Jojo Cook, who joined Soulsports as PR Director in February this year, will be the Account Manager, handling all press enquiries regarding products, events and athletes.
Soulsports is a leading UK action sports agency, specialising in PR, athlete management and events.

Sophie Paget, Marketing Manager O’Neill UK said: “Last year was a big year for the brand with O’Neill UK being setup as a direct subsidiary company to O’Neill Europe. This is a new era for us all and now is a great opportunity for us to communicate all that O’Neill stands for and offers – from our athletes and core events, to our product developments, such as new Eyewear and Toddler ranges being added to our 2010 collections. Soulsports, with combined experience and expertise in both extreme sports and fashion, were an obvious choice for us to appoint to take on this task, and we’re looking forward to working with them this year!”

Soulsports will also be promoting The O’Neill Cold Water Classic surf series, one of the most groundbreaking event series in world surfing, which is now in its second year. The CWC stops at Thurso, Scotland on April 13-19th, where 144 of the world’s best surfers will battle it out at one of the coldest and wildest surf spots in the world. Press places available.

For all PR enquiries contact Jojo Cook
jojo@soulsports.co.uk
Tel: 01273 687788

www.oneill.com
www.soulsports.co.uk

Sorry I haven’t done a blog in a while, I was in Morzine over Christmas but I had an exam in January, so I was skiing then working, and didn’t really have the time to fit in blogging. Plus where I was staying had no internet.

But now my exam is over and the fact I’ve worked fairly hard this past few weeks, I don’t have to do any work this week which I am really happy with.

Anyway, I arrived in Morzine yesterday and it was dumping, I was pretty stoked as everyone said the conditions were good and so I was set for a good day shredding tomorrow. We didn’t really do much yesterday, as the others had been out the night before and I was really tired, yet we all ended up staying up late watching movies and playing the xbox.

Today, was my first day up the hill, it was blue bird and the conditions were perfect. Today we spent the day going from park to park. We started in the small park, then went across to the big park, where me and Webbo had a pretty sick session, both doing some cab 9’s, then finally going over to the Swiss Park. All park’s were pretty good and I am really looking forward to having a proper session on them, I would also like to get some filming done too, as I don’t get much of that done.

Sorry for the lack of photo’s, didn’t bring my camera up the hill but will hopefully get some tomorrow.

Laura Berry is perhaps one of the most naturally talented female snowboarders that the UK has produced the recent years, but a series of unfortunate events has seen her body battered and brooked and left her wondering how she’ll be able to bounce back.

Laura competing in the Burton Am Tour SeriesBizarrely, not many people know the full extent of Laura’s injuries as she has had rare spells of fitness where she has competed and won events. The publications of Laura’s triumphs have somewhat blurred the focus of Laura’s battle with injuries, so here’s the real deal about Laura Berry.

Laura first broke her collarbone years ago, before she even started to snowboard, while playing football with Arsenal Ladies FC. The bone healed fine and there were no complications.

Then in 2004, whilst on a magazine trip, Laura has an ungodly slam and smashed her collarbone in two places. After her treatment and rest period the NHS said that the bone had healed fine and she was okay to shred again. After that Laura broke her collarbone a further seven times, each break becoming more and more ridiculous, until in March 2008 she broke her collar bone after she fell on her ass- your collarbone shouldn’t break when you fall on your ass!

After each occasion Laura broke her collarbone the NHS treated her and gave her the classic line; ‘Just stop snowboarding’.

Fortunately, after the ass-falling breakage, Laura decided to just pay to go and see a private consultant. After prodding and probing the consultant told Laura that the break from 2004, where her collarbone was broken in two places had not healed properly. Only one break had healed, so she’d spent four years with a broken collarbone. If you take into consideration that in those four years Laura won The Burton Am Tour Series, The Slopestyle Europa Cup series, The Burton Black Metal, placed 5th and 11th in the Roxy Chicken Jam and won many Brits contests, then that is pretty impressive.

Luckily for Laura the private consultant took pity on her having little money, realising that he would probably put a lot of effort in for her to just run off into the sunset all fixed up without paying, and referred her to another consultant who did both NHS and private work. So, in theory, she got a private doctor for free!

At the end of the 2008 season Laura had a bone graft and a plate inserted via screws into her collarbone to make it heal properly. This was done on the NHS, but with this good private doctor, so there was every chance she would heal 100%.

After eight months off, Laura was allowed to ride again, she bounced back by winning The Brits 2009 Big Air and getting 2nd in the Slopestyle event, as well as winning the Red Bull Home Run for the 2nd year running and placing 2nd in two smaller contests during the season.

