podium spots went to an all American line up with Shaun White and Gretchen Bleiler taking gold.
After a quick Christmas pit stop all five British Snowboard Teams will be heading out to Portes Du Soleil, France for some pre-World Cup and Burton European Open training. For regular team news updates, click on to www.snowsportgb.com
