<div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">"<strong>Free the stage</strong>“ was the motto of the day at Snowpark U-Bahn in <strong>Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn</strong> on Saturday, Jan 26. But in this case, the artists involved didn’t wear questionable clown costumes or looked like lion tamers. No – they stole the show in their snowboard gear. And they probably wouldn’t call themselves artists as they don’t have anything to do with trapezes and wild animals jumping through burning hoops. No no no, they jump over kickers to gain airtime and are rather known as shredders or snowboarders – long story short, we’re of course talking about freestylers! At the <strong>QParks Tour’s Lit Night Jam</strong> they were literally in the spotlight for the whole day and (almost) the entire night!</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Nomen est Omen</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">No, we didn’t make a slip of the pen, the finals indeed started after dusk (around 6pm). But don’t freak out, the boys and girls didn’t need to test their night vision and they also didn’t challenge each other in a frightening pitch-dark park session. Why? The floodlit Snowpark U-Bahn turns nights into days, and this is exactly what happened during the first QParks Tour Stop in the Glemm valley. Snowboarder Felix Widnig was happy about that atmosphere: “Riding a night contest is always something special because everything is perfectly illuminated which is really different compared to the visibility during daytime.” </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Double victory in Snowboarding</strong></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">A snowboarder of the “<strong>Why ain’t you jibbin – team</strong>” celebrated two wins. <strong>Benedikt Fridbjörnsson</strong> didn’t only become first in the category <strong>Snowboard Grom Men</strong>, but also secured the top position in the overall <strong>Snowboard Men</strong> rankings. Challenging some older riders, the young Icelander performed a <strong>Cab 540</strong> on the first jump, pulled off a clean <strong>Frontside Rodeo Seven Indy</strong> on the second kicker and ended his run with a <strong>50/50 Frontside 180 Out </strong>on the rail. This meant the second place for his British team colleague <strong>Gabe Adams </strong>and third position for <strong>Felix Widnig </strong>from Austria.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the Groms ranking, Benedikt finished in front of the young <strong>Dutchman Jesse Willemsen (Team Shred Masters)</strong> and his “Why ain’t you jibbin” teammate <strong>Hayden Harvey-Smith</strong>.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the <strong>Snowboard Women</strong> category, the Austrian <strong>Emma Lantos</strong> secured the top position confidently as she showed a very strong second final run. She started with a <strong>Cab 450 </strong>on jump number one, followed by a <strong>Backside 360</strong> and finished her winning run with a<strong> 50/50 Frontside 180 </strong>on the rail. The Dutch women <strong>Sam Van Lieshout</strong> and <strong>Romy Van Vreden</strong> from the <strong>Shred Masters</strong> team conquered the second and the third place of the podium. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">In the female Grom category <strong>Sam</strong> won, <strong>Romy</strong> came second and the impressing 11-year-old <strong>Amber Fennell</strong> from Great Britain (Team Why ain’t you) finished third. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><strong>Angelo Gastl</strong> took home the <strong>Free Spirit Best Trick Award</strong> which was well deserved after he showed an extremely stylish and massively sent <strong>Backside Rodeo 540 Melon</strong>. He did not only put 100€ prize money straight in his pocket, but he also has the chance to win a surf trip for two at the Free Spirit Hostel in Ecuador after the QParks Tour has finished. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: justify;">The QParks Tour premiere at the Skicircus Saalbach Hinterglemm Leogang Fieberbrunn was a total success. The riders who took part in the first Lit Night Jam made the event live up to its name: It was #litaf</div><div><br /></div>