Laura’s collarbone with the plate and screws in

In September 2009 she had her plate taken out and things got complicated. A couple of weeks after the removal, a lump had formed where her plate had been. Milton Keynes General Hospital X-rayed her and said it was ‘probably ok’!

A week later Laura had a letter from MK General asking her to pop back in because at a second glance her x-ray didn’t look quite right. Fearing the worst from the NHS, Laura decided to return to her private surgeon rather than leave herself in the hands of the NHS Emergency department treatment lottery. A good job too, because her surgeon found that Laura had a massive aneurysm measuring 2cm by 2cm. An aneurysm is different to a blood clot as it’s a bubble which the blood continues to flow through and can swell and burst killing you! It turned out that Laura ironically developed the aneurysm when the surgeon drilled the plate to her collarbone, because he also drilled into her artery a bit too meaning when it was removed it left a hole in the artery!

The plate and screws once removed from Laura’s collarbone

Unknown to Laura at this time her sponsors were becoming restless with her constant stream of injuries and subsequent ‘healing time’ leaving her unable to snowboard or compete. In October 2009 Red Bull informed Laura that she was coming to the end of her contract and they were dropping her. Not the best thing to hear when you’re suffering all of the above already!

The surgeon treating Laura wanted to inject her with a clotting agent to stop the aneurysm, there was a slight risk that it wouldn’t work and the injection could worsen then situation, the odds were one in a million.

Defying the odds the injection didn’t work, the clotting agent started to block Laura’s artery and they had to stop because they would leave a blood clot in her arm. After the procedure there was a small clot which she was told would sort itself out in time.

After being transferred to Oxford, where the Vascular team is much better, the doctors again tried to closed the aneurysm, this time by passing a tube from her groin to her aneurysm to close off the entrance and then injecting the clotting agent again. Laura describes it as ‘the single most painful thing I have ever had in my life. The pain was so bad I passed out’… but again there were complications.

Laura came round to doctors everywhere and was rushed into surgery and told that there was a strong possibility that she would not come back out with her HAND! Where they had tried the second procedure they had created another blockage meaning there was literally no blood going to her hand. Luckily that operation went well, meaning that Laura won’t be grabbing stalefish with a hook. The doctors put her on a 12 week programme of aspirin to thin her blood, hoping that when she would come off the medication her blood would thicken and the aneurysm will heal itself.

The aftermath of the emergency operation

After the operation, Laura left the UK and incredibly went away for the winter to Morzine! Laura returned to the UK earlier this month to see both the surgeon about her collarbone and the surgeon about her arteries.

Laura says that, ‘For 12 weeks my hand has been cold to the point of my fingers being white and I can’t warm them up. Apparently this is because of where I had the emergency operation, I now have a clot in my elbow. My shoulder aches and doesn’t move 100% properly. I still have an aneurysm which is the same size as before and my collarbone is still in two bits. The blockage in my elbow is restricting the blood flow to my hand by about 50%, which is in turn, creating the coldness.’

It turns out that Laura is in the ultimate catch 22, they can’t heal her aneurysm or her collarbone because if something goes wrong then she’ll probably LOSE HER ARM! But in the mean time she is stuck with a broken collarbone and an aneurysm!

The next step is to wait for the blockage to harden up before putting a tube in her arm to widen the artery. This won’t happen for another 12 weeks.

Laura is very strangely upbeat; ‘Even though I’m probably the most fecked I have ever been, the doctors won’t do anything for another 12 weeks, which I guess means that I can still do my season and shred. Hopefully after 12 weeks they can fix it and this drama will all be over, but who knows’.

Laura maintains that she is still not riding at 100%, but she’s stoked to be riding at all. ‘I don’t think anyone has ever been told that they are okay to still shred because they’re too battered to actually be fixed! I’m just stoked I can still be out riding and doing what I love’.

Laura enjoying her shredding © James North

So if you see Bezza out on the shred, just know, there’s a slim chance she might drop dead in front of you. But at least you’ll know the reason why!!!

Originally from Dorset, Sarah spent the majority of her life in Australia until moving back to England in 2009.  Since returning she now represents her home country and is hoping to be the first British girl to make it onto the World Championship Tour (WCT). Design-led brand Protest is delighted to sign Sarah to the team that includes international riders Yannick De Jager, Melvin Lipke, Lars Musschoot and Christian Boletta.  

Jereon Coppens, Protest European brand manager, said; “We have been searching for a girl who is world class in her sport and also has the drive and passion to get where she wants to be.  With her personality and enthusiasm, Sarah is an inspiration to others girls to want to surf more, just as Protest is trying to do.

