World Best Sports

With just over a month to go until the FIS Snowboard and Freestyle Junior World Championships kick off in Lake Wanaka, New Zealand, over 200 of the world's best elite junior athletes from the national teams of 16 countries have already signed up with many more predicted.

The FIS Junior World Championships marks the first time the disciplines of snowboarding and freeskiing have been represented together at official world championship level. It is also the first time a FIS World Championship has taken place in New Zealand.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Scotty Brooke, 17, of McHenry has scars on his elbows and shins that he has collected from falls while skateboarding in different skate parks around the county. One scab he reopened while skateboarding at the McHenry Zone Skate Park in Knox Park. The blood is just a necessary evil that Brooke brushes off in his 10 years of skateboarding.

What makes extreme sports such as skateboarding and wakeboarding appealing to youngsters is that they are not team sports, Brooke said. A person doesn’t have to be on an organized team, and there is a lot of individualism.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Thrill seekers are gearing up for the country's biggest action sports and music festival as Relentless NASS returns to the region today. The National Adventure Sport Show, now in its 13th year, is morphing into Europe's premier action sport event.

This year the event, at the Bath and West Showground near Shepton Mallet, will boast the nation's first World Cup Skateboarding event, attracting the biggest names in the sport. Urban sports fans will get a rare opportunity to see some of the most daring skills and tricks in a world-class competition – all on a street course designed specially for the event.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Australian surfer Joel Parkinson has been forced to withdraw from this month's ASP World Tour event in South Africa after injuring his foot while surfing at Snapper Rocks on the Gold Coast on Friday morning. Parkinson was helped from the surf by former world champion Andy Irons and taken to hospital after badly cutting his heel on a surfboard fin. Currently eighth in the world rankings, Parkinson is the defending champion at the Jeffreys Bay event.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Mountain bikers in the Swindon area have recently formed a club. Aimed at encouraging cycling and fitness, the club takes a non-competitive view on cycling. Founder Phil Mayger said “The idea was to bring existing riders together and to encourage new people into the sport.  We’d already been on a few of the Tuesday night rides organised by the Red Planet bike shop so we thought we could add to that.

In the summer we meet every Friday at the Croft Trail in Swindon for a few laps and then go to the local pub for a social. We have at least one local and one national trail ride per month, plus any other events we fancy doing. Our barbeque and ride nights have been very popular, so we have more of those planned.”

Mr Mayger said “people are welcome to just turn up and ride with us and if they like it they can join the club later.” Club membership offers benefits such as shop discounts, affiliated CTC membership (a national cycling organisation) and liability insurance.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

A magnet for adventure tourism, the extreme sports capital of the world has more than a million visitors descend here every year, to face near-death experiences. Commercial  bungy jumping originated here. Not for the faint-hearted, the Nevis Highwire Bungy, suspended at 134m gives you 8.5 seconds of free fall over the rugged Nevis River. Skydiving is another option.

Else, you can go funyaking (a combination of jetboating and kayaking), hand gliding, jet boating or canyoning. In winter, skiing and snowboarding are must-dos.Going fishing might not sound adventurous, but when it's fishing for the world's deadliest fish, the piranha, keeping your fingers clean from their sharp, hungry mouths can be quite a task.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

For three rugged days beginning Friday, June 25, nine teams of five athletes—three able-bodied and two disabled athletes, many of .

whom are wounded veterans will compete in the fourth annual “Adventure TEAM Challenge,” hosted by World T.E.A.M. Sports in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado.

The Adventure TEAM Challenge incorporates rafting, hiking, climbing and biking under adverse conditions.Conceived by Erik Weihenmayer, the first visually impaired individual to climb Mt. Everest.

The event kicks off Friday morning, June 25, with the teams rafting the unpredictable waters of the Arkansas River, surrounded by towering 14,000-foot peaks of the Sawatch Mountain Range.

The following two days will take the athletes deep in the remote Rocky Mountain range south of Leadville, Colo., where they will hike.

And climb dramatic peaks and bike through beautiful alpine meadows before completing the race on Sunday, June 27, 2010.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

Spectators at Ballito's Surfers Beach got a taster of the event with three of the first 24 heats taking place. Smith produced a pair of four point rides to start off but then with fifteen seconds on the clock he performed a series of off-the-tops before finishing off with a massive air reverse manoeuvre to earn the highest wave score of the day, an 8.83 (out of ten).

"It's tougher than it looks out there," he said after the event. "It's hard to find the right waves that will give you the right scores." The other two heats were won by Daniel Redman and Shaun Joubert. Eurosport

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

 Steamboat Springs Winter Sports Club Nordic skiing director Todd Wilson wouldn’t be surprised to see more than 2,000 spectators standing at the base of Howelsen Hill on Sunday. The crowd will be on hand to watch one of Steamboat Springs’ longest-running winter traditions — ski jumping — take flight in the warm July air during the July Fourth Ski Jumping Extravaganza. This is the fifth year the event will be held on Howelsen’s plastic-covered K-68 ski jump.

The Ski Jumping Extrava­ganza will take place Saturday and Sunday. The competition begins at 9 a.m. Saturday with a trial jump round and two competitive jumps. The competitive jumps will be used to seed the Nordic combined cross-country roller-ski race Sunday morning.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™

The mountain bike trails Heart of Darkness and Ninja Cougar are daunting enough but pale in comparison to a mortal descent named Crack Addict.

Yet riders from Oregon and all over make the pilgrimage to Canada's Whistler resort to pile on body armor and experience such things at sometimes tooth-rattling, bone-break speeds.

Remember biking? For many it's when a quaint wire basket lashed to the front handlebars was considered nifty because it carried lunch to school or work. The only crack was a minor hazard in the sidewalk.

Bokmark it

Powered by Bookmarkify™