Whitelines Competion at Snozone MK

Last Friday was the final Whitelines  competition , and it was held at Will's home MK slope. He was really excited about it too. The Wednesday before was another late night sponsored riders photoshoot with the awesome Jools Smith. So Will got the chance to practice the park and ride with the rest of the Snozone Freestyle team before everyone else.
Friday Will rode really well with his favourite trick being a frontside thought the Whitelines down flat down rail, he was a bit disappointed he didn't make the final 8 but considering the caliber of the other riders that would have been a big ask for the little man. It's funny how his expectations of himself has grown.. Anyway he left before the end of the competition as he had taken a couple of heavy slams and was feeling really tired.. But much to his surprise he was awarded the most progressive rider of the evening winning himself a rather flashy new Ion video camera and a few Whitelines goodies.. So the little man is rather pleased with his prizes which were very kindly kept safe by Becky Menday's Dad Jeff until we could collect it all on Sunday.

Stoked with his most progressive rider prizes

So what next, well Will is having a day off school this Thursday to do some filming with some other young MK shredders for Cartoon network and then next week he is off up to Glasgow for two days of training with the GB junior freestyle team..

And then in amongst  all this excitement came a lovely new pair of Union Miniflite snowboard bindings from the lovely guys at The Riders Lounge..
Pictures to follow ASAP.

West Beach In and Out and other things

Its been a busy few weeks since the half term excitement. And Will has been having a whale of a time. So first up the was the West Beach In and Out competition in Milton Keynes Snowzone.  It was the second of a two part competition the first of which had been held up in Glasgows Bearsden dryslope. Will had not attended that one as it was a bit of a trek. but  he was definitely not going to miss a competion at his home slope.
 I do think that being his home slope allowed Will to feel much more at ease and he rode awesomely, pulling some complex tricks that earned him a place in the under 16 final. After a very long night of having fun doing what he does best,  Will came home with a sweet 3rd place and an armful of lucious prizes.

You can see a smile hidden behind the pile of prizes!

The next awesome thing to happen was that the lovely guys at Boarder Boards Snowboard shop have started a series of full page adverts in Whitelines magasine. It features some of their sponsored riders and first up was Will ! So he appears in Decembers issue which is out now !

Lastly and surprisingly the most challenging of his endevours so far was a chance to appear in a CBBC programme called the Friday Download. This was hard for the little man as he is very quiet and he was terrified of doing any talking. But the fact that he was going to be appearing with his good snowboarding friends Becky Menday and Jake Binney helped Will manage any fears he had. After some thought, he decided that he did want to take the offer up afterall.
 Its only a small riding part with very little talking ,but still it was a big deal for Will who took on the challenge and conqured some of his fears. He was told the programme is going to be part of the Christmas special on Friday 21st of December..

What a week!

Eiki  and Halldor Hellgason

It's been an amazing snowboarding week for Will. Half term stated off with a trip on Saturday to London to see the Freeze Festival. It was a really cold day but he had a great time watching the Big  Air competition  and getting autographs from the Helgason brothers and Salomon team riders  Jamie Nicholls, Matt McCormick and Will Smith.. Another highlight for Will was buying himself a new skateboard from money he saved up..

Jamie Nicholls, Will Smith and Matt McCormick

Then it was a quiet few days at home before heading out on Thursday night to join in the Capita  team tour. First stop for Will was Tamworth's Snowdome , where he got to meet US Proteam riders Scott Stevens and Jess Kimura and the rest of the uk Capita team and do a little bit of riding...He was really pleased that they both signed his new snowboarding helmet.
Thursday he met up with the rest of the Capita team at XC in Hemel  to watch them have a little skate ,before heading off to have pizza with the team. Will was pleased to sit opposite Scott Stevens who shared his love of the classic margarita pizza ..That night Will rode at Hemel Snow Center  where he had a great nights riding the freestyle park.
Saturday the rest of the Capita team went along to the Ski and Snowboard show in Londons Excel Center, but Will had a rest to recover from his late nights  as he would have quickly got bored of shopping, even if it was snowboarding gear..




Scott Stevens, Will and Jess Kimura

Sunday saw Will heading out to Manchester to ride at Chill Factor . He had a really awesome nights riding with the team and enjoyed jumping the two big gas pipes getting huge height and giving his old Mum and Dad a few new grey hairs. We were really impressed with how Will coped with meeting all the new people including a few heros, and we had a few compliments on what a modest, quiet  and talented boy he is. He certainly made us proud..

Will has a small feature

Will rode with the Salomon riders with the rest of the sponsored riders at Snozone MK earlier in the year. And it seems that he has  been given a little 'guest spot' in  one of Jed Andersons video's that has just been released. Talk about an honour to been seen  on the same  clip with an inspiring top class professional rider . Funny to think that thousands of people have seen that video ,and don't know that the little shredder in the yellow and green is our Will...

Team -vacation-jed-anderson

My Lovely New Capita Microscope Snowboard

Will outside Snozone Milton Keynes about to try out his new season Capita Microscope 125

Wham Bam Jam at Castleford

Last weekend Will went along to compete in the Indoor British Freestyle Snowboard Championships. What a difference a year makes . Will was so much more relaxed and whereas he did'nt know anyone last year, this year it felt like he was competing amongst friends as he knew so many of the competitors.

Being in the Kids cateogory he had a two run competition before getting a chance to compete in the Jam for all ages. There was  only  20 mins warm up &  Will was a little nervous and there was not much time to get used to the features. He did his two runs  and then stayed out to the Jam. This allowed the little man time to relax and enjoy the park and he really impressed a few people with his technical riding, so much so he was the only one from the Kids cateogory to survive the 50% cut of the field.  So Will ended up 4th in his age  category of 12 and under , and although he was 3 years younger that his fellow riders  he ended up  heartbreakingly 1/2 a point from finishing 3rd. Impressivelty though, by getting through the first cut of the Jam has meant that he is ranked equal 13th.

Jools took some awesome pictures of the day and it is a pleasure to include them in Will's blog..

Wow ! I'm on the poster advertising Parkstrife

I'm on the Park strife poster !