Christmas Dragon News and DOA edit's

Its the build up to Christmas and both boys are really ,really excited. The Christmas tree is up and we've gone through a tub of quality street already.
Apart from Santa's  and family presents though piling up, ready for the big day , there has been some great snowboarding events happening too.

Will has  recently changed google sponsors, so he's moving from Ashbury over to Dragon Alliance. He  has recieved an awesome care package from Dragon Alliance that  he is,  and any snowboarder in their right mind would be, stoked with.

Then today the second edit of the Capita Defenders of Awesome Tour was released. It was a great reminder of a fantastic time for Will riding with some of his snowboarding hero's.


Capita Snowboards - D.O.A 2 Stay Bad Ass UK Tour - Episode 2 from The Riders Lounge on Vimeo.
In the 2nd and last episode of the capita uk tour the guys make their way from Scotland down to Manchester for a shop signing at subvert. After Manchester it's down to Milton Keynes for a short session in the dome. The final leg of the tours takes the team to London for the biggest premiere of the entire tour.
Part one of the tour
Capita Snowboards - D.O.A 2 Stay Bad Ass UK Tour - Episode 1 from The Riders Lounge on Vimeo.
Part one of two, documenting the Capita snowboard team as they tour the U.K promoting their latest movie D.O.A 2 - Stay Bad Ass.
This episode follows the team to Tamworth for a quick demo at the dome and then on to a busy signing at The Snowboard Asylum. The following day the guys make their way to Scotland and hit up Bearden dryslope. For most of the team it was their first ever time riding anything other than real snow.
Enjoy!

London's Ski Snow Show

Last week Will was invited to come and be one of the demo snowboarders at the rail event running at the Ski Snow Show running  at London's Excel . It was both a privilege to be one of the few riders asked to attend, and a challenge since, not only does Will not ride dryslope, he was also a little intimidated at the thought of performing to a large crowd.

Christian Stevenson commentating to the latge crowd

Will had a little ride at Gloucester's dry slope to see if he could ride dry slope, and that proved positive, so the next thing was to go down to the Show . Needless to say Will rode really well and ended up riding on three days of the show.
He got to catch up with some friends down there, and make some new friends too. Billy Morgan and Jamie Nicholl's came down and caught up with Will and the rest of the guys riding who included snowboarders Cody Heiron and the very energetic Sparrow Knox as well as  some of the very talented freeskiing guys too.

Capita Defenders of Awesome tour

Will was really lucky that school allowed him to have time off to join in with the Capita Defenders of Awesome tour. He's spent time both riding and hanging out with US Professional snowboarders Scott Stevens, Brandon Cocard, Dustin Craven and Phil Jacques as they toured the country visiting Tamworth Snowdome , SnowFactor in Glasgow, Chillfactor in Manchester and topped it very nicely in Will's home dome of Milton Keynes Snozone with his very own signature park night. The US pro's were lovely with our Will , really taking time to get to know him as he can be a little quiet. They were also very complimentary of the standard of Will's riding. .

Scott Stevens, Phil Jacques, Brandon Cocard, our Will and Dustin Craven

At his signature park night at MK Snowzone , Will had designed a super technical park ,was riding hard and having a great time, so much so he snapped his snowboard towards the end of the night! Thankfully the lovely guys at Capita are sending him a new board asap so he can go shredding again this week.

Scott Steven's was impressed with Will snapping his board

 Whitelines posted this great pic of Will on their instagram recently too 

Indoor Brits

Its been a real pleasure to watch Will ride recently, he has been having a great time and really pushing the envelope. And he has proved this by doing so well at the recent indoor Freestyle Snowboarding and Freeskiing championships.

Will winning the 12 and under with Lewis Moore 2nd and Lewis Hopkinson 3rd

By riding off the scale Will won the 12 and under catergory but also came 3rd in the overall category against the very talented Matt McCormick who came first and double front flipping 2nd place Cory Copeland. It was a really exciting day and he did us and himself proud.

