The summer comp season is running a bit late this year to be honest. We had a great start to it with the Southern Freestyle Series but there’s quite a break now until August when it all kicks off again. The difficult thing for me this year has been deciding which ones to enter. Normally I can make my choice based on location and existing plans but unfortunately this year there are way too many clashes in the competition calendar so I’ve had to look at things from a different perspective. Each year I have been able to do the Westbeach Snowflex Series AND the British Snow Tour but this year 2 legs of each competition clash with each other. Normally the Snow Tour dates are announced at the previous season’s British Championships in Laax, so other competition organisers are able to plan their dates around the main TTR ranked tour for the UK. This year however the dates weren’t announced until yesterday, when all the other comp dates had been planned and announced….so it leaves us shredders with a dilemma.
I spent last night pondering it with The Boyf and we’ve come to the conclusion that I’ll get more out of doing the Snowflex Series than I will the Snow Tour. I may still be able to do the MK Big Air leg of the Snow Tour but based on the last 2 years, the kickers won’t be to my liking and I’ll either kill myself on the large kicker again or feel like a complete wuss for stepping down to the mini-size, so we’re leaving that pencilled in as a maybe and we’ll go if we have the spare cash at the time.
It’s such a shame that with such a great scene in the UK that the comp organisers can’t work together to get comps on seperate weekends, I can understand smaller local comps clashing with those at slopes at the other end of the country but when there are two main, established tours in existence and two out of 3 legs clash with each other it does make the conspiracy theorist in you conasider whether it’s been done on purpose.
So what’s made me choose the Westbeach Snowflex Series over the indoor legs of the British Snow Tour? Well I realised that despite the TTR ranking points I would get from the Snow Tour there’s very little else about the competition that will benefit me. With minimal practice time and 2 competition runs I just won’t get the riding time to progress as much as I will do in the Snowflex Series which is a jam format with a 2 run final. Add into that the consistent nature of Snowflex kickers and I’ll at least be able to use them as day-long practice sessions even if I don’t manage to beat the kids to the finals. Of course there’s also the issue of prizes!  Thankfully the Snow Tour is doing a dry slope weekender with all 3 disciplines at the Norfolk Snowsports centre in Norwich so I’ll be able to shred some plastic and pick up some ranking points at that instead.
It will be interesting to see what happens with the Brits this season as well. With people already talking about not returning if it goes back to Laax (it’s quite costly) and others wondering whether they’ll go no matter where it’s held (for a range of personal & political reasons) it will be interesting to see whether the dates are announced quickly in a bid to get people signed up and committed or whether they’ll wait to see what other camps, competitions and gatherings are advertised before they make their move.
If you want to register for the Westbeach Snowflex Series you can do so here. I’d post a link for the Snow Tour as well but their site’s not sorted yet.