Denver’s Backyard Bang

The Backyard Bang Rail Jam arrived in Colorado on Saturday giving downtown Denver a chance to watch an urban rail jam with plenty of local riders showing their skills.  It was quite an impressive gathering for a Saturday when many snowboarders could be up enjoying the snow on the local mountains but stayed outdoors to watch better athletes huck themselves for our entertainment.

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The day began at 10am for me as I made my way to the event, watched riders check in and enjoyed some hanging out time as the snow was brought in to complete the features.

Riders checking in for their bibs, there were 3 heats of riders competing and a good chunk of known names and unfamiliar names in snowboarding.

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There were four features at the Backyard Bang:  A Rainbow down box, down box, down flat down rail and at the very bottom was a stall/handplant feature made out of an A for the Art Institute.

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The stall/handplant feature had some interesting moments with riders

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During the practices, I watched the riders hit features at the same time and definitely some close calls but everyone made it out safely into each of their heats where they proved their skills into the finals.

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The judges at the Denver Backyard Bang were the Snowboard Mag crew:  Larry, Bashor and Drago plus Otterstrom were up there getting it done for the crowd.

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I knew a couple of local riders competing in the Backyard Bang so I captured shots of them as they went through their practice runs and heats.

Grey  Clifford

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Lauren Weibert

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Moss Halliday

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The Salomon Pro Team was on hand for autographs and watching the contest go down from atop the RV

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The finals began in the afternoon and I stood on top with the riders to get their perspective, crowds below and anxiously awaiting each drop in that would decide the winners for the day’s event.  There were some great jokes passed around and throughout the entire day they weren’t tired yet but ready to finish it up.

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Will Lavigne

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Forest Bailey

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There was a good crew of people in attendance to support the event all day long.  I was able to meet up with Bonfire’s founder Brad Steward and professional snowboarder Jamie Anderson.

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One of the highlights was the day was being able to giveaway a 09-10 Salmon Salvatore Sanchez Snowboard to a scavenger hunt winner at the event.  The board went to one of the competitors #31 who I don’t have his name on hand.

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After the finals were done, everyone awaited the score results to see who took home the men’s and women’s prizes.  Each place received Salomon/Bonfire product and the 1st place men’s and women’s took home straight up cash.

Men’s Winners

1st Place:  Forest Bailey

2nd Place:  Eric Van Assche

3rd Place:  Derek Summering

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Female Winners

1st Place:  Claire Hewitt-DeMeyer

2nd Place:  Melissa Kelly

3rd Place:  Izzy LaLive

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Rian from Salomon/Bonfire awarding Leonardo from the Art Institute of Colorado with a snowboard for his winning design!

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After the crowds had gone home and it was clean up time, the Salomon RV tried to make a clean break from the event but not without their own “damn it” moment to end the day.  Brad Steward from Salomon/Bonfire got it on camera and lots of laughing ensured.

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It was a long day but a fun day of hanging out in Denver watching riders throw down.  Huge thanks to Brad and Rian from Salmon/Bonfire for bringing the event to Denver and can’t wait to see it come back in the future!