blog

As I sit in work, I think back to the weekend I had at 2022 ATBAUK mountainboard championships, hosted by Bugs boarding in Maisemore, Gloucestershire. The journey started on a warm Friday morning, with a fully packed car, reminiscent of a by gone time when this, for me, was a regular occurrence (https://www.atboarders.com/news/item/where-is-the-uk-atb-scene-heading).

After a long queue for fuel and traffic jams near Birmingham, apparently, they’d inconsiderately organised some kind of commonwealth games (how selfish), I arrived at Bugs, the only mountainboard centre left in the UK. And what a centre! Host to the 2008 and 2009 Fat Face World Freestyle Championships, the centre consists of a 4-man Boarder X track, DH hill track, huge Freestyle jumps and lovely Jib area, next to the shop.

Friday was the typical practice session, as the riders slowly arrived and set up camp. The freshly groomed track (thanks to Amon and Emlyn) was getting ridden pretty hard, as the riders were getting to grips with the new inside berms, added to the first to 2 corners, as well as the speed and driftyness of the track, which upon chatting to Buggs, hadn’t seen any rain for nearly 3 months!

After some food, a few quiet ciders and a catch up with old friends - off to bed I popped, ready to be fresh for racing the next day.

Race day arrived, and there was sense of excitement, nausea and fear in the eyes of the racers. Matt Brind gave the usual riders brief and off we went to the top of the hill for some last-minute practice. Then qualifying for the knockouts began. There was a new format introduced to the racing this year, allowing everyone to mix up their racing, with the old and young having a go against the pros. This format meant everyone started as a pro, and given 3 random qualifier races to seed them (and give them the all-important lane choice) in the Pro knockouts, with the traditional top 2 going through to the next round. But if, and like me when, you didn’t make it to the next round of the pros, the racing wasn’t over, you dropped into your regular category (Masters, Senior, Ladies, etc) and continued racing until you got knocked out again – sounds like a night out with Mike Tyson! This meant you got a minimum of 5 races. While there were a few little niggles, such as Seb Cox and Margaux needing to run 2 races back-to-back, this format worked incredibly well allowing for much more exciting racing and drama. What drama there was, with the addition of the 2 new berms, a host of international riders (Poland, France, Portugal and Australia) and a super-fast, dry and drifty track meant there was plenty of spills and crashes as well as some good clean racing with lots of overtaking, especially with Amon pinching 1^st place in the pros in the last corner – what a move that was!

During the lunch break, with delicious home cooked grub served up by the wonderful Nina, the Groms had a good ole fashioned slalom challenge, showing us old timers how to do it. Then it was onto the downhill course, which started from just above the BX track, crossing over the set of rollers into a drifty left-hand corner - followed by a right - then into the big swooping and somewhat slidey left hander (I came off here maybe once or twice).  After that was a flat right on the grass, over the wooden roller to the drop off, over the hip on the freestyle and round to the finish line on the right. Sounds simple right?! With the track again super dry, and getting faster with every run the riders were either getting ridiculously quick or super drifty, with Amon Shaw, Dawid Rzaca, James Wanklyn, and Matt and Andy Brind battling it out for the fastest time, and Andy getting his quickest (1^st Place) run during the timing screen black out at the end of the session, talk about a nail-biter!

With a mini ramp jam in the evening and a fancy-dress theme, thanks to Mrs Sloggs birthday, the Saturday party antics well and truly got under way. With DJ’s playing music to the early hours and the French contingent that were here, really showing us Brits how to party.

With hangovers at the ready, Sunday was freestyle. First was the jib jam, with a mixture of rails, boxes and kickers, with spins, flips, grinds and boardslides galore. With special mentions to Mark Adams for almost getting a corked BS 720 off the ‘bugs’ kicker at the bottom (not sure how he’s got any knees left after that one!) and Dylan Warren, all the way from Australia on his European tour, showing of his superb silky rail skills and alternative lines.