“She is a fantastic addition to our team of riders and will really motivate her teammates to be as ambitious in their pursuit of success.  Sarah is also incredibly creative, which will be reflected in our designs for the riders inspired collection.”

Country manager, Paul Wilkinson, believes she will be the face of the brand in the UK; “We’ve been following Sarah’s progress for a long time and we’re excited to welcome her onboard.  Sarah is not only a fantastic surfer but also an amazing role model for other British riders to look up to. “She has a remarkable track record in international tours and we want to support her in becoming the first British girl to make the WCT.

“There are a large number of talented riders in the UK and we want to support them to fulfil their potential.  We are rapidly growing our profile in the country and want to do the same with surfers who have the same ambition as us to be ambassadors of the sport.”

Protest previously joined forces with Sarah when the brand was the sponsor of the English Surfing Federation Team at the European Surfing Championships last year. Sarah finished an impressive fourth at the championships but is hoping to add more titles to her name with the help of Protest.    

“I’m honored and stoked to join the team and I’m excited about the new opportunities that lie ahead,” said Sarah.  Protest shares my passion for the sport and together we will be able to take women’s surfing in the UK to a whole new level.”

The young Animal team rider blew away an international field at this extraordinary winter slopestyle event and is due to be hitting the slopes once more come March at the Animal Slopestyle Champs at The BRITS 2010, Laax, Switzerland

Event Press Release:

More than 2,000 spectators made their way to the White Style course designed and built by Kona Clump team rider Grant “Chopper” Fielder. Grant received lots of props from the other riders for the set up consisting of different elements like: An igloo at the start with a small drop, a set of two doubles, followed by two massive fruit bowls combinations (with a 15ft drop) as well as a huge double at the finish (about 40ft. far). Riders jumped the last gap and reached up to 25ft. above the ground.

The most important point to remember: the whole course was built out of snow. So it was definitely a challenging set up. But some of the world’s best riders came to Leogang. They impressed the spectators and sometimes each other by pulling off the biggest tricks that were seen in a mountain bike contest.

The qualifications on Friday evening were dominated by Swedish rider Martin Soederstroem (technical and clean riding including double tailwhips), Yannick Granieri from France (by far the biggest backflips performed on a contest), U.S. American Cam McCaul (great style and big bag of tricks), Canadian Darren “The Claw” Berrecloth (360 look downs at its best). Linus Sjoeholm (SWE), Amir Kabbani (GER), Sam Pilgrim (GBR) and Jamie Goldman (USA) completed the Top 8 of the qualifyings.

The man on the day of the finals was Sam Pilgrim, no question: tailwhip at the start, frontflip at the first double, backflip no hander at the second, 360 x-up out of the fruit bowl, tuck nohander and backflip at the 2nd fruit bowl, as well as a backflip table at the last jump. Sam couldn’t stop joking after his success having 1,800 Euros in his pocket: “I will spend all the money on sweets, for real!” But he also stated pretty serious: “Crashing on snow is not that funny, because it’s much harder than you might think. It took me a bit to cope with it when I competed the first time at the White Style, but man, it was fun this year and Chopper did a really great job, big respect!”

Top 12 riders:
1 Sam Pilgrim Diamondback GBR
2 Linus Sjöholm Scott SWE
3 Yannick Granieri Commencal FRA
4 Amir Kabbani Mongoose GER
5 Darren Berrecloth Specialized CAN
6 Cameron McCaul Trek USA
7 Jamie Goldman Santa Cruz USA
8 Sam Reynolds DMR GBR
9 Grant Fielder Kona GBR
10 Niki Leitner YT Industries AUT
11 Martin Söderström NS Bikes SWE
12 Jakub Vencl AGang CZE

James was lucky enough to be given a wild card entry to this prestigous event held at his winter season home. The first of 4 legs during the season was postponed in Russia and is potentially going to be held this week in Chamonix which could give James another crack at the top spot.

James commented “Looks like I might have to put retirement off for another year!”

James at the Finishing line in Chamonix

Freeride World Tour Rankings:
www.freerideworldtour.com/en/rankings/

Soulsports Profile:
www.soulsports.co.uk/jamesstentiford

Ben had to say “Well this is it! the last World Cup before the 2010 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver. I managed to land my first run in semi’s and that put me in to the Finals. This has been the 2nd time i have ever got this far in the World Cups so i was just happy to make it this far. Once i landed my first run i got a score of 40.3 which put me into 2nd. On the second runs i was pushed into 3rd with an amazing run from French man Arthur Longo. My second run kept me in 3rd so i am super happy. This has put me in a very good frame of mind for going in to Vancouver and has been my best result so far in my Snowboarding Career!”

