The Gav Games 2002

J Dogg — Mon, 18 Nov 2002 00:00:00 -0500

Rating

The Gav Games, November 8-9, 2002. M S C, Edinburgh

by Crees Asquith

This year's British University Dry Slope competition, hold on, what a shit name!!! Everyone who's anyone and no one who's not, knew that this competition was only ever going to be called "The Gav Games". And so it was. This year the organisers wanted to pony up the competition, so it was decided that there would be an all crowd pleasing 'open' event, letting Billy McScumbag huck their huckables along side Rupert McStudentbaws, this time legitimately. Gav "Games" Carruthers told me at the post competition party "yyyyeess, iii huvvv bbbunn drriinking..... mmaa kneeee hurrtttssss". Yes, quite gav.

Not only were bones being broken in the Big Air competition, to ensure that the Ambulance services were being abused to the max, there was mini a slope (anti) style as well. With two rails and the usual kicker being used. Having the slopestyle in the morning was one way in ensuring that all the snowboarder-drunken-locals would turn up late. And thus they did.

With it being an open event the standard was, as expected, very high with most people being able to put their twin tips on the correct way for once. There was even the token monoboarder sliding rails! It doesn't get much better than that?!!? (Does anyone know if you can single eject out of those things?!?)

Mark Elliott, awake before 11am for the first time since 1986, concentrated on styling out the tricks he could do and turned out the eventual male ski slopestyle winner, somehow making his way through the course without wearing his beloved puffa jacket. UK Line skier and knitting fanatic, Andy Bennett up from Sheffield for the day, narrowly missed out on following up his White Out Weekend first place with a win, had to settle for second place after styling out a rodeo 5 over the kicker and cleaning the rails. Later on he could be heard wandering around the post competition party demanding "Lets go down pub for hotpot la'ad?". As mad as a bottle of chips. Third place was taken by 10 year old Murray "Mitch" Buchan, his decision that the idea of gapping the 10ft long and 4ft high final rail in the slopestyle course would be better than actually sliding the thing proved favourable with the judges.

During the prolonged sabbatical, the jump was re-opened for a jam session and last chance practice session before the big air qualifiers. Sketch Syndicate, vocal host for the day, pretend snowboarder & the funniest man to use a microphone since Michael Barrymore's was lost in a swimming pool, continually amped the crowd up with his continual mocking of the racers racing their racism on the adjacent slope. Buy Syndicate clothing.

Onto the Big Air. The money event. Literally. For the last and certainly not least pony up-er, $500 (www.currencyconvertor.com) cash was put up for grabs, winner takes all. No 1st, 2nd and 3rd nonsense. You throwdown, they throwdown. Come on, this is as much as Josh Loubec uses in hair products every week and we all know that's alot. This is the one the crowd were waiting for. No gates to chase, they wanted to see the tricks, they wanted the style, they wanted the hucking but more than the nipples of the baby Jesus they wanted to see some pain and i'll be darned if the drunken blighters weren't going to get it! As usual at a jibbing competition, people were hucking their meat left right and centre, trying tricks they've never done before. Carnage. The crowd loved it. The amount of money that could have been made from yard sales was unbelievable!!

Four non-university skiers & boarders qualified for the finals along with four university skiers and boarders - or at least I think that was the case, the reason why it was a university competition, was because you need a degree in macro-bi-polar-knetic-maths to understand what the heck was going on!

After all was said and done snowboarders Neil Cruickshank & Beanie and Line skiers Paddy Graham, a huge Celine Dion fan & Andy Bennett, were left to show the crowd a thing or two about a thing or two in the Super (dooper) Final. One jump for five hundred smackers then. There's nothing like a bit of pressure to make someone to do something stupid. With Beanie bustin a phat 900 in the Finals, Sketchasurus took it apon himself to convince the crowd to convince Beanie to step it up. "GO BIG OR GO HOME!! TTeeeennn EEEiighhttyy, Tteeenn Eeeeiighhhtyyyyyy" was the chant. Beanie is not one that seems to have a problem with doing something crazy from time to time, didn't disappoint, with a rapidly thrown 1080, landing a little back seat, but crazy none the less. Neil Cruickshank (i think) was next, styling out a huge backside 180. Not a super tech trick, but the style points were high.

By now the crowd were loving the hucking action and it was only going to get better from here on in. Two jumps left. 14 year old Paddy Graham was first up, his second hand Mike Nick helmet was obviously not holding him back in the way it had it's former Lui Kang loving owner, as he put the pressure on by stomping an insane D-Spin 7 safety grab. Last jump of the night, everyone else has thrown down. One jump for $500. He'd been stomping the switch rodeo's all night but on the most crucial one of all his landing was little off, landing a touch back seat.

The winner of the moula in the end was Paddy Graham. With this big bucks win, he has now earned more money in one night than most of Sheffield's inhabitants do in a year. Beanie, for his 1080 madness, won a bottle of After Shock, to him that is worth way more than $500.

-Crees Asquith

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The Gav Games 2002