Some of Britain's best riders competed in the first Oakley Grom Games last weekend at Manchester's Chill Factore - the massive crowds of spectators gathered to watch the events were in for a treat...

Over 150 competitors too part
On Saturday, April 17th, the first ever Oakley Grom Games hit Manchester's Chill Factore, quickly earning its place in the must-do freestyle events calendar. The Grom Games was attended by over 150 skiers and snowboarders, including some huge names in the industry. Competitors travelled from the outer reaches of the UK, with only those who booked well in advance securing their places.

The day consisted of two jam sessions, one for skiers and one for snowboarders, allowing competitors to showcase their skills on one of the best indoor slopestyle set-ups to have been built in Britain. Standards were sky high in each of the four age categories, with competitors fighting it out for unique prizes such as the custom-made Oakley Grom Games goggles. The incredible atmosphere among competitors and spectators was intensified by the awesome Red Bull DJs, who blasted out the tunes all day long.

The evening invitational event followed, with seven invited skiers and snowboarders taking part plus 10 riders selected from the earlier jam sessions by the Grom Games judging panels, which included three times gold medallist Jenny Jones. The qualifying riders had their work cut out competing against huge names such as British champs Jamie Nicholls, Katie Summerhayes, James Woods, James Machon, and legends such as Scott McMorris and Wayne Taylor, to name just a few. Each rider got two runs and the judges picked the best four scores to decide who went to the super final.

In the snowboard event, Manchester local Col Mytton put on his third hat of the day, this time as a competitor (Col also designed the park set up and judged the Jam session), laying down some smooth runs with his crowd pleasing back flips to secure 3rd place. But there was a super close battle for 1st place between Simon Cudlip and Jamie Nicholls. Simon’s huge enthusiasm and energy made him a formidable competitor but in the end it was Jamie Nicholls' super-tech run that convinced the judges that he should take the top spot.

In the ski invitational Joe Tomlison wowed the huge crowds with his stylish Rodeo 5 bow and arrow grabs to place him in 3rd and Murray Buchan, who has been killing the comp scene recently, secured 2nd place. But the unstoppable James Woods (aka Woodsy), whose recent results include 5th in the US Open, 4th in the European Open and British Slopestyle Champion, put down some of the most impressive runs ever to been seen at a British snowsports event to win the grand prize of a lap top computer and the title of the Oakley Grom games champion!

Tension was high at the prize giving, not only was the accolade of Oakley Grom Games Champion at stake, but also the chance to walk away with laptop computers, Oakley watches, Salomon skis, snowboards and boots and much more.

You would think that was the end of the excitement but the most entertaining and eventful part of the evening was about to begin, with a battle for the 50” Panasonic plasma TV between a skier, Josh Fawcett, and a snowboarder, Jordan Gee. The decision as to who walked away with the TV was made by an intense competition of ‘Rock, scissor, paper’. It was head to head until eventually Jordan won the grand prize. This started the Red Bull after party with a bang!

A big thank you to all the Oakley Grom Games sponsors: Red Bull, Salomon Freeski, Salomon Snowboard, Skullcandy, Subvert board stores, Snow & Rock, Baw Bags, and Nando's for supplying all the invited athletes with free food for the day.

All of the Jam session results and the Oakley Grom games video will be up online shortly on www.gromgames.co.uk. The organisers of the event would like to thank everyone who attended and for making it such an incredible day. We also also apologise for it going on later than predicted and we promise to make the next Oakley Grom Games even better next time!