Tobias Theisen won the RIDE sponsoring deals
Again, the SPRING IN THE PARK freestyle camp on Germany’s highest mountain proved to be a big success. Over the past two weeks, up to 250 participants daily gathered to the Terrain Park Zugspitze to practice new tricks on the rails and kickers and to be coached by pro riders. 20-year-old snowboarder Tobias Theisen from Munich (GER) and 18-year-old freeskier Sonja Elsner from Weilheim (GER) won the “Sponsor me” contest on Saturday.
For the third time, SPRING IN THE PARK took place on Zugspitze. As in the previous years, the feedback was great and riders from all over Germany came to Garmisch-Partenkirchen to take part in the two-week camp. The Terrain Park Zugspitze offered the riders loads of different rails and kickers to improve their skills. In addition, the kids also had the opportunity to test the newest products by K2 and RIDE. Nearly every night, a party took place at Garmisch’s Lodge am Hausberg bar.
After a sunny start at the first weekend, the weather changed to more inconsistent conditions, and especially in the second week head shaper Karl Killer’s crew had a lot of work to do to free the obstacles from up to one metre freshies. The participants were more than thankful for the shapers’ efforts and rode the rails and boxes of the rail area if visibility wouldn’t allow to check the kickers. “The camp was really nice in terms of set-up and work”, snowboard star and camp supervisor Xaver Hoffmann stated. “The weather gods sent a bit too much snow but on the other side that also meant loads of powder: kickers, rails and powder – enough to go round!”
During both weeks, K2 and RIDE SNOWBOARDS team riders stayed at Zugspitze to coach the participants and to give them precious tips to improve their slopestyle skills. The Girl’s Week saw coaches like female freeskiers Michelle Parker (USA) and Maxi Boehme (GER), other new school pros at place were Alex Hlawitschka (GER), Korbinian Resenberger (GER), Felix Wiemers (GER), Patrick Verwilligen (GER) and Christian Fischer (GER). The snowboarders were coached by riders like Jens Kretschmer (GER), Manuel Tapal (GER), Marcel Dextor (GER) and Sebi Schmitz (GER).
On Saturday, March 29, the camp came to a close with the “Sponsor Me” contest at Terrain Park Zugspitze when all riders had the opportunity to show what they had learnt over the previous weeks. During the sunny two-hour jam session, the jury of head judge Xaver Hoffmann looked for the overall impression on rails and kickers. Munich local Tobias Theisen won the coveted deal for the national RIDE team whilst Sonja Elsner showed the boys who wears the pants and took the K2 skis “local hero” deal. “We looked for safe and controlled riding”, Xaver Hoffmann explained. “Both riders showed clean landings and neat tricks.” After the prize-giving, the other participants were blessed too when it rained non-cash prizes by K2 and RIDE as well as tickets by Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG on the crowd.
“We were pleased that so many riders accepted our offer and we are already looking forward to SPRING IN THE PARK 2009!“, Eva-Maria Greimel from organizers Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG summed up. With a last Saturday night party at Lodge am Hausberg and another sunny coaching day on Sunday, SPRING IN THE PARK came to a close – though the Terrain Park with its kickers and rails is still open until May 04th for anyone who wants to ride it!
For more information on SPRING IN THE PARK please visit zugspitze.de
Tuesday, April 01st 2008 @ 07:49 AM.
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