The Brits In portrait (part two)
The British Snow championships AKA The Brits celebrates its 20th Anniversary this year.
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The competition is the pinnacle of the British snow scene combining half pipe, slopestyle, big air and boardercross contests within a week long party. HUCK talks to some of the UKs top riders about this unique scene.
The Brits takes place from March 28 - April 4 in Laax, Switzerland. www.britishsnowtour.com. Packages start from £269 which includes – 7 nights’ accommodation, 6 days lifts pass and event wristband.
Name: Dan Wakeham
Age: 27
Hometown: Plymouth, Devon
Sponsors: Nike ACG, Head, Von Zipper, Grenade Gloves, ThirtyTwo, LG
“I was the first male from UK to compete at the Olympics in Turin in 2006 but there does seem to be the lack of funding for athletes. The British Olympic Association seems to put all the money into summer sports what with London 2012. I think it helps being used to riding dry slope and riding whatever the conditions, but that means there’s not much excuse if you don’t ride well.”
Name: Laura Berry
Age: 20
Hometown: Milton Keynes
Sponsors: Red Bull, Ride, Vans, TSA
“There is a great summer scene in the UK as all the indoor snow slopes and dry slopes put on loads of competitions. But riders tend to be a lot better at rails as the slopes don’t have very big jumps. The scene is still pretty small though so everyone cheers each other on instead of being really competitive.”
Name: Sam Cullum
Age: 20
Hometown: Bracknell, Berkshire
Sponsors: DC, Oakley, Ride, Skullcandy, Arcus
“I’m in the UK snowboard team and have to travel everywhere, always on the move. But with this, we don’t get the same scene like people who do a season in one place. It can take a while to work your way up the international ranks doing the FIS and TTR but then suddenly you can get good and no one expects it!”
Name: Johno Verity
Age: 32
Hometown: Malmesbury, Wiltshire
Sponsors: Animal, Vans, Adidas Eyewear, Atomic
“When I started it was easier to get sponsorship as you didn’t have to ride at such a high level. The competitions were a real shambles but now it’s getting very professional, it’s really impressive! I’m not too bothered about parks or competitions though, I like to spend my season freeriding.”
Check out part one featuring Jenny Jones, James Stentiford, Scott McMorris and Dom Harrington.
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The Brits (text) by Ed Andrews is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.Comments (3)
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Sick series!
Well done!