Will coming 3rd overall after Matt McCormick winning and Cory Copeland 2nd

To cap it all Will is in the latest video edit from team Howl, riding with Will Smith and Ollie Dutton. An awesome edit and a its great for Will to be riding with such inspirational freestyle British Riders..


HOWL UK // RWND from RWND on Vimeo.

Summer Antic's

Thankfully Will's arm seems to have healed really well and he's been upto quite alot these past few weeks snowboard wise.
He had a trip with The Park and Pipe crew to Landgraff Snow World in Holland, his first time away on his own with Ben Kinnear and the rest of the Park and Pipe Crew. Then whilst he was up in Scotland visiting his Nana and Grandad , Will was invited to train with the main GB Freestyle team which included the Matt McCormick, Katie Omerod , Fin Bremner and Thom Robinson. He had a great time riding the Braehead dome as well as skating and having a blast with the team.

Since then Will has been building up to starting secondary school as well as filming a new video edit with Max Presky.

Injury Update and Summer Trip

We've been quiet on the snowboarding front for Will for a number of reasons..
The most obvious one, was Will injured himself snowboarding just after the English Championships. He fell akwardly and broke his arm just above the elbow. Thankfully it was'nt too bad a break and it wasnt too painful for Will.

So Will's been having a break from snowboarding for a while until he was all healed.
In the meantime its been a busy time as primary school came to an end, with a seemly endless ream of plays, assemblies and parties for Will and his brother. He's had a radical haircut too, getting rid of his long locks in preparation for seconday school..

So due to his injury Will wasnt able to go out with Steve for his summer Why Aint you Jibbing Camp, but he is all healed now and ready  to head out for some training with the Park and Pipe Academy out in Landgraff, Holland. This is Will's first time away training independently with Ben Kinnear, but I'm sure he will have a fantastic time.

Latest News

It's been too long since the last update,so here's what's been going on the last month or so. A couple of weeks ago we headed up to Castleford Snozone, for Will to compete in the SnoDown Competition as its been a while since Will last competed . He had a blast on a great set up .  Will rode really well  and was good enough to win the under 14 category coming away with £70 prize money.

Will's prize money

Since then there has also been the English Championships up in Manchester. Will was riding really well again and managing some super technical tricks that earned him second overall going into the finals. Unfortunately he didnt have two clear runs in the finals as he kept up the technicality and didnt want to compromise his riding to have a safety run. This meant he ended up with a bronze in the under 12 category and 7th place overall. But he is happy with the fact he tried his best, consoles himself that  lots of other amazing riders were caught out by the two 

run format too.

Scott Walsh , Lewis Hopkinson and our Will

Aosta, Italy trip

So the whole family went off to have a week in the spring snow , last week to Aosta . It was a chance for Will to see if his heel had gotten better and to try out new tricks on the soft spring snow.In all it was a lovely place to visit. Will's little brother Eddie got to grips with chairlifts and practiced linking his turns, and I got to get some much needed R&R in the sun after feeling a bit poorly the last few weeks,

Season's almost finished

Well spring is here and Will is home from the Brits, he was disappointed not to be able to compete due to his heel injury , but philosophical too. There is always next year.. It's been great to have him home and its now the Easter holidays. So we are heading out for a family holiday to Italy and a few days in the spring snow and sun will be awesome for us all. Eddie, Will's little brother is especially excited as he has just learnt to link his turns on a snowboard and can't wait to try out his moves on the mountain. Will has also promised to help him on some simple boxes.

The Brits..

Well it's not been a great start for Will, on the last day of the PreBrits training whilst practicing on the bigger jumps, Will aggravated an old injury in his heel.. We were hoping that with rest and care it would improve. However after riding this morning in the bangers and cash event, it was hurting even more.. So Will pulled out and an the moment it's looking unlikely he will compete in any other competitions this week. You know its a shame , but it's not important in the grand scheme of things. I'm sure with rest and care Will will begin feel much better and tbh, that the most important thing..

