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The 2008 Alberta Freeride Awards are in the bag for another year and what a night it was!
March 17, 2008Published by bruleThis past weekend I had the pleasure of jumping on a plane and flying out to Calgary Alberta to hang out with all my old friends and take in the Sixth Annual Alberta Freeride Awards. The AFAs came about to honor riders that are killing it in their own fields with a heavy liking for gravity riding. Each year C.O.P. hosts the event and there is a killer biker cross event that precedes the awards ceremony aka party.
Check out the whole event in photos and video here.  Registration for the event started at 5pm and folks were lined up and ready in order to get a spot in the races. Practice ran until 6:15 with racing starting at 6:30. Some folks took this opportunity to practice, while others hit up the big jumps in the terrain park. Either way there was some entertaining carnage and good times.
 Looking ahead and focused
 Bringing it around
 Pulling Hard
 Man I hope I win a new bar tonight Enough about the jumping and practice though, the sun was going down and it was time to get racing underway. The heats were all great battles with even better crashes in most of them.
 Even the freerider of the year was out racing it up.
Once the powder had settled it was time to move inside for the awards from the races and to find out who this year's winners for the Alberta Freeride Awards, presented by Devinci were. The new awards' venue was leaps and bounds more roomy over past events (Big thanks to Jamie Furguson at COP for getting us into it). The crowd of approximately 300 racers and spectators still managed to pack it from end to end while mingling and enjoying the atmosphere. The AFAs aren't just an awards night, to me it's about bringing the Mountain Bike community together for a fun filled evening, where you get to see buddies you hadn't seen in months and catch up, not to mention the draw prizes, like really over $20, 000 in prizing is a HUGE deal. Calgary Cycle once again brought in the infamous Brad Ewen to MC the event and to keep the crowd on their toes. Brad is best known for his MC skills at the Crankworx and Red Bull events, so you know that an event is a big deal when he's brought in to MC it. Brad even had this to say about the event's prizing: "I've done events all over the world and I can't get over the caliber of prizes that is found here in Calgary, Alberta at the AFAs. Congrats to all the support you get behind this event!"     RaceFace Components from Vancouver B.C. showed their support for the Alberta Freeride scene by hooking lucky riders up with Cranks, headsets, grips, stems and handlebars. The prizing didn't end there as folks like Block 8 bikes donated a Hard Tail frame and various components that they make, Pinkbike.com donated a whole bunch of shirts and stickers, while Kenda threw some rubber the crowd's way too. Canada Olympic Park and X92.9 FM were also great supporters of the Alberta Freeride Awards this year. In order to win a prize, you just had to be there. Walk through the doors and you were handed a ticket and a can of Beaver Buzz and then grab yourself a seat and watch the big show unfold. They even did a midnight draw for all those that stuck around for the music and after party. More about that later. Ok enough about the prizing, lets see who took all the goods home this year.
