The Atlantic Cup Mega Post

The Atlantic Cup just went down on the Basque Coast of France, more precisely in Anglet where a bunch of pros and other industry types gathered to take a break from snowboarding and kick/chase some balls. It was truly an international showing with people from every corner of the globe coming down. Everyone charged hard and there were probably more sprained ankles, twisted knees and sore calves after last week than an entire season could do to these riders. Despite the pain it was fuckin' awesome, to put it plainly. Here's a bunch of photos!The Spanish team and their goalie Soren Manzoni aka The Spanish Fly were getting ready for the tournament by surfing swells off Ilbarritz and eating puppy food!  It all got started at the Beach House bar down at Chambre D'Amour in AngletThe weather was wet and wild, Chris Weber getting hyrdrated from inside and out.Gary Greenshields aka "Roberto Gaggio" came prepared with his beach poncho for the rainy weather Ethan Morgan was ready despite getting pelted by wind and rain on the first two days, seriously wearing goggles might have been a good idea...Local legend Dani "Kiwi" Meier warming up the engineThe Spanish Fly was born to play under the 3 posts. He even has footballs for testicles! Look for yourself (no Photoshop!)Spain's Fidel Alonso, voted the Tournament's Best Player, hanging with Finland's Jari Tuoriniemi, who was unfortunately quickly sidelined with an ankle injury but gave his team pleny of support and hi-fives throughout the CupThe ballNike TM Jon Weaver warming up with some shake-face headers as Friday's Greg Martin looks onCoin flip before the start of Austria vs France with the Papa Weaver refereeingGigi has been hitting the gym latelyThe Spanish team looking Spanish, Kike Carcelen, Fidel Alonso, Soren Manzoni & Juan PolancoAustria's Lars Oesterle takes a corner kick versus FranceNico Müller soaking in a quick pocket of sunshineMarkku Koski and Piraten Ludschi feeling the burnTeam Austria trying to stay dryRainbow on a rainy day, Sani Alibabic, Sally Braid and Jason HortonEd Leigh feeding words of wisdom to fellow Englishman Adam GendleJames Neiderburger staying cool and color-coordinatedDead DutchiesDavid Van Gessel has been growing out his hair for this oneAustria ready for finals day, Jon Weaver's German skills have become so sharp that they consider him a fellow schnitzel nowMarco Feichtner totally had the Eye of the Tiger going onChris Weber and his little wide-eyed cutie pieApparently the cool thing in snowboarding now is to have kids. Here are some of the young Spanish supporters.If this gets any cuter I'm going to be sick, Mini Master Copsey caught out on the hand ball call!Finland's keeper Henri Kunnas aka The Wall &  Finland's courageous captain and agent extraordinaire Ilmo Niittymaki Sideline chat getting heated with Nike's Brain Craighill, who flew in from the US to dominate, and event organizer/musician/genius Florent de Maria aka "Flonaldo"Iker Fernandez has mucho board and ball controlEngland stretching and 'grammingCraighill has stamina and was ready to fill some big bootsManzoni getting international coverage during his between-match siestaRamon showing off his jambon. As they say about the Spanish, football is their blood, and in their balls!Kapelli hurdling over a determined English tackler to get into the FinalAustria keeping each other loose-y goose-yThe rematch between France x Spain in one of the semis didn't bode well for the Spaniards as the Frenchies advanced by a score of 2-1Juanderful playing from Polan for SpainBourbousson charging Iker with action figure He-Man legsFrench keeper Thomas Sarrameda looking out over the field at his team tries to put one past the SpanishJan Scherrer aka Mr Fuck YeahFlonaldo De Maria pounding down the plastic grass with Muller throwing up the defensive tentacles. Photo by Jason HortonTeam Finland (+Rest of the World) drinking beer and picking their pasty white noses on the sidelines, enjoying the Finals and getting some well-needed sun. We didn't win but it was a glorious 5th place Finnish. See what I did there? Photo by Jason HortonAlluan Riccardi fires off the cannon during the penalty shoot-out that decided the Final  of Switzerland x FranceI-Pod getting his foot loose to fire off his penalty shotThe penalty shoot out was super tight, Ed Leigh keeping tallyHere is the footage of the shootout!After the keepers squared up against each other for the last penalty shots, the French came out on top. Check out that hot pile of French fries!Allons enfants de la Patrie, le jour de gloire est arrivé! The French take the inaugural edition of The Atlantic Cup on home soil. Bravo les Blues!

Hi-5's to all the players, organizers, sponsors and fans, see you all again next year!

Photos by ADT