Under the motto “Ralley to Madness” the first trick of the March Madness event series took place last Saturday in the Snowpark Lenzerheide. The perfect mixture of party and park convinced all present. Almost 40 riders as well as a lot of snowpark visitors celebrated the beginning of the March Madness 2010, which will continue on the 13th of March 2010 with the big March Madness Final!
At a sunny day with freezing temperatures the first freestyle enthusiasts bustled around at the Snowpark Lenzerheide and improved their tricks while the training, till the first two qualification runs of the men started at 10 a.m. To the motivated beats of the DJ Duo Radioaktiv the riders showed their ambitious and varied tricks such as Backside Rodeos, Cab7 and Switch Backside9. Speaker and parkdesigner Simon Kaufmann spoke about an “unbelievable high level in all categories”. The ladies convinced with their skills on board also performing at the pro line.
The contest was carried out on the pro line, consisting of a brand-new 9 meter downrail, an 11 meter table top, a 12 meter flat down box with three different take-offs followed by a 15 meter step-down kicker. Because of the different level, the Rookies (<18 years) got two-parted: one category put its ability to the test at the pro line such as the men and ladies; the other one showed its tricks at the medium line. Among the last group the judge appointed the best Rookies out of three runs. Winner of the Rookies at the pro line was the Suisse Luca Calabrese, followed by his compatriots Lou Staub and Lars Mulle. The medium line brought the victory to Lars Popp (SUI) and his colleagues Nicolin Balzer (SUI) and Simon Coco (SUI) the second and third place.
At 1.30 p.m. the final was just around the corner! At the men’s side the Suisse Martin Ziegler was ahead by a nose. Silver went to the Austrian Jooris Dorn, bronze to the Suisse Stefan Ackert. Additionally to the first three places, Ralph Heeb and Mathias Widmer (4th and 5th place, SUI) were glad about the direct entry into the March Madness Final at the 13th of March. The ladies competition won the Suisse Isabel Derungs, followed by her compatriot Stefanie Elmiger. At the prize giving the winners did not only expect material gifts such as a snowboard and bindings from Nitro, vouchers and goodies from Beach Mountain, but rather the best three men and the two women got the possibility to take part in a QParks Photo Shooting at the Snowpark Lenzerheide in the next weeks around the March Madness Final.
After getting new energy at a barbecue and cold drinks at the chill area, at 2.30 p.m. another highlight followed: At the Open Goodies-for-Trix Session both freeskiers and snowboarders showed themselves highly motivated. So they got numerous material gifts for their freestyle skills from the partners Beach Mountain and Oakley. “The atmosphere was really good, the weather was just a dream and the tricks on board were overblown”, Simon Kaufmann commented on the starting event enthusiastically.
After a long and intensive day on the mountain, all people got together in the evening for the hard-earned After Party at the filled Cinema Music Club at the Hotel Kurhaus Lenzerheide, where DJ Loo & Pacido (F) and Electronic Popstar Killers (Support: DJ B. Gahan) put on some music in the “Alien-Style” with pumping electronic sounds and kept the crowd shaking till dawn.
All in all the “Ralley to Madness” was a successful start of the “March Madness 2010” and created one thing for sure: desire for more Madness – in fact at the 13th of March 2010, when its time to gather for the March Madness Final at the Snowpark Lenzerheide – with more freestyle action, more material gifts and CHF 2.500,- prize money!
All information, photos and more you’ll find on www.lenzerheide.com and www.qparks.com!