A Snowboard rail jam took place on Friday September 15, 2006 in Mentor Ohio. Fifty local snowboarders from the Great Lakes Ohio, PA, New York region showed up to compete. The setup featured a group of rails and boxes provided by the local snowboard resorts including Peak n Peek in Western New York. It was held in the city of Mentor, located off of route 271 in Northern Ohio. The kids were stoked to get out and ride some rails months before the season will begin.
Ok so it’s September. Its fall and the leaves are beginning to change colors. That means one thing and that’s winter is far from here. If you are a snowboarder you are counting the days before the season will begin. Plus you are probably strapping into your board to hop around on the carpet. You are probably doing this just to feel as close to snowboarding as you can. It’s just that time of year.
There was a large crew of kids that showed up for the rail jam from western New York, PA, and Ohio. Among these kids were a crew from Jamestown New York, they claimed Suburban Blend all day. These kids included, Bill Cooley, Will Emo, Greg Marriri, Brett and Caleb Erb There was also a crew from Peek n Peak which included Chris Perks, Pat Morgan, Ryan Peterson(Scummy) and Trey Claus, Markus Stephens 2nd Place, Paul Queder 1st place and Tyler Sullenburger. There was another crew of kids that were throwing down too, they were the Ohio Freestyle kids and included Jon Cody, Pat Cooke, Tom Lewis, Darrin Carreli and Justin Terman. All these kids threw down for real and many more showed up and rode.
The setup was sick for late summer and early fall. There was a fifteen foot flat down bar, a flat down flat box, and a hippo to flat rail. A scaffold located on top of an incline provided plenty of speed for the box and a good amount of speed for the hippo rail. The flat down bar had a very slow run in but plenty of kids still threw down on this setup.
The rail jam was held outside of the Mentor ice arena. A zamboni provided the snow that we got to jib on. It was sick. Anytime we ran low on snow the zamboni would go cut the ice extra deep and come out with a load of snow for us to ride. What a good spot to have a summer/ fall rail jam, the ice arena. I never would have thought of that. Good thing someone was thinking. Mentor Ohio showed that they support snowboarding, and maybe we could jib their street rails in the winter without getting busted. That’s what I take from it.
The rail jam was put on to support the kids that have been anxious to ride for months now. That was super cool because I know how those kids feel. Now I feel a little more complete because I got to ride. The itch has been scratched, but I can already feel it coming back. I can’t wait for winter! There will be a rail jam held at Peak n Peek sometime during their fall fest. Make sure you come out and ride.
Special Thanks go out to Billy Bacon at Peek n Peak for getting snowboarding going in the Western New York region. Greg from Little Mountain Ltd, Oakley, and the City of Mentor.