This 8th European PBRJ season ended with a supernova in LAAX on April 16. The annual Peanut Butter and Rail Jam championships gathered more than 150 riders coming from every corner of the European Galaxy.
Luckily clear skies and bright sun enabled spaceships full of invaders to land on the hill to attack harmless rails.
The Volcom stormtroopers prepared an amazing battlefield on top of the Crap Sogn, because the lack of snow made us move the contest from the village to the hill. As usual it included free drinks, peanut butter & jam sandwiches and a traditional barbecue for all. The course consisted of a down rail, a double kink rail and a some flat mailboxes doubled that rocketed you into a downward space canon.
A zillion clones of go-pro eyes watched all the action closely; so we won’t go too far with the highlights, check out the video or other ones on every good euro snowboard website.
In the 15 and under division, it was really good to see that the level of snowboarding is reaching new heights; even if in some territories we witnessed a “snowboarding recession” with way less 10 to 15 years old kids riding than before (where are they at? In front of facebook?, Skiing?...). Anyway this is balanced out with other territories blessed with a big amount of high level shredding trolls. It resulted with tons of kids ripping all day long, and often impressing their elders who didn’t miss any action of the show. In the end last year’s winner Jesse Augustinus from Netherlands will hang another collector PBRJ snowboard to his wall, taking 1st place again, and receiving tons of prizes and a sweet 1000€ check. Good job buddy, you’ll enter the open division next year I guess…
In the 16 and over division, the tricks were gnarly with a lot of people throwing themselves like there was no tomorrow, especially on the double kink where tons of “gap-men” went nuts. I’d say the craziest one landed a switch bs 270 gap to boardslide… In the end Lasse Ihalainen from Finland was the most consistent and clean; landing bangers in every zone with a smooth style. He went home 1000€ richer, and needed 2 people to help him carry his prizes including a custom PBRJ board, a custom Volcom Entertainment Wild electric guitar and a million more prizes…
The Girls division was another story, with this year more competitors than ever. The first jam opened by a sweet bs lipslide on the down rail… We decided this year to push this division by offering the same prize money as the 16+ and qualifying more girls than ever before. Dina Treland from Norway took the 3rd place, 500€ prize money and added the 200€ Electric award with a half cab 50 fs board on the double kink. The first time a girl won the Electric’s Gooeyest move prize. She was so stoked and she probably still has that huge smile on her face. Mary Luggen from Austria was even more stoked and couldn’t believe that she just took the win. She screamed at every prize we handed her, On top of a custom PBRJ board and millions of prizes, she got a sweet 1000€ check in her hands.
The Open division was the icing on the cake or the kryptonite on Lex Luthor’s hands; everyone rode 200% pushing the limits of human abilities. Results were tight between Eirik Nesse and Daniel Cobrats, with Eirik taking the 3rd place (750€) and Daniel finishing 2nd (1000€). Slovenian star, Nejc Ferjan took the win destroying all 3 spots with a ridiculously huge bag of tricks on lock. He came back home with a 1750€ check and more stuff than any Earthling can carry himself.
It was again a super fun day on the hill and it is always good to see familiar faces from all the stops gathering at such an event.
Thanks to all the regional PBRJ staff and organizers, and to LAAX for the setup. Thanks to Miha Matavz for all the photos! See you soon for another exciting season to a mountain (or a fridge) near you! J.
Results:
15 and under:
1. Jesse Augustinus (NL) 1000€
2. Gery Regnant (Spain) 600€
3. Ludwig Billtoff (Sweden) 400€
4. Michel Tobias (Austria)
5. Jules Hense (NL)
16 and over:
1. Lasse Ihalainen (Finland) 1000€
2. Joel Ahola (Finland) 750€
3. Ziga Rakovec (Austria) 500€
4. Florian Arnold (Switzerland)
5. Marc Andre Seguin (Quebec)
Girls:
1. Mary Luggen (Austria) 1000€
2. Anne Sophie Lechon (NL) 750 €
3. Dina Treland (Norway) 500€
4. Joellg Juchli (Austria)
5. Christine Szumovsku (Austria)
Open:
1. Nejc Ferjan (Slovenia) 1750€
2. Daniel Cobrats (Germany) 1000€
3. Erik Nesse (Norway) 750€
4. Stefan Rokos (Czech)
5. Jesse Rontti (Finland)
