THIRTEEN ROCKS

It may have been the first major competition organised by the guys at Fear of the Park (FOTP) and FBBB but you wouldn't have known it! Two months of planning and organising Thirteen over the internet paid off big time when the 12 May 2007 finally arrived.

The guys were up until 4am on the day of the event preparing the park and then spent another 4 hours of shaping and grooming on the day!

Their efforts were rewarded with 130+ riders eagerly registering for the hotly anticipated comp and park setup. They had only expected 60 riders, maybe 80 maximum!

The comp got underway with 132 Skiers and Snowboarders jibbing up the park a treat in the 2 hour jam while the judges selected the best of the bunch for the final jam - the Park didn’t hold up as well as they'd hoped due to the sheer number of riders in such a short space of time - however, the riders adapted quickly and rode as if it was their last ever shred!

The tricks on show were pretty awesome. Big respect goes out to all those riders that rode hard, went big and stuck those technical tricks down! Most importantly everyone rode with a smile on their face and looked like they were having fun!

The final jam was so difficult for the judges to separate the winners that they had to keep the snowboarders riding for an extra 20 minutes and boy did they up their game! Solid styles from many riders - some of whom had travelled quite a distance - saw a hotly contested final 30 minutes, and with Joe Driscoll pumping out the tunes to a packed bar, the evening was going very well.

The final jam session came to an end, trophy & prize presentation followed and then there was the long anticipated after party with Ch!co on the decks.

Congratulations to the male winners in the ski category - Charlie Smith (Stoke) came first, James Webb (Bracknell) second and Tyler Harding (Halifax) third. In the women's category Shelly Jones took the top prize with Amber Conners second and Katie Summerhayes third.

But perhaps the biggest congratulations should go to the organisers of this new and brilliant addition to the Competition Calendar feeding a thriving UK scene - the teams behind FBBB and FOTP, and especially Richard Webb and Mike Chen. Props to you guys, nice one!

Read more, see more pictures and find out about the next time at: www.thirteen-event.co.uk.