50 lucky riders competed at World Rookie Tour in Japan

“Any cancellations today?” was the chorus the organisers heard from all those who had failed to register in time. Each young Japanese rider wanted to have a chance to compete in the Slopestyle event of the World Rookie Tour held in Nekoma Ski Resort.

Originally the idea came from the Lions Gate co-founder Michiyo Hashimoto who was the Salt Lake City Halfpipe Olympian. When she retired from the snowboarding scene she then decided to set her sights on young snowboarders by setting up “Kirara Kamp”. Kirara in Japanese means “Bright Shining” and it is all about sharing fun and passion for snowboarding with kids from an early age. Kirara Kamp has gradually progressed to its current form, the “Indy Park Jam”, the biggest and most recognized Asian Rookie event.

We opened the training day with 50 cm of fresh snow that fell the previous night, and with a blue sky and the sun shining we could not ask for better conditions on the day of the contest. 4 Rookie and 10 Grom Girls, and 15 Rookie and 22 Grom Boys from all nations turned up at Nekoma Ski Resort.

Local shaper crew, Pyramid Snowpark Design, did a great job setting up two Kicker Lines. The Pro-line with 14 meter and 10 meter Kicker, Canon box, down box rail, and Kink Down rail, and the Mid-line with 14 meter and 8 meter kicker, Flat box, down box and down rail, all the way down to the Red Bull Tent. 

Nekoma is the home resort of last season’s Grom Girl Rookie Finals’ winner Reira Iwabuchi who was the forerunner of the contest and got all the kids pumped! Last season’s golden ticket  holder Reira was looking to defend her title along from the winners of this year's contest. These two girls and two boys received invitation tickets to Austrian Ischgl for the 2016 Völkl World Rookie Finals:

Girls Grom: Hinari Asanuma (13)  B360 -> F360 -> B270 Out -> 50 Shifty -> 50.

Girls Rookie: Yuuna Komuro (15)  C540 -> B360 -> 270 Board Slide -> Transfer 50 -> Front 50. 

Boys Grom: Souta Umehara (14)  B900 -> Switch B900 -> BS450 Out -> Cab 180 in 50 to 270.

Boys Rookie: Yutaro Miyazawa (17)  F1080 -> B1080 -> BS270 Out -> BS270 Board Slide -> 50 Front                               side 360 Out.

And last but not least, a very nice surprise was presented by Nekoma's manager Mr.Kikuchi during the award ceremony - a season lift pass for the winner!

Big thanks to Burton Japan, Red Bull Japan, IJC-Asia, Pyramid Snowpark Design and Nekoma Ski Resort.

Report by Ishi@JSBA

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Indy Park Rookie Fest 2016 - Nekoma Japan

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