The Grimentz Comp was organised by Maude Richon, Swiss Nikita rider, she is the driving force behind the female competitions in Switzerland. Maude coaches at Central Camps in Thyon and is planning a girls comp tour for the 09/10 season – so look out for more comps. The girls only comp allowed the competitors to show their skills all day and then a decision was made on the best riders (best runs);

1st place – Anais Cotteu
2nd place – Laura Marro
3rd place – Gilly Seagrave

Arriving at the park I was extremely happy to see that the sun was baking that part of the hill, creating a nice safe playground for us. The park set-up was great; 2 jumps (5m) with box options next to them, and then some crazy looking rainbow c-boxes – yes that’s right – crazy! A picnic table followed that was placed at the top of a jump, that looked hard at first but was not so challenging once you got used to it. The run in was high and steep (like a spine take-off), but as it the case with jibs it was way easier than it looked. It looked like you could get hung up on the table; I think one girl was unlucky enough to have the fateful hook-up!!

When I got to the top of the park I met a girl that was full of smiles and a little nervous, she said she had come one week early to practice and was now nervous because the standard of riding was higher than she had expected. I said that as long as she does what she had planned to do and had fun then she had no need to worry. I think events should not be about what others do, it should be about how you feel about your own riding at the end of the day.

I tested the jumps and boxes, I think the jumps were about 5m long but the landing were pretty flat so you really had to go for it to make sure you got the sweet spot on the landing. Having the small kickers meant that everyone was trying to spin which is great, I would much rather see that than a bunch of grabs on bigger kickers.

The jam format was great for getting the best out of the riders as everyone had the chance to get a clean run under their belt and then you could go onto more progressive stuff, knowing that if it did not go right the first time we could keep going until we got it right. The rest of the day was spent riding with some lovely girls watching some amazing riding and basking in the sun.

To secure 3rd place I did a f/s 540 to switch, b/s 180 to nose slide, and then onto the picnic table for a 50/50. Anais won with her b/s 360 to f/s 540 to cab 270 on and off the long box and then something fancy on the picnic table.
Laura Marro was pretty stealth . I saw her 50/50 to method off the high flat rail then un-clip one foot to slide the long box one footed! She then went high tech and nose pressed the bench part of the picnic table which gained her 2nd place. The most important point to make here is that Laura is not sponsored! Not for long, I am sure!
Another standard out rider for me was Roxanne Hellmuller, I met her at the start of the day while she was psyching herself up to try the rainbow c, by the end of the day she had not only nailed it but made it whilst spinning around!

So, another brilliant comp organised by Maude, she definitely made sure that everyone had a great time. I was very, very happy to be selected as the rider to be invited to her next comp in Thyon, “The Goodie Lady Session” on the 7th Feb – watch this space for that story coming soon.

Written by Gilly Seagrave, sponsored by Atomic, Protest and Adidas.