This was a really busy day, not one but two competitions in one day. First off was the British Snow Tour indoor championships at Castleford, then the Burton High 5 competition at Tamworth.  The day would see me having to ride for 16 hours, give or take some time off for prize giving and travelling.

I went up to Castleford on the Friday night and stayed in the local hotel, this was fun as I met up with fellow competitor Vailla Chapman from Scotland. After a good nights sleep I got up early in the morning to register  for the competition. The format for this years competition was brand new and would involve all the snow boarders hitting a complete run of box features on one side of the slope. The skiers would then be hitting the rail features on the opposite side of the slope at the same time. Then after two judged runs we would swap over.

The action kicked off at 9.00am with an open practice session, and before long there where skiers and snowboarders everywhere trying out all the features. Once the practice was over the girls were up first, and as I had finished in 2nd place in the British Championships last year I was seeded to run second to last. This would at least give me the advantage of being able to see most of the other competitors runs first.

I was really pleased to qualify through to the finals in 2nd place, but a slip out on my box run meant that I slipped back to 4th place Overall. Was still pleased with this result and my 2nd place in the Youth category.

Overall Female:

1. Katie Omerode

2. Laura Berry

3. Faye young

4. Becky menday

Youth Category:

1. Katie Omerode

2. Becky Menday

3. Natalie Silkstone

After all the prize giving it was a mad dash from Castleford down to Tamworth to compete in the first of the Burton High 5 series. I was feeling really sleepy after having ridden for what seemed like the whole day. I started riding at 9am and did not stop until about 5pm, except for a break for lunch. Now I would have to compete until about 1am it was going to be a long evening ahead!

The Burton High 5′s

These are a series of events held at all the indoor snowdomes across the UK. The format consists of a jam session for two hours to then pick 5 female finalists who would then compete against each other in a two run, best run counts showdown. Also each dome would have there park entered into an overall competition to see who had designed the best park and made the best use of the specially designed Burton features.

Tamworth Snowdome

So first up was the Snowdome at Tamworth. Despite already feeling pretty tired riding at the British Snow Tour event at Castleford earlier in the day, I rocked up and hit the new features. The park set up was cool and flowed very well, there was a good group of girls all competing despite the late hour of the event. It all kicked off at about 10pm and would not finish till 1am. I was again really pleased to make it into the finals and despite my legs feeling like jelly made the most of my two final runs.

I was really stoked to place in first place in my category and 2nd place overall woman.

Overall Female

1. Orla Doolin

2. Becky menday

3. Chloe Palmer

Girls Kids

1.Becky menday

2. Cerys Allen

3. Skyla Bailey

Castleford Sno!zone

Friday 4th November, back up to Castleford again for the next leg of the High 5′s. The park looked really cool, with a very scary middle feature. The big burton wedge was placed straddling a massive trench, so you had to clear it or drop into the hole of doom. I had a really good session here and enjoyed riding with my friends Katie Omerode and Natalie Silkstone. I was again really pleased to make the finals and had a good two runs. Katie Omerode was really good and took a well deserved first place. I was still very pleased to take 1st place in the kids category and to make the podium in the overall category and finished up in 3rd place.

Senior Female:

1. Katie Omerode

2. Orla Doolin

3. Becky Menday

Milton Keynes Sno!Zone

Friday 11th November, finally the series had come to my home slope here in Milton Keynes. It made a really nice change to not have to rush about straight from school and have to travel for miles. I really wanted to do well at this event as a lot of the people I usually ride with would be attending this event. The park was amazing, and Thom Boddington and his crew had done an epic job. I rode as hard as I could trying to pull out as many of my tricks on as many different features as possible. I was super stoked to make it through to the finals, and had an epic trade off with Orla Doolin for the top spot. I was totally blown away to be awarded with 1st place overall, and the cheer from the crowd as I stepped up to claim my trophy made me feel amazing. I have to say that this was the best night for me and I was pleased with my riding and what a cool result. All the girls rode so hard and well it is making the whole series really exciting.

Senior Female:

1. Becky Menday

2. Orla Doolin

3. Izzy Jones

Girls Kids

1. Becky Menday

2. Cerys Allen

3. Skyla Bailey

Chill Factore Manchester

Friday 18th November, another mad dash up the M6 straight from school. This time I had the company of fellow school student Jake Binnee and we were off to shred the slope at Chill Factore in Manchester. I was curios to see how they would do the park this time as last years event had a very strange layout. I was really pleased to see a very cool looking park, it had the most features and different lines of all the parks so far. It seemed that every feature they owned was out on the slope. Again I would be shredding with my good friend Katie Omerode and I was really excited about the event. I was really pleased to make the final 5 again, and tried my hardest to do well in the finals. I went for my front 3 off the donkey rail but did not land it cleanly, then pulled off a really nice 270 on to 270 off the side hit large pipe. On my second run I landed my 360 off but crashed out on my 270 on still I finished both my runs with solid tricks. It was a real fun final with Katie, Orla, and myself encouraging each other to ride harder. Katie once again pulled out a fantastic run and took a well deserved first place, Orla’s run was cleaner than mine and she just over took me into second. I was still really stoked to make it to 1st place in the kids category and 3rd place against such good riders in the senior category.

Senior Female:

1. Katie Omerode

2. Orla Doolin

3. Becky Menday

Snow centre Hemel Hempstead

Friday 25th November, this was the final leg of the High 5 series. It was again really nice to have another local competition, especially as I was going to have to travel up to Glasgow straight after for a GB Team training camp for the weekend.

Again another epic park was prepared for the event, and I was looking forward to again shredding with the Burton team rider Orla Doolin. All though we had never met before the series began, we were getting to know each others riding really well. She was really encouraging me to try new and harder things. There was a huge van next to a kicker as one of the features, and it was really cool boardsliding across the roof of it.

Again I rode well enough to make it into the final 5, but this time the event was split into one run on one side of the park and one run on the other side. The park had taken a fair battering by this time, and all of the girls struggled to have clean runs in the finals. I did not do well enough to make the overall podium this time finishing in 4th place, although I still took 1st place in the kids category. The other girls all rode really well and totally deserved their places.

Senior Female:

1. Orla Doolin

2. Alice Blake

3. Emillia Vanni

Girls Kids:

1. Becky Menday

2. Cerys Allen

3. Roxy Whittrick

In all I managed to take home 6 first place cube trophies, and built a pyramid out of them. But I was most proud of my first place at Milton Keynes and that will always be a very special moment. The standard of the riding of all the girls has improved so much, and it was so fun to meet new people and to get to know them.

With the series ended not only for this year but possibly for good, it seemed a little sad. I have to say this has been one of my favourite competition series for the last two years. Not only is great fun to compete in and ride at all the different domes in the UK, but the creativity in the park building that it inspires is awesome. I hope that Burton manage to pull together something that achieves the same amount of excitement for next year.

Who one the ‘Golden Shovel Award’ this year for most creative park, well the answer is Tamworth Snowdome. Still fairly good news for me as I love riding there as well, but still wish that MK had taken it for the second year running. Well done to all the park crews who made the event such an exciting and inspiring one to ride.

catch you soon

BeXx