|
2010 Mountainboard World Sweetcase Championships A long time ago in a land far, far away, an elite group of mountainboarders set forth to test their skill in the ultimate challenge of skill, strength, stamina and stupidity. Thus in 2007, on a cold spring day in Scotland the World Sweetcase Championship was born. After an intense freestyle battle, the final came down to two riders who were both on top form, the mighty, yet ungrateful Joe Dickson facing the milky Dave Compton. Two riders, one grab; who would be crowned the first ever world sweetcase champion? The pressure was on and alas MBS pro rider Joe Dickson cracked under the pressure on his final run. Grabbing roast beef instead of sweetcase, Joe handed the victory to milky Dave, who with much grace and nobility did one of the sweetest sweetcases ever and went down in ye olde history books as the first ever world sweetcase champion. With a two year hiatus the WSC’s was brought back to life in a surprise announcement at the Ride The Hill Vert Jam. Riders were stunned, surprised and excited that they could be a part of history, putting their sweetcase skills to the test. But before we go into the ins and outs of what happened at the 2010 World Sweetcase Championships we must first divulge into a little bit of sweetcase history…
The sweetcase is much like the suitcase, a grab where the front hand grabs the toe edge but in the style of a method, in fact some might say the sweetcase and suitcase are identical. True believers know that the sweetcase is much more than a grab, it’s a lifestyle, an ethos to live by, to do a sweetcase is to shout to the world “hey, this is me, this is my style, these are my dreams, my hopes, my fears. This is my sweetcase.” Invented by John Poole and made famous by the likes of Ig Wilkinson, the sweetcase has a cult following and has continued to permeate mountainboard culture throughout history. Tom Kirkman has done sweetcase 1080s, Akoni Kama taught Travis Pastrana how to sweetcase on a motorbike and Jamie Johnston sold his sweetcase to the devil in return for his epic rail skills. With this in mind, the World Sweetcase Championships 2010 was always going to be the event of the year... Within 5 minutes of announcing this epic event the riders were warmed up and ready to go. The event would be in a train format where all competitors had to follow each other in succession with one run to show off their sweetcase skills. The crowd were shouting, the sun was shining and the riders dropped in... Several riders cracked immediately, grabbing indy, mute or even melon. There were some sweet sweetcases, but even the likes of evilC and Matt Brind who despite solid sweetcases failed to qualify for the finals. Once again it came down to two riders, Knockhill Mountainboard Centre’s Gary Crowhurst and the BFC’s Dutch legacy Nicky Stirrups Geerse...
To recognise the progression of mountainboarding and the sweetcase in the years since the first WSC there was a new rule thrown into the final. Each rider would have to do a sweetcase as part of a trick, a difficult and daunting task for even the most accomplished rider. Stepping up to the challenge first was Gary who went massive with a frontflip; unfortunately he failed to grab sweetcase and despite a nice melon grab he failed to win the judges over. The title of World Sweetcase Champion was there for Nicky to take, and take it he did with an amazing sweetcase to indy showing the world why he is Holland’s best mountainboarder. And with that it was over, another year, another BFC World Sweetcase Champion, make sure you practice those sweetcases and get in shape for the next World Sweetcase Championship!
Words by Rhys Crilley Photos copyright Dirt-Monkeys
|
| Latest Waffle | Most Read Babble | Random Piffle |