Video highlight:
MPORA:

More Snowboarding >>

ESPN:

Facebook Quote:
“WWWWWWWWAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHEEEEEEEEEYYYYYYYYYYY!!! i cant believe it. so stoked to have won. This time all the top girls were in it, the weather was great and even my folks came over from the UK to watch. I landed the run i was after, 540, 540 & 720 stoked and grabbed all my spins in a contest for once woohoo!!”

Results:
1st Jenny Jones
2nd Jamie Anderson
3rd Janna Meyen-Weatherby

Slopestyle Women results

Jenny’s Fan page: www.facebook.com/jennyjonessnowboarder

Jenny’s Official Profile: www.soulsports.co.uk/jennyjones

Jenny’s Sponsors:
Relentless Energy Drinks, Oakley Eyewear, Nixon Watches, MetroSnow.co.uk, les ettes Perfume, Giro Helmets, Billabong Clothing, Salomon Snowboards

Demonstrating that it is not solely the performance-driven that benefit from the value Garmin adds to sport, the wrist-worn Foretrex® 401 is set to provide millions of recreational skiers and snowboarders with the fundamental statistics that they have long craved; how high, how far and how fast did we go today? Of course, this sophisticated, waterproof device is packed with extensive capabilities for the more inquisitive, but its simplicity makes it possible for everybody to get more from their time on the slopes.

Foretrex 401

To put the Foretrex 401 onto the wrists of typical enthusiasts, Garmin has joined forces with 10 specialist chalet operators around the Alps to form official Garmin Test Centres, offering guests the opportunity to test-drive the latest GPS technology. At the end of the day, guests simply upload the day’s data, or ‘tracklog’, at Garmin Connect to review their movements and statistics including highest speed, total descent, total ascent, maximum elevation, total distance and much, much more.

To foster the competitive spirit that will no doubt arise, Garmin has created a season’s league table at Garmin Snow Club to champion the persons that travel the fastest, the furthest, and the greatest descent. The victorious not only secure bragging rights for the year, but are then in with a chance of winning a week’s winter holiday at one of the Garmin Test Centres.

In addition, the Garmin Downhill Challenge will be making its presence felt at The BRITS Snow & Music Festival, which hosts the British Snowboard & Freeski Championships in Switzerland from 21st – 28th March. Throughout the week revellers will charge the slopes to register a fastest time to be displayed upon the Garmin Leader board positioned centre stage of the Apres Arena. The Garmin Downhill Challenge is destined to spark post-slope boasting and debate and perfectly complements the en-masse downhill at the end of the week, Red Bull Homerun, which witnesses 300+ competitors racing simultaneously from the top of the mountain to the bottom… organized chaos. The winner of the Garmin Downhill Challenge will naturally win a trip to The BRITS 2011 to defend their crown.

Finally, spearheading the snowsports campaign are two guys that uphold Garmin’s pursuit of innovation and adventure in BBC Ski Sunday presenters and Garmin ambassadors Ed Leigh and Graham Bell. Regular Ski Sunday viewers will have noticed a recent product review of the Foretrex 401 on the show. Follow Ed’s and Graham’s travels around the world at Garmin Snow Club including fly-through visuals of Graham’s World Cup Downhill runs and both of their exploits at the Winter Olympics in Vancouver.

“Snow sports offered up an exciting proposition for Garmin, which required a shift in our approach for a sport that’s mass focus is recreational,” said Chris Merrell, Garmin’s Marketing Communications Manager. “And we are strong in the belief that Garmin can, and will, add value to every snow enthusiast, both in their on-piste activities and off-piste discussions. GPS adds fun as well as safety to your snow activities.”

Both Garmin devices are available at all Snow + Rock and Ellis Brigham stores nationwide, where a purchase in-store or online holds the added benefit of entry into the prize draw for an all expenses paid trip for 2 to The BRITS 2010 Festival and the opportunity to take on the Garmin Downhill Challenge.

Foretrex® 401 – SRP £199.99
DakotaTM 20 – SRP £279.99

www.garminsnowclub.co.uk

Photoshoot with Tyler Stableford

- Aspen Marketing

I was lucky enough to do a photoshoot with Tyler Stableford. He is in the top 7 in the world for adventure photography, and you can see why. He is even sponsored by Canon. I felt so lucky to work with him. It was flat light which made it really difficult to see, but the pictures turned out really well and hopefully he is using one of my photo’s for an advert, I’m pretty excited.

