ThirtyTwo

Team Report 02-02-04

Posted: February 2, 2004 | Skip To The Comments (16)

Wow! What a month! First off, I want to congratulate our team riders for ruling the contest circuit for the month of January. A big high five goes out to the following riders for kicking some serious ass! Janna Meyen, Markku Koski, Alexis Waite and Simon Chamberlain.

Janna Meyen grabbed a gold medal at the X Games. She also took 1st place in both the Slopestyle and the Rail Jam event in Vail, Colorado on January 17 during the Session contest. Janna ended-up raking in over $30,000 in contest winnings in the month of January alone, and probably received even more $$$ from the rest of her sponsors. Way to go, Janna!

Markku Koski has been on fire lately, getting 3rd place in the Slopestyle category and 4th in Halfpipe at the European Open last month. He competed in the halfpipe event at the Winter X Games last weekend in Aspen, Colorado, but unfortunately didn't make it into the finals. I guess the jet lag got to him. Oh well, Markku, I know you're going to kill it in the other events. Markku will be filming and shooting photos as much as possible with the Standard Film crew for the next several weeks. He'll be quite busy for the rest of the season since he's trying to cram in filming, shooting photos and attending contests from the States to Europe and Japan. Good luck, Markku.

Up-and-coming new rider Alexis Waite also killed it at the Sessions contest in Vail, Colorado earlier this month. She barely trailed Janna Meyen during the rail jam on Saturday, January 17. Alexis ended up in 2nd place, taking home a few bills! Congratulations, Lexi! Shortly after the Sessions contest, Lexi drove out to compete in the eighth annual winter X Games in Aspen, Colorado, where she ended up in 10th during the finals. That's not bad, being invited to the X Games as a rookie and qualifying in the finals. Go get 'em next year, Lexi!

B-team rider Simon Chamberlain destroyed the rail during the High Roller Rail Jam at the Hard Rock Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last week. The night was just getting heated up when Simon and Eddy Wall went head-to-head during the finals, but Simon couldn't back down, so he threw down the hammer and scored the $5,000 grand prize. Simon felt that Eddy Wall worked just as hard as he did, so he ended up giving Eddy Wall half of the winning purse out of good faith. What a guy. Great job, Simon! Simon Chamberlain is one of the most stylish up-and-coming kids to start shining out of Canada. Be sure to keep an eye on this guy, cause he's going to be stirring up some serious business.

Nicolas Droz is slaughtering it with the footage. He's been filming and shooting photos non-stop in Europe. He'll be poppin' in at the ISPO trade show for a couple of days and then get back at it again. John Jackson has been killing it in the Sierras. He's been shooting and filming everyday with Standard Films.

Tyler Lepore has been on the road for the past month shredding and shooting photos with his friend and roommate, Joel Frazier. He recently spent the last week helping his board sponsor, Capita Snowboards, set-up their trade show booth. It was quite impressive, especially considering he spent several months shooting and collecting over 5000 photos of beautiful mother nature to create an amazing trade show booth. Good job, Ty!

Joni Makinen ventured back to Germany, where he's shooting photos and hanging out with our European team manager, Steffi Hagar. He'll be touring around Europe to shoot photos and work on stories with Playboard magazine, as well as other print media such as Pleasure and TransWorld Snowboarding .

Roberta Rodger spent the last week in Las Vegas, where she attended a photo shoot in Death Valley with her board sponsor, Hammer Snowboards. She said it was fun cruising around looking for different terrain. Even though it wasn't her normal surroundings, she said it was a blast. Roberta will be heading back to Canada, where she will be focusing on shooting photos and filming for an all-girl video due to be premeired later this fall.

Kevin Sansalone attended the SIA trade show for the last couple of days. He'll be making his way back to Whistler to start filming some more. Kev's been juggling riding, filming and shooting photos, as well as working on his film project, The Skids.

Wille Yli-Luoma has been in Utah for the last couple of weeks, getting situated and stocking his snowmobile with special pipes and handlebars so he can get to where no man can reach, "Spot X". He's been searching for new terrain with his film crew and getting motivated to get the best video part this season. Wille will be powering out as much as he can this year, along with attending a handful of contests such as The Boost Mobile Big Air in Chicago on March 27-28, The Artic Challenge in Norway and The Battle in Sweden. Be sure to check back for more details on Wille's adventures.