Picnic tables Jibbin

Well it looks and sounds like Will has been having a great time out in Pila with the Why ain't you ribbon crew. Yesterday the weather was poor , shutting the freestyle park and so they built their own park . So he heads over to Tignes , France tomorrow ready to compete in the Outdoor Brits competition. Wish I was there to see him , but at least he'll have his Dad there with him, together with Steve. Hope he has a fantastic time and will keep you posted with any results and pictures.

Snozone Ad

It was a bit of a surprise this month when we opened up the new issue of Whitelines magasine to see Will in a full page advert for Snozone. Lovely that they chose our Will to represent them in their advertising campaign , and it's a pleasure since they give Will free time on the slope in their sponsorship of him.This has definitely helped him practice as much as possible without us having to worry about how much it was costing.

Sports Aid Award

As some of you are aware supporting a young athlete is often a very expensive activity for their parents and often involves budgeting and some sacrifices. When sponsors come along and offer to support them it's a huge help with the cost of time on slope, equipment, clothing etc. But at Will's level of riding ,there is not often an offer of help towards the very real costs of training and travel etc. So its wonderful news that Will has a recieved a grant of £1000 towards these costs from SportAid, in recognision of emerging sporting talent .He joins the hallowed names of Mo Farah CBE,Sir Chris Hoy and Jessica Ennis- Hill CBE amongst lots of other well known athletes, who were identified with potential, to recieve this grant when they were first starting out. We are very proud of him since its all his hard work and commitment that has earn't him this money and it will make a small dent towards Will's training and travel costs for which we are very greatful.

New CLWR outfit ready for the Brits

It's officially spring and it's not long now till Will goes away to have a week in the mountains with Steve again before his Dad joins them out in Tignes ready for the Brits competition. He has been sent a really cool new CLWR outfit which is from next seasons collection so no one else will be wearing it... Also and he"ll be rocking his new Capita Microscope and Union Bindings too. It's amazing really how much has happened for Will since he last went out to his first Brits event. I suppose some reflection is always a good thing and makes you appreciate how much Will has developed over the few years since he first started riding and how much hard work he has put unto his passion.

Will's video

Well Will has arrived home after a week away in Italy riding with the Why Aint You Jibbin Crew. He's tired but stoked with his newly decorated room and glad to be home.. In Italy Will made a few new friends , managed to crack nolly front flips and work on spinning off the black jumps ,which is pretty brave given their size. We will post some pictures of his trip to Italy soon.

Whilst he was away the very talented Max Presky of FBBB fame , completed a little video edit of Will's riding in Milton Keynes Snozone . It's a super cool little edit and Will is really pleased with it..


 
Will Gilmore - A Day in the Dome from For Boarders by Boarders on Vimeo.

Awesome New Capita 2015 Microscope and Union Bindings

Well it has landed, Will's 2014-2015 Capita Microscope 130 with awesome mini contact bindings! Its super flexi and looks just amazing ! Will is keeping it for the mountains just for now as its slightly bigger than his current one and he wants to keep it nice before hitting the dome rails with it.

 He's taken it out to Pila with him this week to use and is super stoked with it.

World Rookie Tour

Well its been far too long since I last updated Will's Blog. He's been out  to the World Rookie Tour in Lavigno in January, where he competed in the Grom Category as one of the youngest competitors there. Will came a brilliant 23rd out of 36 riders and considering he still has another 4 years in that category there is plenty of time for him to get higher up in the rankings. To be honest this competition was  to give Will  his first  experience of a international competition . He had a fantastic time and really loved the airbag there as well as the perfect freestyle parks.

Will also turned 11 year old in January and he had a lovely birthday with a request for Cripsy Duck with pancakes followed by homemade chocolate cake. He had a great day with some cool presents too which of course included some technical lego.

Its been a good few weeks snowboarding wise for Will and I'll update really soon with some more things he's been upto. Yesterday he headed out for another weeks snowboarding in the mountains of Italy with the Why air you Jibbin crew, and he'll hopefully come home to a newly decorated bedroom. I'd better get cracking..