South African Freestyle Ski & Snowboard Championships

* QuikSnow 2008 * The SA National Freestyle Ski & Snowboarding Championships were held at the Tiffindell Ski Resort. Quiksilver were once again the headline sponsors of this prestigious event and were throwing their weight behind the competition to ensure that the bar was once again raised to allow both South Africans and International skiers and snowboarders to showcase their skills.
Two development junior skiers taking first and second place in the Junior Skier Cross event. Rhodes locals who have been afforded the opportunity to have ski lessons are skiing streets ahead of their peers, the results of this contest show their talents in the sport.
Alex Heath is still a major contender for the 2010 Winter Olympics, and has been showing top form in both Skiing and Snowboarding so far in the event.
Marco Caromba gets air on the rollers in the Boarder Cross course.
Photos © Mouton Van Zyl
 

Quiksnow is presented by Virgin Mobile in association with Resolution. Other sponsors include Red Bull and the Tiffindell Ski Resort.

 

In a windy and dramatic final day, the Quiksilver National Freestyle Ski and Snowboard Championships were run to completion, with action and excitement aplenty on the slopes of Tiffindell Ski Resort.

Highlights of the final day:
Skiiing:
Alex Heath and Bradley Stephenson both posted top results and both plan to compete overseas from later this year. Alex will be heading to Austria for the first stop on the Skier Cross World Cup circuit, while Bradley will be heading to Australia to begin his international career fulltime.

Big Air:
Martin Jekot pulled a Back-side Rodeo (corked 540degree rotation) and posted the top score on the big air contest all day.
Robbie Alunni performed consistently landing all three of his competitive big-air attempts posting a score not far behind the contest winner.

Girls:
The girls performance was consistent throughout the contest seeing some progressive snowboarding in the female field. Marta Jekot and Nikki Caromba both earned special mention for their world-class riding in all three disciplines. Brigitte Heeb also received special mention for throwing herself into all aspect of the competition in body and spirit, and taking several hard knocks!

Junior Snowboarding:
Chad Laybourne, Dean Van Greunen and Andrew Le Roux all showcased their talent on the slopes throughout the contest and chased each other to the finishing podium.

This year the Mens Snowboarding had 72 competitive riders, and for the first time ever their were 6 Junior snowboarders representing the U18 age group. There were also 32 freestyle skiers, which added a whole new dimension to the event this year.