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The sickest, slickest, silliest & slidiest event of the year On Saturday 14th August there was supposed to be some major big air freestyle action at the Battle of Bugs, but it like totally rained dude and the jumps were not playing fair at all; The conditions, however, were perfect for a spontaneous alternative comp... Witness the wetness! The turnout looked slightly thin compared to last year (maybe because of the weather forecast) but peeps kept With tents up there was fun to be had catching up, jibbing about on rails n mini-ramps, but it was a bit worrying when at that night it started pouring and literally didn't stop till 11ish saturday morn... The World Mountainboard Freestyle Powerslide Championships of the World 2010 was on!!! With a load of trial runs in progress, the pro judging squad took their seats and Justin Dersham mc'ed the riders meeting, like totally reading the rules for everyone so they knew where they stood (which was a sloping wet field with a couple of slalom poles marking the start-of-yr-powerslide). The rules included disqualification for 2 hands down, wheels off the grass, Akoni Kama face, or for just being lame, with extra points for style, originality, kamikaze yell, costume (or lack of), and catching an edge. The prizes were unbelievable, undeniably some of the sickest things ever in the history of mountainboarding, including a melon, some used batteries and a pregnancy test kit. This awsome goody bag of goodness no doubt inspired the riders to go for their biggest and best drifts of their lives, aiming to make Colin McRae look like a wuss. And that they did. As the riders sliders got stuck in, things got more inventive and creative and indeed hilarious. With Ollie Pume Bomber Mobbers and Jamie Shizz haircut leading the way in homo-erotic flesh baring, we got to see a right old load of fun. Cownie followed with his top-off 'Pure Power' slides, DC did the first blind-slide, Rhys came home with a sick bottle-of-water-spraying slide, and then it was all a blur. We got 360 slides, edges-caught-on-purpose slides, slides in Jimmy jams, one-footed slides and double-interlocked-duo-board power slides (which, well-deservedly, took the melon!). The likes of Martyn James, Renny Myles, Dylan Warren, Raf and loads of others all shredded the grass with grit, determination & fairy liquid. Now check out the lovely Dirt-monkey photo gallery of the antics! After what must have been an epically long half-hours powersliding action, it once again started to really bucket it down and the kerazy comp came to a soggy close. We all split sharpish to get out of the rain again, running (+ boarding) like rabbits to our burrows. After a short while though, the Cumolo Nimbus' headed elsewhere and left us with a fairly bright afternoon. Some filming took place featuring Tom, Renny & some of the pro's: The boards were dragged out once more, and a makeshift feature was created (with the lorry longbed and some mini-ramps). Joe Dixon also wanted to try out his crazy homemade filming equipment (dolly + crane, fyi)... The riding carried on for a bit before fodder, and then the evening took over, with the compulsory bonfire and choonz and more crazyness. Fingers were crossed for the sunday; however... Alas, it wasn't to be. It brightened up again but the jumps were so wet they swallowed your hand if you poked them. The run-in to the quarter looked especially rubbish- not something you want if you're planning on showing off your masterly mountainboard skillz... The decision was made and the Battle of Bugs was officially postponed. With pressure off, it bacame more social, and riding carried on; Goldie took revellers to the top again & again, riders practised, hit the drop & rails, pulled off sick tricks, and had fun carving up & sliding down that Gloucestershire hillside... And so it only goes to say, that despite it not being quite what we (or you) all expected, it was still jokes, with sick creative mountainboard riding. A great weekend, really making the best of it... There were smiles all round, albeit slightly soggy ones :) For more photos of the antics, go see the lovely Paul Crilley @ Crillpix here... If you're on FB, drop by Paul Taylor and see his cracking snaps here... You can also see a fweeeet vid nicely summing up the vibe of the event by Ben Rye on ProjectDoc here... Hungry like a wolf! The Battle of Bugs will now take place on 2nd October 2010. Be there. Thanks to all, especially Bugs Boarding :) words by nards (lol), photos copyright Daz (Dirt-Monkey) Murphy and Dan Wilson 2010 |
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