Jungholz, Austria – The Almabtrieb World Cup got underway today with a full day of practice and technical inspections under warm sunny sky’s. After the Peyragudes Deluxe Cup ended, many of the international riders took mini vacations the revolved around skateboarding.
As the riders regrouped in Jungholz, they shared tales of skateboarding in places like the Swiss Alps, Marsailles and Paris. Everyone was happy to be back together and ready for the second round of the 2008 IGSA Euro Tour to get underway.
Practice got underway at 10:00am with a two-hour session. Many of the skaters have competed in Jungholz before but for some like Peyragudes Deluxe Cup winner Kevin Remier (CAN) and IGSA World Cup points leader Scott “Scoot” Smith (CAN) it was their first visit to Almabtrieb. Everyone seemed impressed with the race-course and the excellent event organization of Stephan Risch and crew. This is the third time that Almabtrieb has been held in Jungholz and the event management has been flawless.
After lunch a long practice session was held from 3:00pm – 7:00pm. This gave the riders plenty of opportunity to find the perfect line down the twisty and technical Almabtrieb course. Some riders reported having as many as 13 runs down the course over the day. Many were completely exhausted by the end of the session.
As practice went on throughout the day IGSA President Marcus Rietema performed Technical Inspections on the riders equipment. Each racer had their equipment checked to make sure it conformed with the IGSA rules and was in good condition. By the end of the day, Rietema had performed inspections on the equipment of over 130 riders.
After the session many of the riders returned to the pool area to enjoy dinner and an evening swim. A slack line was brought out and some of the riders challenged each other to cross the pool! It was the perfect ending to a really enjoyable day. Tomorrow will have another practice session in the morning followed by the first round of qualifying in the afternoon. We will report have a qualifying report tomorrow evening.