Open Women: 1st Steph Grassi 2nd Christina Hirota Under 14: 1st Ty McKernon 2nd Markus Dean 3rd Philipper Bolduc  Junior 14-17: 1st Matt Montandon 2nd Robert McPhalen 3rd Cody Matechuck  Senior Men 18-29: 1st Eric Fisher 2nd Mike Chmielewski 3rd Nathan Froehler  Masters 30+: 1st Andrew Pohlmann 2nd Matt Powter   
  Russ Bock was the happy winner of the Devinci District 2 hard tail  In the midst of handing out more than $20,000 in prizing to all that were in attendance, the Alberta Freeride Awards (AFAs) also happened. The AFAs are a true people's choice awards night, first you go online and nominate your peers that you feel are deserving of such recognition, then the voting begins. Thousands of people cast their votes for this years winners of the AFAs and in turn showed recognition of who they feel is the most deserving in the Province of Alberta in their specific styles of riding. The people spoke and here is what they said:  Seriously these things are RAD  Ya you win a Trike Here are the 2008 AFA Winners: Freeride Advocate: Doug Zech  Park/Urban Rat 17 and Under: Reece Wallace  Park/Urban Rider 18 and Over: Andrew Pike  Trail Builder: Trail Crew Designs  Junior DH Racer: Geoff Briggs  Senior DH Racer: Nick Quinn  Junior Dirt Jumper 17 and Under: Jesse Darling  Dirt Jump Guru 18 and Over: Andrew Pike  All Around Rider 17 and Under: Glen Bradley  All Around Rider 30 and Over: Reg Mullet  All Around Female Rider: Sarah Leishman  X92.9fm All Around Rider 18-29: Nick Quinn
 Reg won the Freerider of the Year award last year as well. This guy loves our sport and is always out riding his bike in the mountains. He hike a bikes all season into areas that most of us would think twice about simply hiking too, let alone carrying a bike and going for a rip too. This year he made the first ever AFA acceptance speech, where he challenged other riders to get out, learn from the older riders and build/up keep more trails. He wants to motivate people to get out and rip and have fun, but also to give back by learning proper building techniques and ways to sustain the trails we've got. Once the awards were all handed to the racers and to the winners of this years Alberta Freeride Awards, it was time to grab another beverage and sit back and visit all those that stayed behind to party. Marco Pringle played the beats for everyone to enjoy. Calgary Cycle kept everyone going with free Beaver Buzz and drink tickets and then at Midnight everyone lined up to get another ticket, but this time it was for something way better than a beverage. Yep another draw ticket was handed to all those that remained and the Devinci Frantik 1 was drawn for. I thought this was a great way to do it, as more than one person was hording tickets that they'd got from folks that had left earlier in the night-congrats Leah and Derek for keeping it all fair. The lucky winner was none other than Peter Matthews. This guy has become a staple in the Calgary Riding community and spends his summers teaching the youth of tomorrow how to ride at COP. It was great to see the bike go to him.  The Midnight draw taking place  Peter and his new Devinci Frantik 1  Peter and his new Devinci Frantik 1 If you've made it this far and are still wondering if there is a picture with you in it, please check out my AFA Album. You can also go to www.albertafreerideawards.com to view their pics from the evening and of the nominees. Events like this would never happen with out all the sponsors and volunteers that all come together to make it a great time for all. The following companies made the 2008 AFAs possible, so if you like Gravity riding, then get out there and support them as they are backing your sport day in and day out: Calgary Cycle Devinci Bikes Santa Cruz Bikes Dakine Raceface Components Pinkbike.com Kenda Tires Beaver Buzz Beverages Canada Olympic Park X92.9FM Block 8 Frames and Components It's been 6 years since I was part of the original crew that brought the AFAs to life and it's great to see the evolution of the awards ceremony over the years. Back in the days we'd scoot into the lodge after the snow race, fire a few banners up and hope that the crowd could hear us as we yelled out the winners of the AFAs. Today you've got the biggest announcer in Mountain Biking MCing the event, the venue set up takes the better part of the day to put together and all the details from prizing to press releases takes months in advance to plan. The one thing that hasn't changed though is the feel good vibe you get from the evening, we are all there to enjoy our two wheelers by kicking off the riding season and hanging out together for the biggest biking awards night in Alberta, if not in all of Canada. Based on what I know and have seen over the pasted 6 years, I believe the Alberta Freeride Awards will continue to grow and recognize the riders at the front of their games and hopefully show them and the world that Alberta really is a great place to live and to ride your bicycle. -Tyler "Brule" Maine |
Comments
View Who Faved this- + 2 props
SuperrealA11an
(March 19, 2008 at 1:39)
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nice
well iff your smart and could see that it was mostly pictures then it wouldnt take you know time to read and most people who was intrested prob did ^^^
Your calling someone dumb, but you should be looking at your own spelling and grammar before making judgments, you hypocrite.
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