Board-X, Alexandra Palace, November
2003
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It's Friday, it's
sunny, it's Alexandra Palace and I'm watching
some of the best boarders in Europe hit
the big air at Board-X 2003. If it wasn't
for the Chinese noodle van behind me and
the hazy outline of Canary wharf on the
horizon, I could've happily believed I
was back on the slopes of Mont Blanc.
The things I was seeing did not disappoint
and nor did the rest of the show. Three
huge halls filled with all things skate,
snowboard and BMX plus a lot of stuff
thrown in to keep the kids happy. As you
walk through the entrance you're hit with
the sounds of the vert ramp, the beats
of the break-dancers and the sight of
curvaceous blonde promotions girls in
tight blue lycra, smiling and offering
you all sorts of free 'opportunities'...
This is more than enough to grab your
attention and suck you into the huge main
hall where just about every snowboard
shop in the country had relocated for
the weekend. In the middle of the rows
of stalls, there was even a mini snow
ramp with a handful of riders sessioning
its two rails. This seemed to be there
purely to get people in the mood before
they found the huge street course or the
70ft big air ramp out the back! Even as
a twenty something with a couple of snowboarding
seasons under my belt, who has seen his
fair share of these types of show, the
effect was still strong and the buzz undeniable.
It was only the first day when I arrived
at the striking venue in north London
and I was pretty much the first person
through the door. As the place started
to fill up with bright eyed and pierced
youths, I spared a thought for the average
teenage wannabee snowboarder who might
have scraped up the considerable entrance
fee and walked through the doors that
weekend.
Let's face it, although there's a lot
of goodwill in the 'extreme sports' scene,
no one rents out Alexandra palace and
puts on a gig like board X for nothing.
Once you're in, you're a punter. After
ten minutes, whether you realise it or
not, you've already been sold something…
the image. The people you see doing all
that cool shit on the ramps are decked
out with all the clothes you think you're
going to need to be as good as they are…
which coincidentally is exactly what you're
starting to think you want to be. And
when they're landing those kinds of tricks
who can blame you. Wristbands, beanies
and bling aside, they've still got a shit
hot deck you know you're definitely going
to need.
Ok so now lets say you've been sold the
image and you're prepared to buy into
it…. you head off in the direction
of the shop floors... |
First of all you saw the dude on the big
air land the sweetest 720 whilst riding the
board with the 13 on the bottom and now you
have to have one. The guy on the shop floor
gets it down and lets you touch it telling
you "Great board…. never let you
down mate". Whilst flexing the board
on the floor, just like every other potential
buyer seems to be doing, you glimpse the £400
price tag. Now, you already know you're not
prepared to sell your PS 2, all your games,
your walkman and your beloved mountain bike
so you carefully hand back the board and ask
to look at something cheaper. When you realise
you can't afford anything that doesn't look
like something Gareth Gates might like to
ride, you say you'll leave the board for the
time being.
"Whats next?" you say,
"Boots and bindings" he says.
"How about those C.. F.. X ..ones"
you point,
"Great choice for a beginner" he
lies.
Once more the price tag swings into view,
and delivering a swift rabbit punch to the
solar plexus, winding you and dropping you
to the floor. Catching your breath you glance
up at the neatly displayed racks of boots,
each sporting their own, violent looking,
price tag. You begin to see the pattern forming.
At this point you're a little confused as
to what stuff you're actually going to need.
However you're sure you do require a very
wealthy and generous relative to die before
you can afford all the gear you want. Who
knows, flu season is on its way… you
might get lucky. Fine then, those sales men
can confuse you when it comes to something
you don't know anything about but one thing
you've done before is buy clothes and this
time you know what you want...
A quick rollie and a Red Bull later you
start to look around. There are shit tonnes
of clothes in this room, you feel optimistic
but you're a long way from Matalan now sunshine.
Twenty minutes later you begin to think you've
heard this one before. Despite every stall
having at least 10 racks of jackets and trousers,
the majority of stuff looks like it was designed
in the dark years before snowboards were invented.
Out of what's left there nothing you'd want
to wear for under £ 100 and the stuff
you actually like is over £300 a piece.
Even if you settled for the cheap stuff, you
hadn't even considered how you were going
to get to the place you saw on the video,
with the clear blue skies and the waste deep
powder.
Its time to face reality- you come to the
conclusion that if you want to look like the
people you saw on the big air you're going
to have to put your younger sister on the
game for the rest of her child hood. And although
you might consider it for as long as a minute,
you know ultimately it's not going to happen.
That's the thing with these kinds of show.
They're designed to get people to buy into
the sport and that's fine if you can afford
it. But for the younger generation, the ones
who have got the will and the best chance
of riding the big air in the future, the required
cash money is hard to find. What's worse is
these future British hopefuls turn up to be
inspired, but would probably leave feeling
further away from their goal than ever.
This said, you have to give the organisers
their due, Board-X is a good day out and if
you found yourself a spot next to the Big
Air or the street course, you'd realise you
were in the right place to see some of the
best riders and skaters on the continent do
their thing. But next year if you see a dejected
looking teen, dragging his feet on the way
out, turn him around and take him back to
the big air. With a bit of luck you'll get
there in time to see Steve Bailey or one of
the Kratter brothers pull off the perfect
900, thus making everything seem alright.
Editorial : Jon Timlin
    
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