The Winter Whip Stamps its name in Snowboarding History

On Saturday, 2nd August 2014, LW Mag hosted the first ever Winter Whip Rail and Kicker Snowboarding Jam at the Afriski Mountain Resort’s Kapoko Park. Riders from around the country gathered to compete in the exciting jam format contest which resulted in an epic weekend of snowboarding action and good times.

The day kicked off with the Kicker Jam which had riders throwing down their biggest and most technical tricks over the various options of kickers. We then moved onto the Rail Jam where riders were allowed to use the kickers to get creative with variation and transfers, but had to include as much rail riding as possible. Riders top scores from each jam were combined to give their overall result.

The jam format contest made for a super exciting event and gave the riders the opportunity to hit the park as many times as they wanted during the allocated time. Not being limited, riders could get their safe runs under their belts and then try for higher scores with bigger and new tricks, and link up new lines. The Kapoko Park builders outdid themselves with and amazing park filled with obstacles and endless line options.

Competitors in the Amateur division stepped up their game big time trying variations of Boardslides, Spins and Grabs. Jason Lammers came into the comp with no expectations and just had fun. This approach paid off as he owned the competition with consistent riding, big Nose Grabs and Halfcab’s over the kickers. His sick transfer from the kicker to rainbow rail stood out and he took the overall win. Graham Sepata’s spins and good rail riding earned him a well deserved 2nd place while Wesley Schallen stuck some impressive Frontside Boardslides over a C-Box and earned himself 3rd place.

Jason Lammers snowboarding his way to the win in the Amateur division — Jason Lammers

In the Open Ladies division it was Mawa Jekot who walked away with the overall. Her stylish riding, spins, rails, use of the park and huge Method over the bottom kicker was unmatched. Vanessa Jackson was riding better than ever with a Frontside 180 over the bottom kicker and continued use of the more advanced rails put her in the 2nd place. Tamara Susa’s consistent Backside and Frontside rail riding slotted her into 3rd place.

Mawa Jekot snowboarding his way to the win in the Open Ladies division — Mawa Jekot

It was a close battle in the Open Men division with riders throwing down impressive runs all day long. Andrew Le Roux was super consistent landing big spins, Backside and Frontside Tail Grabs, and an insane Miller Flip seeing him grab 1st place. It was a close battle for points between Luke Dutton and Dean van Greunen. Luke rode strong throughout the day but his Frontside 7’s and Nollie Frontflip onto the box put him ahead of Dean and he took home 2nd place. Dean finished off in 3rd with his huge Backflips over the kickers and technical rail riding.

Andrew Le Roux snowboarding his way to the win in the Open Mens division — Andrew Le Roux

The Skiing division was owned by JTK. The rest of the field couldn’t come close to his technical rain riding and stylish Superman Frontflips. August Risso and Alexander Travers rode well and had fun finishing in 2nd and 3rd respectively.

JTK skiing his way to the win in the Skii division — JTK

Riders that stood out during the contest but just missed the podium were Zoe Goodbrand and Wynand Weyers who both scored themselves a Drift Ghost-S action camera. Eduan Enslin was the youngest rider competing and took home 1st in the Junior division. Another highlight of the weekend was seeing Pro Snowboarders Marko Grilc and Roope Tonteri from Slovenia visiting South Africa and filming for the next Grilosode. Exciting stuff!

Snowboarding pro Marko Grilc — Marko Grilc

LW Mag would like to thank all the sponsors for making this epic event possible – Red Bull, Burton, Skullcandy, G-Form, Neff and Drift Cameras. A special mention has to go out to all the riders who took part, you are awesome and thank you. The Winter Whip will be beck in 2015.