Posted on February 8, 2010 No Comments

5^th of Feb was a date in our calendar pointed in direction of Belgrade, Serbia… You know why? We shouldn’t miss it for nothing. It was prepared for Burn Urban Slopestyle, biggest urban snowboarding competition on territory of former Yugoslavia. Around 5pm Tim Kevin Ravnjak and Robi, his dad picked us up in Zagreb. I thought that the trip will last for ages, but in less than 5 hours we were in center of Belgrade, Royal hotel ready for a sleep to get rest before tomorrow’s competition.

In the morning we wanted to go for a sightseeing but than we looked through the window and saw stormy wind outside. It was a good day to be inside of the house. We went for a lunch and when we got back we entered into “Supermarket” our meeting point in the street where competition was planned to be held that day. We saw those two Austrian riders and asked, do they think that the competition will start on time and they told us that it was postponed for tomorrow because of the wind. This seemed unreal because in that time wind stopped… than he said he won’t be able to ride it because of flight back home… Cuz of look of his face I didn’t trust him even a word… but than I asked him where is Marko, organizer. He said to me that he is in hospital with a broken nose. I got out of the bar and said to Peter, that I don’t trust him anything, that he is fooling with me and I needed to confirm this story, but shapers said the same. Wind opened doors of the truck and hit him into the nose. Wind and low temperatures made ice from the snow and it was impossible to shape everything on time.

We just hoped that the weather tomorrow will be much better than it was that day. Sunday morning was saved for our small visit to the ZOO. It was quite big experience. We got chance to play with lion only 4 months old, Djole… He was crazy, he plays with you, but he bights you and he leaves all your legs and arms blue. Sweet but painful… and you know what when I got back home none trusted me I was bitten by a lion LOL.

6pm training started, 10 riders from Slovenia, Austria, Germany and Serbia was waiting on the start. They had three obstacles to hit, down rail, rainbow and than up box for which you needed to have clear run to hit it or you didn’t have enough speed.

The youngest rider was 13 years old, Tim Kevin Ravnjak, as I call him mini/maxi Burton rider, the biggest hope of European snowboarding. In a game with big boys he was on the 6^th place. Only 5 riders could enter into the finals plus the craziest one… Chris Cab, half South African, half Austrian who burned atmosphere with his rocker style, long hair and tight ripped jeans.

Finals were hot… hot… hot… 270’s in’s and out’s… bonk over the rainbow… stylish presses, nose and tail… there was no runs, only jibbing for the best overall impression and decision was here. Nejc Ferjan from Slovenia took first place, 2^nd year in line. He was followed with crazy wakeboarder and snowboarder Felix Georgii from Germany and on the third place was Mitja Kodrić, also from Slovenia. Michel Botzenhart from Germany was on 4^th place and Erik Harc from Slovenia on 5^th.

LIST OF THE RIDERS:

1. Nejc Ferjan (SLO) sponsors: Artec,  Skullcandy – Goofy
2. Mitja Kodrić (SLO) sponsors: Rome, Quiksilver, Five-o, Rope – Regular
3. Felix Georgii (GER) sponsors: Rome, Quiksilver, Smith, Troyan, OBC, 5ive – Goofy
4. Michel Botzenhart (GER) sponsors: Academy, Flux, Celsius, Electric, Celtek, Landing, 5ive – Regular
5. Erik Harc (SLO) sponsors: Elan, Helly Hansen – Regular
6. Chris Cab (AUS) sponsors: Nitro snowboards, Vans, Skullcandy, Rockstar Energy Drink, Vestal, XDouble shop – Regular
7. Tim Kevin Ravnjak (SLO) sponsors: Burton, Anon – Goofy
8. Petar Jovanović (SER) sponsors: Boardshope Serbia – Goofy
9. Miljan Bošković (SER) sponsors: Boarshop Serbia, Protest, Rope clothing, Burn – Regular
10. Žolt Takač (SER)  sponsors: Boardshop, Switch magazine, Rope clothing, Burn – Goofy

ORGANIZERS: UF and Federation of extreme sports Serbia.

PRIZE: 1^st place 500 Euro cash, 2^nd and 3^rd place 300+200 Euro in clothing

INFRASTRUCTURE: two stages for 400 people, 80kw reflectors, 40kw sound and couple of big led screens!

The atmosphere was not cold so much as we all expected, DJ was burning atmosphere with great music whole the evening.

BIG THANKS TO SPONSORS: Burn Energy Drink, O’Neill, Snickers, Belgrade, Supermarket, Rope clothing and Skullcandy.

Written by Nelly Mance, photography Nelly Mance and Petar Dubokovic Jovanovic + Hiishii.com, copyright boardforce.net