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The new Natives Skier/Boarder X Series continued its series with the second leg in gorgeous Meribel last Thursday... Alex Kurkjian reports:
The second Natives Skier/Boarder X in association with Ski Club of Great Britain, took place up on the Platieres boarder cross park and luckily the sun was shining down on us, so it was a touch warmer than the freezing conditions we had in Val Thorens last month! Eager to win prizes! The word had got out not only in Meribel but also in neigbouring ones, about the return of the Natives race event, this time as a skier/boarder X rather than the giant slalom we've previously had, and everyone was keen to come and enter to win themselves our rather nice prizes thanks to all our fab sponsors! Everyone rocked up in the morning, a lot having made the trip over from Courchevel, to have a few practise runs of the course with its super sharp turns, and then the real action got going with the individual timed runs. Emily Sarsfield from the GB Ski Cross Team made it along to give coaching tips to help get everyone going too! Burger break! After the timed runs, there was a bit of break to give everyone a chance to savour the much appreciated free BBQ put on by our friends at Jacks Bar in Meribel... the chaps did a first class job with providing us all with yummy burgers and beer which went down a teat! Well except for the fact that it was still cold enough for the drinks to freeze, but you can't have it all!
The real competition got going...After we'd all scoffed our yummy burgers, everyone pysched themselves up as we progressed onto the more exciting head to head knock-out stages of skier and boarder categories. Four raced down against eachother as in the Winter Olympics, and separated the fast and the super-fast as everyone flew down the course! Some of the skiers made it into the fastest ever speeds the Meribel guys had seen, and amazingly there weren't any collisions this time either! Watch the video action...
Prize-giving Apres Ski Party
The finals were all done by about 2.30pm giving everyone time to do a few more runs if they wanted before we all descended on Jacks Bar for our prize-giving Apres Ski party. We had the musical lyrical delights of the impromptu named "Adam & Al" duo and plenty of free toffee vodka shots which went down a treat, both at the bar and up at the prize-giving! We even had the added entertainment when an extra Slide Candy hoody (which the owner Buck had ironically won) was given to the first person to rush over and give him big kiss - Nick from Evolution didn't waste any time in racing round the bar, and gave him a lovely fully-on macker to bag his hoody! A big thank you to all the team who helped make it another great event - Jim, Iain, our very own Natives reporter Spanky, Vicky B, Emily, Meribel ESF for all their help with the timing, Jacks for the fab BBQ & party, our local Meribel sponsor Slide Candy and of course all our very generous series sponsors: Westbeach, Forcefield, Ski Club of Great Britain, Profeet, Piste of Mind, RK, Ride Freesport, Warren Smith Ski Academy and British Freeski Camps.
Winners Well done to everyone for taking part in the first ever Natives Skier/Boarder X event of the 2011 series and especially to all the winners:
Male Skiers: 1st - Louis Shearer 2nd - Andrew Buckingham 3rd - Duncan McCreadie
Female Skiers: 1st - Sally Readman 2nd - Alex Buchanan 3rd - Danielle Freeze
Male Boarders: 1st - Gareth Hollingworth 2nd - Dan Rees 3rd - Paul Sparkes (Spanky)
Female Boarders: 1st Roz Loveday 2nd Claire Almond-Jones 3rd Vicky Norman
You can see more photos here as well as on our Facebook page, where you can tag yourself and your friends. Plus, look out for forthcoming video action clips on the website too!
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