Mar. 20, 2007 - Issue #596: Monkey Warfare

Neil Edgeworth Memorial Banked Slalom keeps the fires for snowboarding stoked

The Neil Edgeworth Memorial Banked Slalom (NEBS) is rooted in Canadian snowboarding history. Originally known as the “Inland Banked Slalom” back in 1987, the event was resurrected in the memory of influential Canadian snowboarder Neil Edgeworth, who lost his life in an avalanche in 1997.

Occurring annually at Big White Ski Resort, the NEBS always features some of the most influential Canadian snowboarders of the past and present, like the owner of Stepchild Snowboards and star the infamous Whiskey video series, Sean Johnson.

“Snowboarding is different than most sports,” explains Flynn Seddon. He’s the man behind the NEBS, as well the BC Snowboard Association president and Big White’s terrain park manager. “We share something that is not lost as the sport grows. That is what this event is about, keeping that alive.”

Held in warm and wet conditions at Big White Ski Resort, a 45-minute drive outside of Kelowna, BC, the NEBS attracted competitors from all over Western Canada and the United States on Mar 17 and 18 for a weekend of friendly competition. The event is held every St Patrick’s day weekend, and this year costed $50 to enter for amateurs, including a buffet dinner and discounted lift tickets.

One of only two banked slalom events in North America (the other one being the Mt Baker Legendary Banked Slalom), the race is fairly straight forward: competitors in 11 different categories divided by age, gender and skill level, get one timed run down the race course on each of the two days of the event. The slower of the two times is then discarded and the better time determines a rider’s placement.

However, for some competitors, simply making it through the course cleanly can be a difficult task. This year’s course began with a steep drop out of the start gate just under the top of Big White’s Ridge Rocket Express chair lift before a 90 degree sweeping corner deposits the racer into a natural gully speckled with trees and rocks. After a dozen or so tight and choppy corners, the racer then traverses across Upper Speculation into four long, sweeping boardercross style turns set on the walls of the old half pipe, finishing just above the resort village.

With the average run lasting around a minute and a half, it is typical to see competitors collapse, chest heaving, after they cross the finish line, having pumped every bit of energy out of their bodies in pursuit of the fastest time.

However, as evidenced by the results in the men’s 19 and over category from this year’s race, every last bit of effort counts. The second place finisher Clayton Nickerson crossed the finish line with a time of 1:26.50, a mere .02 seconds behind the winner Matt Galina’s 1:26.48. With results this close, taking any time to relax and stretch your legs can mean the difference between the podium and eighth place. Although the Banked Slalom receives a great deal of support from the snowboard industry (with $5 000 cash and close to $30 000 worth of merchandise to reward competitors for their efforts this year), the prizes are not the main focus of the NEBS. Instead, the race is about being able to enjoy the mountains with old friends and new acquaintances.

“It allows every one young and old to share a cool weekend together,” Seddon says. “The real reason we are here is to get back to simple roots.
Snowboard for fun. Enjoy the company of your friends and meet new ones.”

The atmosphere in the Happy Valley day lodge on Sunday afternoon attested to that. Close to 200 competitors crammed into the usually docile cafeteria, wind burned faces animated with laughter as Seddon stood in front of the crowd, a microphone in one hand and a beer in the other, thanking everyone for his “best weekend of snowboarding in 10 years.”

To his right, a table full of young snowboarders scrambled for free stickers next to a who’s who of Canadian snowboarding history. I sat back and took it all in over a cold beverage, content with my weekend.

I may have missed the podium again this year, but I will leave with something more important: a renewed stoke for the sport of snowboarding and a sense of pride in what the sport represents. As long as the memory of people like Neil Edgeworth is alive in events like the Banked Slalom, so is the soul of snowboarding. V

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