Portsmouth to Tamworth
For the first time in 18 months the Expression Session Crew, Hailing Straight Outta Portsmouth were on a road trip together and on a stifling hot day we headed to the huge indoor fridge we know and love as Tamworth Snowdome, I’d heard that the good ole boys at For Boarders By Boarders, whose nights have quickly become legendary were hosting a freestyle snowboarding competition and dishing out prizes, the official event photographers were Fear of the Park, time for some undercova brutha style guerrilla photography, but more of that later.
Driver Perks
Greg drove, on account of having the only available roadworthy vehicle, in grattitude we force fed him strawberries and cream, Mooommmph, ammmmmm, myyyaaaaaaammm was interpreted as hmm, ah lovely please force feed me more strawberries and cream.
Arriving in plenty of time, OK….. Just in time for the start of the session, we kitted up. Lottie and Greg were in fine form, mixing it with the best riders, I was challenging hard for the best spill of the night edging a box, using my vertebrae to grind it with true style, but that Daz Cockson is always up for a challenge and one upmanship, eating snow in grand style, falling victim to the gas pipe, (Daz is a true Slopestyle Jib legend props bruv)
Lottie Kierle
Tough Competition
The competition was relentess and with a great park set up, there was some amazing riding on show, repping for the
ladeez Lottie Kierle, Linzi Ashdown and Jools took on all the toys and were stomping tricks authoratively, Lucy Prior was riding full on, with smooth 180s in the quarter pipe and hitting the big Flat Down rail and Gas Pipe with gusto.
Ross Needham, Johnny Russell, Charlie Idda and Mark Raper were all throwing down hammers, with Greg getting into his stride the Finals beckoned for two of the Expression Session team.
What happened next can only be described as the biggest ever Travesty Of Justice the sporting world has ever seen!
Finals Fiasco
As the 10 names for the final were called out Greg’s and Lotties were omitted, as Self Appointed Team Coach and Manager I had to act Fast, “Gather in team” I blasted out across the snow Lottie and Greg looking a bit bewildered traipsed over, “right guys I want you back out there, we still have a chance, we are going to play it like we heard your names, the PA is rubbish and I’ve checked out security and think I can hold them off , if it comes to it, so go out there and win this thing and remember the mantra Jump Grab, Spin!. Don’t let me down!” still bewildered Lottie and Greg wandered off to the chairlift muttering insolently, I made a note of that for the next coaching session, poor discipline!
I sprinted out of the freezer into reception “can I have a high viz media jacket please?” fixing me a smile, the receptionist leaned over passing me a garish bib. Hi Viz jacket on camera strapped on neck and time to shoulder barge the Fear of the Park boys out of my shots coz Lottie and Greg were in the Final, must have caused the organisers a right headache when trying to score 10 riders when there was 12 riding. Everyime Lottie and Greg went round the judges must have been shuffling their papers furiously, thinking Who the Flap is that, meanwhile I was getting the shots I wanted, the plan was working.
The finals saw the big guns demolishing the “Gas Pipe”. 270s, 360s and 450s on and off were the order of the day as on each run the stakes were raised with ever more impressive trickery, the official starting list for Men’s final was:
Gary Andrews, Ross Needham, Tom Hunt, Si Foster, Matt Higson, Mark Raper, Johnny Russel,
Greg Seymour——–Fact, saw it and have the pics to prove it and repping for the the ladeez, Sarah Morgan, Lyndsey Ashdown, Kirsty Smith, Lottie Kierle——Fact I saw it and have the pics to prove it
Results
Best Rider of the Night - Johnny Russell
Best Trick – Ross Needham. Smoothest Nosepress ever, ever ever.
Best Stack – Darren Coxson. NDE I think I saw some blood too, but Daz is made of strong stuff and was soon his chirpy self again.
The Tamworth snowboard nights run from 9 - 1 am Saturdays and after a hard shred, everyone mills around the carpark, pepes catching up with old shred buddies and making new ones too, the scene is relaxed and despite the competition on the slopes the camaradarie within the sport is amazing, we chilled and chewed the fat for a while, catching up with Ben Saka a young gun who rode with Lottie at the Saas Fe leg of the Brits tryouts last year.
Greg’s van is superbly kitted out for road trips, I had shot gunned the front seat, Greg being driver already had dibs on the back and Lottie had her tent, we headed for a place to park up and grab some Zzzzs somewhere / anywhere nearby, we plumped for a motorway service carpark, Greg and I settled down noisily, the thought of Lottie pitching and sleeping in her tent was making me laugh, but I had to keep it inside until finally I let go, when I heard her quietly say, “I’ll just get in my tent then” when we stopped laughing we relented and allowed lottie to crash in the van too. Dozing off was bliss, especially beleiving I had pulled a flanker, by bagging the prime sleeping location, my delusion was shortlived. I dreamt I was drifting sleepily towards the sun, the sun kept getting brighter and hotter, brighter and hotter and closer, much closer, the heat was stifling I had to get away, I woke, Arrrrrghhh, Sun glare temporarily blinded me, the heat in the front cabin combined with the tight fit sleeping bag I’d somehow managed to zip inside out, and my less than hasty exit when feeling extreemley claustraphobic resulted in the wild eyed scramble to the door and eventual exit that saw a random Polish lorry driver visibly worried about his personal safety, I gulped in large volumes of cool morning air and headed off for a cup of tea. I returned and the sleeping cherubs were stirring, we all headed in for a full English (Cept Lottie who had a beanburger a banana and some thistle tea).
Heading to the car several throaty roars, announced the arrival of 40 supercars en-route to Silverstone, I grabbed the camera Lottie modelled for me as I exposed for her reflection on a shiny car, petrol heads everywhere will be screaming at their pc with the name make and model, to me it looked shiny expensive and lended itself well to being imaged in an arty type picture, a nice way to round off the trip.