XGames halfpipe

All our skis!

Breckenridge Dew Tour Halfpipe

Woodward

- at Copper

Woodward snowflex jump

Arriving in America

- without my luggage
I just arrived in Aspen! The weather is cold and dry. I nearly missed my connecting flight, and had to run accross airports to make my flights. I was super excited to meet Elana at theAspen airport, but unforunately the trademark Aspen airport lost my bags. I wasnt able to ski the next day becuase my luggage hadn’t arrived, so I walked around Aspen town today which was good to soapk up the atmosphere.

Good work Jamie!

The mens finals will be taking place on Friday 15th January.

UK rippers Jamie Nicholls and Amiee Fuller have both qualified through to the Burton European Open Slopestyle Semi-Finals. Over 40 men and 50 women competed with only the top 18 men and 13 women advancing through the semi-finals where they will meet invited top-riders like last year’s BEO slopestyle winner Lisa Wiik and Swatch TTR World Champion 08/09 Peetu Piiroinen.

Today the men’s slopestyle semi-final is scheduled with the women’s semi-finals taking place on Thursday.

Slopestyle Qualification Men Results

1.     Jeromel Luka SLO FORUM 81.33

2.     Ciancaleoni Giorgio ITA BURTON 73.00

3.     Lipsanen Janne FIN RIPCURL 72.83

4.     Paumola Ville FIN QUIKSILVER 72.67

5.     Ryan Sean USA FORUM 71.00

6.     Tiller Sondre NOR DC SHOE CO USA 70.50

7.     Hast Miikka FIN PROTEST 70.17

8.     Morgan Ethan GER FORUM 69.67

9.     Uotila Ville FIN ATOMIC 69.33

10.  Nordgaard Trym NOR QUIKSILVER 69.17

11.  Arvidsson Nils SWE RIPCURL 69.00

12.  Sørensen Paal NOR QUIKSILVER 68.83

13.  Braaten Gjermund NOR OAKLEY 68.50

14.  Nicholls Jamie GBR QUIKSILVER 67.00

15.  Tonteri Roope FIN BURTON 66.00

16.  McMorris Mark CAN ONEILL 62.33

17.  Backstrom Kevin SWE BURTON 62.00

18.  Neraker Simmen NOR 32 SNOWBOARD 61.83

Slopestyle Qualfication Women Results

1.      Walker Ty USA ROXY 79.33

2.      Rukajärvi Enni FIN ROXY 78.00

3.      Somaini Carla SUI NEVER SUMMER 70.67

4.      Fuller Aimee GBR ROXY 67.50

5.      van Gils Charlotte NED K2 63.17

6.      Karlinski Jordie USA NIKITA 61.17

7.      Nadig Helen SUI ZIMTSTERN 60.67

8.     Van Der Pouw Britte NED ROXY 59.00

9.     Alekhina Elena RUS Roxy 58.83

10.   Sadlowski Diana POL CONTRACT 56.67

11.   Zabranska Lucie CZE ROXY 56.33

12.  Pribosic Urska SLO ELAN 55.67

13.  Ramholt Tina SUI HORSEFEATHER 54.83

If you can’t make it to Laax, you can watch the finals live on www.GO211.com:

I am currently in Banff Canada enjoying the fresh powder and fun terrain park up at Sunshine Village Mountain.  After a hard days riding I tend to spend a lot of time browsing various snowboarding related websites.  Nonstop Snowboard has given me a weekly outlet for my over active snowboarding-filled brain.

If you are hungry for random snowboarding  knowledge then you might be interested in reading Adam’s Apples a fun weekly blog where you will find a selection of tasty snowboarding articles, blogs and forum topics from around the globe

To check out the blog Click  Here

Shaun White mid history making back-to-back double cork at the NZ Open. Photo: Parky

10 Page - Whitelines Snowboard Magazine (UK)
8 Page - Onboard Snowboard Magazine (European)
9 Page - Pleasure Snowboard Magazine (German)
4 Page - Zest Magazine (UK)
Front Cover & 7 pages - Cooler Magazine (UK & European)

Cooler December Front Cover

First event of the winter kicked off last weekend on the Dew Tour in the USA where she finished 3rd place in the slopestyle (video shows the highlights of the slopestyle).

If all of this isn’t enough then checkout a competition to win all her kit @
whitelines.com/competitions

Hope your all having a great season? Just updating my personal blog and things, check it out and visit my links to various other sites etc on there. Just wanted to wish you all a Merry Christmas and all the best for 2010!

Marty

http://martinrobertsonofficial.blogspot.com

See the developments at www.garminsnowclub.co.uk