Soulsports provided 2 watersports athletes for Sanyo, to promote of its new range of waterproof HD video camera’s “Xacti CA100″. Surfer Sophie Hellyer and Wakeboarder Sam Carne fitted the brief and have spent the last week out in Jamaica filming. You can view and also vote for you favourite video’s and have the chance to win a trip to Jamacia.

SOPHIE HELLYER (view profile)
Intro

Having Fun (and a lot of screaming)

Swimming with Dolphins

A hot shower

Sam Carne
Intro

Wakeboarding without a board

Wakeboarding

Wake vs Kite Games

How to enter
View as many videos as you want
Decide on your favourite
Complete the simple voting form and click submit vote

Prizes
1st prize: Round Hill, Montego Bay, Jamaica
A most beautiful and elegant boutique resort. Luxuriant gardens surround a calm, private cove with golden sand beaches.

The resort offers, not only swimming pools, bars, tennis courts but theme nights at – Beach Party, Jamaica Night, Caribbean Curry Night are popular with guests all year.

A wide variety of recreational activities on and around the property include:

Water sports, Sandy Beach, Double infinity edge pool, Snorkelling in our coral reefs, Tubing, Water skiing, Glass-Bottom boats, Windsurfing, Hobie Cats, Pedal Boats, Sea Kayaks, Deep sea fishing, Yacht charters can be arranged, Native sport fish, Private sailing tours, Sunset cruises, Great Houses, Mountain Valley Rafting, Mayfield Falls & Mineral Springs, Negril Tours, Ocho Rios / Dunns River Falls, Rainforest Bobsled in Jamaica.

Runners up: Xacti CA100 Dual Camera
1 of 15 waterproof Xacti’s to be won. SANYO’s new Xacti CA100 is waterproof up to a depth of 3 metres, high quality 14 megapixel photo or as brilliant Full HD video with 1080i. Thanks to the 12x double-range zoom, the user can easily choose between a wide angle- or tele-orientated zoom range. Vertical design and ergonomic form allow it to be operated easily with one hand.

Find out more about the new Xacti CA100 dual camera.

Soulsports are stoked to announce the introduction of Ben Kilner to Protest, which we hope to be the start of a long and fullfilling relationship for both parties.

Ben Kilner @ Vancover Olympics 2010

OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE:
Boardwear brand Protest has signed seven times British Champion Ben Kilner to its growing team.

Ben, 21, has joined Protest as their first male UK snowboarder following a highly successful year. He took part in the recent Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver as part of Team GB and has also twice been named Young Sportsman of the Year.

Ben lives in Banchory, Scotland, and has amassed seven consecutive British Championship titles.

Protest country manager, Paul Wilkinson, said; “We are serious about supporting the Protest brand in the UK and Ben is the perfect ambassador to do this. We identified him as a British athlete with huge potential and hope that we can help Ben develop further as a rider in the coming years,” he said.

“Ben will become integral to UK marketing campaigns in 2010/11 on the winter side of the business - Protest is looking at further winter marketing opportunities which will support the brand and its retailers. Further sponsorship deals are expected in the coming weeks.”

Ben is delighted to have signed on outerwear with Protest: “I can’t wait to be part of the new team and work with them on the development of the brand.”

www.protest.eu

Home favourite Gee Atherton (Commencal) blitzed his way to the win in a thrilling men’s downhill final at today’s UCI Mountain Bike World Cup round in Fort William, Scotland.

When Mick Hannah (GT) crossed the line in 4:37.75, setting a new course record, it looked like the chances of a British win were slim. But the dry and dusty conditions meant the track was super-fast and Hannah’s record was short lived.

An astonishing four riders went on to set faster times – Aaron Gwin (Yeti - Fox Shox), Cameron Cole (Maxxis - Rocky Mountain), Greg Minnaar (Santa Cruz Syndicate) and Atherton. Sam Hill (Monster Energy - Specialized) had chosen not to compete after a bad crash during qualifying.

When Atherton crossed the line in 4:36.18, after clocking 62km/h at the speed trap, the victory looked to be his and the partisan crowd went wild, in scenes reminscent of Steve Peat’s win on the same course in 2005. But last-man-down Minnaar can never be counted out, so Atherton’s fans breathed a collective sigh of relief when he finished 1.21 seconds down.

Atherton said winning at Fort William was a “dream come true” and he was “the most excited I’ve ever been about winning a race”. Asked how he got down the hill so quickly, he said: “It was all the crowd. I could hear them as soon as I came out of the woods. They were just so noisy, so good.”

Greg minnaar was the fastest qualifier but couldn’t beat gee atherton’s scorching time come the main event: greg minnaar was the fastest qualifier but couldn’t beat gee atherton’s scorching time come the main event

Greg Minnaar put in a scorching time but it wasn’t enough to unseat Gee Atherton
MEN’S DOWNHILL #2 RESULTS
1 Gee Atherton (GBr) Commencal 0:04:35.70
2 Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain 0:00:00.48
3 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 0:00:01.21
4 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 0:00:02.01
5 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT 0:00:02.05
6 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Lapierre International 0:00:02.11
7 Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycles - Intense 0:00:05.23
8 Shaun O’Connor (Aus) 0:00:05.84
9 Nick Beer (Swi) Scott 11 0:00:06.27
10 Matti Lehikoinen (Fin) Chain Reaction Cycles - Intense 0:00:06.38

World Cup individual rankings after round 2

1 Greg Minnaar (RSA) Santa Cruz Syndicate 420 pts
2 Gee Atherton (GBr) Commencal 405
3 Cameron Cole (NZl) Team Maxxis-Rocky Mountain 282
4 Aaron Gwin (USA) Yeti Fox Shox Factory Race Team 240
5 Brendan Fairclough (GBr) Monster Energy - Specialized 239
6 Samuel Blenkinsop (NZl) Lapierre International 219
7 Fabien Pedemanaud (Fra) Scott 11 199
8 Michael Hannah (Aus) GT 173
9 Justin Leov (NZl) Trek World Racing 171
10 Julien Camellini (Fra) Chain Reaction Cycles - Intense 163

More news about Gee’s win on Dirt

In the Women’s event, Gee’s sister Rachel Atherton came in second place behind Sabrina Jonnier. More news on Dirt

BBC Winter Sports Journalist, Anna Thompson highlights the amazing slopestyle athletes the UK currently have, including Jenny Jones and Jamie Nicholls and Ed Leigh thinks the inclusion of both the ski and snowboard slopestyle in the 2014 Winter Olympics is not just a pipe dream!
http://www.bbc.co.uk/blogs/annathompson/2010/02/slopestyle_to_make_debut_in_so.html

The UK’s Sam Pilgrim was up to his old tricks again at the recent White Style event in Leogang, Austria… winning!

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

Soulsports has been working with Ben Kilner for many years consulting and managing many of his sponsorships, so we were very proud to hear his latest result in Canada and the best of his career! a 3rd Place on the World Cup at the last event before the Olympics, which is a great boost!

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!”

Soulsports have been Jenny’s agent since 1999 and are very proud to announce that she has just won the X Games Slopestyle Gold medal for the second year running!

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

Garmin the global leader in satellite navigation turns its expertise to snowsports to deliver the new must-have item for the slopes as it announces a series of GPS devices and a range of activities geared toward the snowsports enthusiast.

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

Jamie Nicholls continued his top form yesterday during the Burton European Opens Slopestyle Semi-Finals, finishing in an impressive 10th place overall and making it through to the finals.

Good work Jamie!

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

Soulsports athlete Jenny Jones has had a superb month in the media with several interviews across UK & International core magazines plus an interview in the mainstream:

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