Thirty-two of Europe's finest snowboarders made their way to Graz last weekend for one of the best in city rail setups yet seen. The 3,000 spectators were treated to a perfect show of technical and stylish tricks from some of the biggest snowboard and freeski personalities around. The rail and box setup on the ramp was ridden with the highest level of skill and Graz received a freestyle show like it had never seen before.
The contest kicked off on Friday afternoon and the finals were held under floodlights in the evening on Karmeliterplatz. Between the quals and finals the crowd and of course the riders were treated to the Quiksilver Money Shot session, 30 minutes of freestyle trickery on the special obstacle which turned out to be an Alfa Romeo in graffiti style. The best tricks were awarded with cash in the hand. The best trick on the Alfa was pulled off by Atomic and Blue Tomato Teamrider Roli Scharmer (AUT) who was the lucky rider to take home the Mark Phipps Quiksilver surfboard.
The Superfinals in Snowboard and Freeski were a hard fought out battle. In the end there could only be the first three in each discipline. The Atomic riders took home the glory in both Snowboard and Freeski. Atomic and Deeluxe rider Tadej Valentan (SLO) tied first in the snowboarding alongside Quiksilver and Blue Tomato rider Herby Thaler (AUT), both narrowly beating local ripper and Blue Tomato rider Paz Gruber (AUT) and Benny Mayr (GER) snatching the Freeskii victory ahead of Luggi Brucic and Thadde Jaas (Ned).
The riders were then whisked away in the Redbull bus direct to the Arcadium afterparty which was as full as you can get a party. Roli Scharmer proved he can DJ as well as he can ride, putting on a great party alongside DJ buddy B.visible. Alongside the fine tunes the party people were treated to the Capita Snowboard Movie "First Kiss" on the big screen. If you were not there, you have to ask yourself why ..
Results Snowboard
1st place Tadej Valentan - Atomic, Deeluxe, Smith, Sessions, Tigas
1st place Herby Thaler - Blue Tomato, Quiksilver, Lib Tech, SP, Adidas
3rd place Paz Gruber - Blue Tomato, Rome, Grenade, DVS, SP, Smith, Matix
4 th + Winner of the Quik Money Shot:
Roland Scharmer - Atomic, Blue Tomato, ACG, Smith, Nomis
Special Award:
Vera Jansen (only female rider) nutcrackerrailjam.com