The Main Event ultimate Ski: Features

The Main Event

The British University Ski Council exists to promote ‘participation and competition’ in the sport of skiing for students in the UK. Established in 1990, this non-profit organisation has been growing ever since and invests all money made back into supporting clubs, individual students and charities. The function of the council is to run events for students and they are recognised by the British Universities Sports Association (BUSA) as an organiser of competitions, both racing and freestyle. It’s goal is to promote competitive snowsports within universities and at the same time encourage students of all ability to participate

The Main Event is the final, and largest, event of the university skiing year. The 2008 Main Event was held in Saalbach-Hinterglemm Austria from 28th March to 4th April, 2008 and was attended by over two thousand British university students. It has evolved over 80 years and now includes a varied program of racing, freeskiing, and spectacle events. The week also includes competition training for participants. But for the average student it is an affordable holiday surrounded by friends with an abundance of après ski activity.

The week kicked off with students from all over England arriving in coaches organised by the Event Travel Company. After picking up welcome packs and sorting out ski rental, all that was left to do was sleep off the 24 hour journey. Or, for some, to continue the party by exploring the wonderful town of Hinterglemm.

The first day saw students from all of the 47 universities hit the slopes, some with more success than others. Many had never skied before and made use of the reduced price group lessons organised by the BUSC team. Qualifying races took place with 128 skiers in the men’s category competing for the opportunity to race in the inter-university GS, Super-G and Slalom competitions. The highlight of the first day was the Opening Ceremony which included local riders and students showcasing their skills over a floodlit jump in the Hinterglemm Park. A stage and music system with entertaining commentary from Sketch MC, cheap drinks from the VIP bar at the bottom of the slope and a fireworks finale made this skiing showcase memorable.

The Opening Ceremony Skiing was followed by an outdoor stage erected right in the centre of Hinterglemm. The BUSC legends Urban Knights headlined and stunned the crowd with their audio and visual DJing; from classic hits to the latest dance music meticulously synchronised their personalised visuals. There were a number of bars around the stage serving at student prices and the capacity venue for 2,500 people was packed until 2:30am in the morning.

Freestyle events at BUSC were varied and provided a great opportunity to showcase some impressive tricks. On the Monday the Syndicate Slopestyle competition kicked off with a high level of riding from around the universities. Syndicate are close friends of BUSC and offered discounted clothing to anyone from BUSC throughout the week. On the Tuesday Liberty Skis sponsored the Big Air event which saw the men throwing down huge underflips and cork 720s and, for the first time, the women were doing 540s and landing switches. A couple of skiers even tried to hit the jump switch, which led to the first switch backflip in BUSC history (skiing into the jump backwards doing a backflip and landing backwards). The Nike ACG half pipe was unfortunately cancelled due to a powder day, but replaced instead by a fancy wallride feature and saw skiers and boarders crashing aplenty trying to keep their speed up through the powder run in.

Racing events sponsored by Word on the Piste, Big Chill, Non Stop Ski and The Ski Club of GB happened almost every day and they brought the usual inter-university rivalry with them. At the top level a very high standard was seen with skiers who have FIS racing certificates showing the rest of the field how to keep the speed up. The best thing was that anyone could enter and get the feel of the course. This led to some entertaining crashes throughout the week; but the amount of fun far outweighed the number of injuries. The results of racing at BUSC including the all year dryslope skiing were:

1. Newcastle - 144 points
2. Edinburgh - 76 points
3. Durham - 46 points
4. Southampton - 40 points
5. Bristol - 38 points

Other events included a Splash Comp, sponsored by Snatch Underwear, which involved skiers and boarders attempting to ski over a large pool of water and the D3O King of the Hill which pitted 20 boarders against 20 skiers in a race from the top of the hill to the bottom. Needless to say a skier won. Both of these were on ‘Fun Friday’ of the week and were a great way to spend the last day in the sunshine.

Music throughout the week combined the usual blend of party atmosphere and popular DJs from England. The Urban Knights continued to play throughout the week at various locations in Hinterglemm. The legendary Scratch Perverts - on their tour of the Alps -stopped in Hinterglemm’s London Pub to play to a packed out audience and appearances from Jon Kennedy, JD Pyz, DJ Towelie and The Incredible Hull during the week kept the standard of the après-ski and nightlife high. An incredible party atmosphere..............

Detailed information on the resort can be found in the Saalbach section of this website.

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