After a brief downpour of rain, we moved onto the big Jumps, home to the ’08 and ‘09 World Freestyle Championships, with the main line consisting of the big drop off (or the alternate snowboard style knuckle jump) into two big (15-20ft?) tables with the last table having an alternate pop on pop off cannon. Then into the big quarter. There was a smaller line consisting of two kickers (4-6ft) then onto a hip, then into the quarter. This smaller line seemed the most favourable with majority of riders, offering a mixture of grabs, spins and flips (back and front). The big line was mainly hit by the brave and the fearless (or stupid) and wow, what a performance. Matt Brind pulling back to back 7’s, Emlyn, Renny and Amon pulling some technical tricks off the drop, before some huge laid out flips and floaty spins. James Wanklyn going huge with his 540s. Amon with big flips, spins and all-round technicality on the cannon. But, the winner was Dawid, from Poland and riding his Haero signature pro model, pulling all the stunts with flips, spins (540s and 720s) and some of the the biggest and most stylish 360s I’ve ever seen. After the traditional train by all the riders, Mr Andy Brind stayed up the hill to give the crowd an extra special treat - a huge double backflip! (Followed by a huge frontflip – like it was nothing).

After the adrenaline was slowly waring off, we all said our sad goodbyes, packed our cars and headed home after what had been a truly amazing weekend. Massive thanks to Buggs and his whole team for hosting, Amon (as Chief builder) and Emlyn for all their hard work prepping the centre. Matt Brind and the ATBAUK for organising and the smooth running of the event, and of course Nina for looking after all of the riders at various points throughout the weekend, even tending to Ash’s many cut’s on the Sunday evening before he headed off home.

Find a summary of the results below, for the full results head to the ATBAUK’s website (https://atbauk.org/uk-championships-2022)

Keep an eye out for our upcoming Photo Gallery and our video edit which will be dropping soon.  Special thanks to Paul Crilley (CrillPix), Aiden Beamish, Jon Davey and Zak Poland for their awesome photos. Paul has very kindly allowed us to host some of his pictures in our new Gallery, which will be live in a few days’ time, so keep your eyes peeled for those!

Ladies Boarder X

1	Lisa Mclernon	367
2	Margaux Rolland	12
3	Lucy Winnard	5

Master Boarder X

1	Renny Myles	10	ATBoarders
2	Beiran Martlew	228	ATBoarders
3	Rhys Crilley	43	BFC / The Dirt

Seniors Boarder X

1	Connor Smout	970
2	Ollie Morrison	66
3	Jamie Chilles	350	Bugs Boarding

Pro Boarder X

1	Amon Shaw	440	Bugs Boarding
2	Matt Brind	17
3	Tom Reese	24	Trampa Boards

Ladies Downhill

1	Lisa Mclernon	367
2	Margaux Rolland	12

Masters Downhill

1	Pete Hills	182
2	Dave Compton	156	BFC / The Dirt
3	Renny Myles	10	ATBoarders

Seniors Downhill

1	Dawid Rzaca	21	Haero Boards
2	Mark Adams	340
3	Connor Smout	970

Pro Downhill

1	Andy Brind	3
2	Matt Brind	17
3	Amon Shaw	440	Bugs Boarding

Groms Freestyle

1	Felix Green	40	Bugs Boarding
2	Lucas Green	20	Bugs Boarding
3	Tommy Sams	6	Bugs Boarding

Juniors Freestyle

1	Lewis Sams	15	Bugs Boarding
2	Leo Joyce	2	Bugs Boarding
3	Noah Selby	29	Bugs Boarding

Ladies Freestyle

1	Lisa Mclernon	367
2	Margaux Rolland	12
3	Tamera Leach	22	Bugs Boarding

Masters Freestyle

1	Renny Myles	10	ATBoarders
2	Pete Hills	182
3	Rhys Crilley	43	BFC / The Dirt

Seniors Freestyle

1	Matt Brind	17
2	Andy Brind	3
3	Connor Smout	970

Pro Freestyle

1	Dawid Rzaca	21	Haero Boards
2	James Wanklyn	142	Trampa Boards
3	Emlyn Bainbridge	520