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Lipscomb, Just take Showcase Showdown pipestyle

WVSC riders second and third at spectator-friendly pipestyle event
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Going Big Competitors gave it their all during the two days of the Sapient Showcase Showdown, which came down to an icy finish on Saturday night.

With the conditions getting icier and the landings more chewed up as the evening wore on, the 11 th annual Sapient Showcase Showdown turned into something of a survivor series. Big tricks and huge air were a must for riders, but in the end it was all about who could land what.

The pipestyle course started with a drop-in from a platform, followed by a huge hip jump. This set up riders to make one halfpipe trick before tackling one of the C boxes planted on the side of the pipe. Some riders squeezed in another halfpipe trick, but most headed to the bottom where they had their choice of a flat box, a kinked flat box and a rail.

After two days of qualifiers and eliminations, 10 men and six women were picked to compete in the finals under the lights on Saturday night. $25,000 in cash was up for grabs, along with another $25,000 in prizing.

Organizers also sold raffle tickets for 20 Sapient snowboards to raise money for Zero Ceiling, and tossed out thousands of dollars of product to people in the crowd. At least 2,000 people watched the event, three deep on either side of the pipe, and clustered at the bottom.

Each rider was given two chances in the finals, with the best run counting.

Crispin Lipscomb won both runs to take the Showdown title and a cheque for $10,000.

“I had fun today, I really needed to push myself and get out of the headspace I’ve been in the past few weeks,” said Lipscomb, a member of the national halfpipe team who has been disappointed with his results this season.

“This was just awesome fun, and the whole vibe reminded me why I started competing — it’s just everybody hanging out at the top, kind of nervous, but everyone is having fun, everyone’s friends. That’s where I came from, and that’s what I want to go back to in (the World Cup at) Stoneham next weekend.

“I’m not at the point of my career where I need to be developing, I’m at the point where I need to be enjoying myself and working on the mental game. That said, it was good to be able to go to events like this, play with stuff and throw in a few variations to see what happens.

Lipscomb’s run included back-to-back 720s off the hip and pipe wall, followed by a backside 50-50 over the C-Box, and 270 onto the flat box at the bottom.

Lipscomb said his experience competing on icy halfpipes was definitely an asset, although he was a bit more nervous about the rails.

“The top is like a pipe, but it’s easier in some respects and you can go really big,” he said. “The rails were really hard for me, really big and really scary — I broke my collar bone on a rail last May, and I’ve got some holes in my legs from slipping off. But that’s why you snowboard, for a bit of fear and fun… and to get out of the comfort zone a little.”

Second and third place went to a couple of newcomers to town, 19-year-old Andrew Matthews and 17-year-old Robbie Balharry, who earned $5,000 and $2,000 respectively. Both are enrolled in the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club’s academy program, along with six other athletes, living in Whistler while doing distance learning by computer.

Matthews said he would have liked to have gone bigger, but after falling in his first run he knew he had to reign it in a bit.

“Everybody was falling on the hip jump and pipe wall, so I knew that I had to try and be consistent and land all my tricks,” he said.

“This is the biggest thing I’ve ever won. It was pretty scary, but pretty fun at the same time. I really liked the hip, and the down box was really fun to mix it up at the end. The whole course was really challenging but it was really fun at the same time.”

Rounding out the top-10, in order, were Spencer Lundin, Logan Short, Sammy Osachuk, David Melancon, Jordan Smith, Warren Williams and John Caulfield.

On the women’s side, it was Whistler’s Stephanie Just who led the way with a solid first run. Breanna Stangeland had the best second run, but was still about four points shy of catching Just. Pilar Peterson, the reigning Showcase Showdown rider for the past two years, placed third. Prize money was $3,000 for first, $2,000 for second and $1,000 for third.

Just grew up in Whistler riding with the Whistler Valley Snowboard Club, and was a national team halfpipe prospect before switching gears to focus more on slopestyle and riding the backcountry.

Her recent success in the Showcase Showdown and her second place finish in the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival Stompede last spring have prompted her to consider entering more competitions.

“It makes me love our local comps, but it also pushes me to travel to more competitions — the more fun I have, the more (events) I want to do,” she said. “I’m going to (the Quicksilver Showdown at) Grouse next weekend, and I’ll do the Telus World Ski and Snowboard Festival again for sure. For next year there are other contests that I’m looking at where I’d have to travel a little further.”

Just said the course got tougher after every run.

“The course was harder than it looked, it was icy and the halfpipe walls were pretty rutted out by the finals,” she said. “My first run was solid, I just tried to go a little bigger on the hip and landed it and had a solid run… to have less pressure on the second run. On the second run I fell on the halfpipe wall, so I was just glad to have a complete run down.

“The last three rails were my favourite part, but I liked the whole course. The ladies were really solid — Sarah Conrad flew in (from Calgary) at like 3:30 p.m. to show up for this and just killed it. All of us were point-three apart from each other, so we’re all really happy with that.”

While she doesn’t ride the pipe as much as she used to, she says her background was an advantage.

“Halfpipe helps with all my riding to this day, if you’re a strong halfpipe rider you’re going to be strong all around,” she said.

When asked what rider she thought had the best night, Just lost no time in crediting David Melancon.

“He was just destroying the course the entire time,” she said. “He qualified first, and was going so huge. In the finals he couldn’t land — it was really rutted out and he was going so huge that he just sat down on both runs. Which was really unfortunate because he was killing it on every run and kind of raising the bar.”

Rounding out the top-six women were Star of Peace Quinn in fourth, Brittany Davis in fifth and Sarah Conrad in sixth.