Rugged Riders East VS West
Photo: Erin Helstern
The Rugged Riders Kinky Rail Jam series presented by Nikita had a pretty busy weekend, with two events happening on the same day! The East battled the West – we saw one crew of girls throw down at Mount St. Louis, Ontario and another crew of girls slay it at Mount Seymour, B.C. If you weren’t at either of these events, you missed the most progressive female amateur snowboarding in the country!
More detail and photos on the event after the jump
KINKY RAIL JAM @ MOUNT ST. LOUIS, ON
Almost 30 rugged ladies came out to the Junk Yard park at Mount St. Louis to rip under the sun and bluebird skies! If you’ve been to a Kinky Rail Jam in Ontario in the past, you’ll remember we’ve had nothing but heavy snow and bad road conditions…so needless to say, the day was already shaping up to be a great one!
The day started off with a game of K.I.N.K.Y. and a beginner clinic, then went into a jam format qualifying round for the intermediate and advanced riders. The girls battled it out as the tricks stacked up in the game of K.I.N.K.Y. Eventually it came down to Catriona Boyd and Jennifer Cusik left standing for the win. After the second round Catriona took home a limited edition Rugged Riders x Sentury snowboard with her winning trick of a gap front board to fakie out. MC Lindsay Smith kept the day rolling and the girls in line, while the crew whipped up burgers and Monster energy drinks for lunch.
After qualifiers, the girls warmed up with a Most Rugged Trick contest with a $250 Nikita shopping spree up for grabs. Jennifer Cusik held it down on the wall ride with a steezy handplant for the win, and soon after it was time for finals! The intermediate category was dominated by Marena Thompson who won a $250 gift certificate to Evolve Freestyle camp as well as a goodie bag filled with Dakine, DVS and Matix swag. Jennifer Cusik took home the advanced 1st place medal (a custom hand-made leather medal by Robot Leather Shop) along with a Dakine snowboard bag to use for her trip to the KRJ finals at Edelweiss Valley in Quebec on April 10th.
Many thanks to all the staff who volunteered to help make this day possible and all the girls that came out to ride and compete! Check out Womens Snowboard Federation and Rugged Riders for more pics and a video posted soon!
RESULTS
MOST RUGGED TRICK – Jennifer Cusik
K.I.N.K.Y WINNER – Catriona Boyd
BEGINNER JAM
1. Alison Abbott
2. Courtney Francis
3. Leslie Sparkes
INTERMEDIATE JAM
1. Marena Thomson
2. Heather McGee
3. Taylor Bull
ADVANCED JAM
1. Jennifer Cusik
2. Catriona Boyd
3. Jessica Woolsey
All Photos By Erin Helstern
KINKY RAIL JAM @ MOUNT SEYMOUR, B.C.
With another warm and sunny day in the forecast, so far we are 3 for 3 in the 6-event Kinky Rail Jam series presented by Nikita…Mother Nature must love her fellow females! 25 girls rocked up to the custom-designed setup that looked like a big playground, ready to have fun and compete for the great prizes.
The morning clinic gave the beginner riders a chance to learn new tricks with Rugged Riders coaches. They sessioned on a long flat box, with several of the girls attacking the gap between the takeoff and the box for the first time as if they were seasoned pros. By the end of the clinic the girls were no longer beginners as they were mastering tricks like boardslide to fakie, front board, and 50-50 to frontside 180 out. Some girls even took their skills to the oval butter box to learn spinning on the box!
The rest of the day’s scheduled timeline was thrown out the window partly because there was only one girl registered in the intermediate category! She chose to ride in the beginner category instead, and a rider’s meeting was held to determine the format of the advanced jam. Everyone agreed to award the top 6 girls, and the riders decided to jam on a selection of 5 features for 30 minutes each to judge on an overall impression of each rider.
The level of riding was incredible, and with the chill jam format the girls were vibing off eachother all day long. They sessioned a corrugated pipe, an urban down rail, a down-flat rail, an urban box, and the LRG pyramid which is a unique feature to Mount Seymour. Everyone watching from the chair lift was blown away by the tricks being pulled by these rugged ladies…props to everyone for showing the boys how it’s done!
Shout outs to: Jen and Brittany for their super skills, photographer Erin, filmers Dan and Noah, Tenaya from Nikita, DJ Ricky Martin, emcees Chad, Erin, and Chelsey, park supervisor Mark and the park crew, coach Marie-Noelle, Julie from Mount Seymour, and the rest of the crew!
RESULTS:
MOST RUGGED BAIL: Megan Taylor (boob smash on the LRG pyramid)
MOST RUGGED TRICK: Claudia Avon (back 180 to switch tail press to half-cab out on the urban box)
BEGINNERS JAM
1. Andrea Kruger
2. Siobhan McGeown
3. , Sanalta Duong
ADVANCED JAM
1. Cynthia Brassard
2. Tara Hickey
3. Claudia Avon
4. Kate MacMillan
5. Sara Niblock
6. Katie Hall-Leah
All Photos By Erin Hoque
The Kinky Rail Jam series is presented by NIKITA
In partnership with: Sentury Snowboards, SBCwomen.com, Basecamp, Updown magazine, Women’s Snowboard Federation, Adrenaline Divas, The New New.
Sponsored by: Dakine, West49, Matix, DVS, Les Ettes, Nibz, Red Button Creative, Dialogue, Robot Leather, Flave, Evolve camps.
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