It was billed as the biggest dryslope event in history, and the BUSC Dryslope Championship certainly lived up to expectations. Over 600 competitors from 58 Universities between Plymouth and Aberdeen took part in the most varied plastic competition ever laid on.

There was action on both Friday and Saturday at Midlothian Ski Centre in Edinburgh, and the BUSC organisers were damn lucky with the weather - clear skies for the most of the time and not a hint of rain.

Friday night saw racing action on both the main and tow slopes with both runs of the KPMG skier slalom held on the longest and steepest plastic slope in Europe while the boarders got to grips with the Optic Nerve dual slalom race.

Oxford Brooke's Lorne Noble began a winning streak in the skiing while Ben McHugh from Strathclyde took the boarder dual crown from Surrey's Stu Clowser. The women's slalom was dominated by Sara Farivarz from Trinity, Dublin although Louise Hartley took the BUSA Gold for Dundee. Glasgow's Isla McNicoll, meanwhile, showed that she's still got what it takes with a Gold in the women's snowboard duals.

As the racing finished off, BUSC's freestyle team, the Jibcrew, wheeled out a couple of amazing funboxes, specially constructed for the event, and even as the lights were switched off at the centre, skiers and boarders continued to hit them as a selection of Edinburgh's best DJs kept the tunes blasting.

Saturday dawned hazily for most competitors - something about the bar they'd spent Friday night in smashing it's best ever takings by £2000 perhaps? First up was the new slopestyle event, which used the two BUSC / Freeze funboxes and the main kicker at MSC. All of Saturday's freestyle events were run on an open basis with non-uni riders able to take part. The Endsleigh / LINE skier slopestyle got the vibe going with solid performances from University winner Daryl Ball (Southampton) and Josh Corbett (Lancaster) and shouts to Lorna Carmichael (Edinburgh) for being the only female entry.

Meanwhile the Freeze Scotland and LINE teams were showing how it was done with sweet moves from nine-year old Murray Buchan, and eventual winner Mark Elliot, veteran of the BUSC summersession.

As the skiers moved off to take their chances with the GS, the boarders took over the slopestyle course for the Jansport Boarder slopestyle. Also run on an open basis, it was clear that the standard of riding at University is constantly improving, and that all the riders were enjoying having a decent arena to showcase their skills.

Honours in the University competition were taken by Edinburgh's Jamie Newell (now riding for the Outside Now team) followed by Sheffield's Emil Taylor, while Beanie riding for Silence and Jamie Riach from the Rome team cleared up in the open competition, Glasgow's Nicola Cogan took top place in the women's University comp.

As the bales were moved to one side and competitors took a well earned break, they were entertained in the Optic Nerve marquee by local band Red Centre, and it was noticeable that hair of the dog seemed to be working for more than a few people.

Back in the KPMG race zone, Friday's slalom results had been repeated in the GS with Lorne and Sara again taking top honours in the skiing. Glasgow got a 1,2,3 in the female boarder GS thanks to the McNicoll sisters and Nicola Cogan, while Dan Pupius from Manchester took top place in the men's. The hotly contested skier team dual slalom was won by Bristol A, followed by Aberdeen A and Nottingham Trent leaving a few glum faces from the local Edinburgh teams.

The finale of the weekend took place in the Endsleigh freestyle arena with the LINE skier big air and the JanSport boarder big air. Qualification took place throughout the afternoon as the judges picked the riders who were going above and beyond. MC Sketch got the crowd jumping (and is now probably hiding in a cave in Afghanistan after some of the things he said….).

The student competition was a joy to watch as Tom Cartwright and Emil Taylor from Sheffield took one-two in the LINE skier finals, and Bristol's Al Macdonald grabbed third with big cruisy backflips. Emil Taylor needs an extra shout out for changing his boots no fewer than twelve times through the comp as he got through to both the ski and board finals. Isla McNicoll displayed her versatility again by winning the female comp over Lorna Carmichael and Bristol's Faith Dyer.

Meanwhile the JanSport board finals showcased some of the UK's up and coming talent - look out for Plymouth's Tommy Bowers (male winner) and especially Mollie Boys from Leeds Met who's 720s and bad-ass backflips put the boys to shame.

The open skier competition was dominated by Paddy Graham and Andy Bennet from the LINE team, with some moves that would have seemed more at home in the X-games finals. Meanwhile, Neil Cruikshank, Beanie and Craig Howie took the top three positions in the open boarder comp.

After all this excitement, all that was left was the one jump superfinal where skiers, boarder, students and non-students took each other on for the £500 cash pot. The standard of this part of the competition was truly amazing (watch the videos at busc.net if you don't believe us) and Beanie's stomped 1080 won't be forgotten in a hurry. However it was LINE-man Andy Bennet who took third with a switch Rodeo 5, Plymouth's Tommy Bower's holding it up for students and boarders alike in second while a truly stunning corked 720 tailgrab from Paddy Graham (LINE) took the cash. There's definitely a seriously happy 14-year old wandering the streets of Sheffield at the moment.

Although the competition had finished, the action hadn't: over 1200 people turned up at Edinburgh's Corn Exchange for the One Night party. The masses were entertained by music from Travler, The Ruffness and Great Bear while smooth hip hop beats and breaks from El Segundo kept the breakers busy in the back room. The back half of the hall had been turned into an indoor street course and skaters and bmxers were seen hitting the quarter pipes and funboxes all night.

BUSC would like to thank all its sponsors, prize givers, competitors and staff for putting on a stormer of a weekend. We're already looking forward to more of the same in Tignes at Christmas and Les 2 Alpes next Easter.

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