Friday, March 22

Backyard Jam Rundown

Press Release

The first of the re-launched Backyard Jams kicked off last weekend at Telford and went down a storm with riders and the crowds of BMXers who showed up to watch.

The Etnies sponsored Jam had the biggest line up of riders ever seen in the UK with 32 riders making the trip from the US and Canada, plus 19 Europeans and all the top Brits. Etnies brought over Ruben Alcantara, Joe Rich, Garret Byrnes, Edwin Delarosa, Josh Stricker,John Heaton and Aaron Benkhe, and they hooked up with a line up of riders too long to list here.

It was standing room only to watch pro street on Sunday and the riders were all loving the new course which was built in Canada and shipped over for the Jam. The format for street was 5 riders on the course for 10 minutes followed by a run each for best trick. Fifteen riders progressed to the finals and the top five shared $5,000.

Ruben finished his run with a massive transfer from the hipped quarter to the deck of the sub-box. The ramp builder says it was 25 feet, but it looked a lot bigger. Whatever, it was huge. The fact Ruben didn't win says something about how good the Beast rode. He went big over everything, 360ing and tailwhipping the drive way. Ruben grabbed second and Hoffman/Etnies rider Bas Keep collected third, followed by Kye Forte and Kink's Chris Arriaga. Considering how many overseas pros made the trip over, the UK riders showed up big time. Boyley, Chris Mahoney and James Brooks placed top ten with Bas and Kye.

On the half pipe, Mat Hoffman rode two demos per day with his arm in a cast after chipping a bone in his wrist the week before. The Condor's lefty autographs may have been a bit goofy but his riding was as smooth as ever. He pulled all his trademark tricks in crazy back-to-back combinations. Mat was joined over the weekend by a bunch of good riders including Eduardo and Miron for the last demo on Saturday. Jay may be rusty on vert, but didn't show it and his 540 tailwhip was awesome to see, as were the massive flairs that the Spanish Fly has got super dialled.

Pro flatland was on Sunday and the rider line up was littered with riders from Europe and the US. Again it was the UK riders that took honours with Effraim Catlow collecting first prize of $850 and James White and Phil Dolan getting second and third.

It seemed like hundreds of amateur riders entered the Jam, and for a lot of them it was their first big contest, but the standard of riding was really good and everyone seemed to be grinning for the whole weekend. The 12 street and 6 flatland winners shared a big stash of products from Etnies, Lord, Dig, Ride and Seventies.

Next Jam is in Hastings on 13/14 July - www.backyardjam.com.