The Features Cup had a simple goal, to find out which region of the world has the best boarders. Is it Asia Pacific? With their wild riders from down under led by team captain Cool Wakushima? Or how about Europe, with some contest titans led by Marcus Kleveland? And of course there’s North America, a rag-tag group of late additions who held their own every step of the way, led by Luke Winkelmann.
Over two days and four distinct features these three teams went head to head, navigating both the course, and the additional challenges added onto them. And on the morning of day one, with the teams ready and the snow still cold, everyone gathered for the banked slalom. The rules were as follows: One run on their normal board. One run on a mini board. Every flip would take one second of a rider's time (landed or not) and the best rail trick on the flat bar at the bottom was an additional second off. An additional five seconds would be added to a rider’s time if they missed a gate (cough cough Luke Winkelmann) The two times would be added together, then flips would be subtracted for the final results which were:
1st—Asia Pacific
2nd—North America
3rd—Europe
Best Rail Trick: Denver Orr
After the Banked Slalom—and a wonderfully catered lunch—the riders gathered for a rail jam…at first. At first it was just a jam session, letting the rider’s feel out the course and do some tricks along the way. But then we saw the mischief multiplier: trick wheels.
Two wheels were presented, one with a feature and one with tricks. The team captain would spin the trick wheel, then the feature wheel to see what would need to be done where, and in the end, it was North America that came out on top.
1st—North America
2nd—Asia Pacific
3rd—Europe
Day two began with the quarterpipe, a beautifully built monster standing tall against the Norwegian sky. Like the rail jam, the quarterpipe started with an open session, a time for the riders to clock some tricks and show the judges what they had. And, when that came to an end, it was time to add on some additional challenges. For the QP, it was over/unders. A team member needed to fly high while another team member either slashed or planted below, giving team Europe the chance to clinch a much needed victory.
1st—Europe
2nd—North America
3rd—Asia Pacific
Day two ended with the jump, a fitting final battle for our teams. To start, each team’s four members needed to collectively do five tricks—180 through 900. Each member would take one degree of rotation, and whoever did the 180 would circle back around to spin a 900. And only after all the spins had been done, was it time for the hat trick. Of course, we mean this in the literal sense. Team captains pulled four tricks out of a ball cap and distributed them to their team riders. And while some were, well, if not easy, then certainly less scary than others, it was more than a blast for the fans to watch a rippy flip go down on that booter. But, as the day winded down, it was Europe who took their second win of the day.
1st—Europe
2nd—Asia Pacific
3rd—North America
OVERALL WINNINGS:
1ST—ASIA PACIFIC
2ND—NORTH AMERICA
3RD—EUROPE
MVP: FRIDGE & EGAN
BEST TRICK: DENVER ORR
SEND IT AWARD: LANE WEAVER
FASTEST BANKED SLALOM TIME: ROCCO JAMIESON
Featuring: Luke Winkelmann, Egan Wint, Denver Orr, Lane Weaver, Marcus Kleveland, Celia Petrig, Kristian Skjomming, Fridtjof Tischendorf, Isak Ulstein, Cool Wakushima, Rocco Jamieson, Zephyr Lovelock, and Miyabi Onitsuka