Oxbow Banked Slalom : the recap

Oxbow is back on the mountains, and here is the recap of the first Oxbow Banked Slalom with Mathieu Crepel & Friends. 

The event, open to all snowboarders, took place in Avoriaz on Sunday March 19th. More than 90 riders sent it  in the run made of banked turns and whoops shaped by our teams and the Morzine-Avoriaz snowboard club. A simple format with 2 runs and the best one taken into account for the final ranking, allowed everyone to test themselves on the track once the training phase was over.

The riders encountered challenging weather conditions on race day after having enjoyed sun and powder on the previous days. 

The slogan "Stay Alive" inherited from the early years of the brand was brought back to life, being visible on the starting gate and slalom gate sleeves !

The first run with visibility was for many people the fastest following the arrival of snow and fog for the second run. However, a dozen of riders put sun in our hearts from the beginning to the end with their ultra stylish retro outfits. Big up to the father and son duo Franck and Valentin who made us live a trip in the retro era with wetsuit, big sweater, hard boots and alpine snowboards. Franck was named the most stylish rider thanks to his outfit but also to his semi control roll in the middle of the first run. He was awarded the Martin collector jacket, whose print was at the time proudly promoted by the legendary Jean Nerva.

The run was very varied with a flatter part on the top before diving into the slope and linking multiple radius turns, linked with speed and change of rhythm, with sometimes whoops in between to accelerate for those who wished or had the legs to do so.

On the girls' side, Kim Martinez and Victoria Edel, the local girl, were super tight with 17 tenth of second faster for Kim, special mention for Victoria's retro suit and vintage bib though. The women's podium was completed by Zoé Roffi.

In the men's category, Mathieu Crepel, the host of the day, finished with a solid 3rd place in a relaxed manner. He also bluffed a lot of people during the trainings by top to bottom runs in switch. In front of him 2 heavier riders went faster by a small margin, Stan (a.k.a Pierre Jacquemoud) 7 hundredths faster and in first place, the terror of the green, Paul Lambersens, who already has many banked runs victory to his credit over the past few years.

Missing the podium by not much, special mention for some of the snowboard scenes activists,  Anthony "Gried" Ribet in  4th  place, followed by  the Swiss legend Darius Heristchian and Jimmy Peresson from Chamonix on his famous swallow tail as usual.

The prize giving took place on the terrace of our partner Le Changabang who provided the BBQ for all participants, a big thank you to them!

Big thanks to all riders, partners and friends and see you all next year !

In the kids, boys and girls (category 12-18 years) the podiums are as follows, 

Boys: 

1st:Harry May-Gilling 

2nd: Arthur Gotzheim

3rd: Finley Sharp 

Girls:

1st: Ady Thorpe

2nd: Izzy Mac Arthur 

3rd: Anna Stragliati 

Men

1st: Paul Lambersen

2nd: Pierre Jacquemoud

3rd: Mathieu Crepel

Women's

1st: Kim Martinez

2nd: Victoria Edel

3rd:Zoé Roffi

NB: a computer problem identified after the awards ceremony has seen other kids on the podium, all will have the same awards (those announced during the podiums and those really faster).