News

Girls soar to new heights at the 2008 Dirt Flirt Camp

Presented by Boardology.co.uk and Hales Superbole Mountainboarding Centre
The boom in the number of people taking up boardsports in the UK over the last 10 years has brought about an exciting twist the evolution of the female species. These once demure, fine creatures who sat on the sidelines cheering on the fellas are hatching out of their molds with frenzied speed, sticking a board to their feet and are KICKING BUTT!! This wonderful creation has provided the opportunity for the development of the Girly Camp concept where girls can go and learn to ride and grow their skills in a girl-only environment.

So, for years there have been surfing camps, snowboarding camps and skate camps, but last year girl-owned internet board sports retailer Boardology.co.uk teamed up with South West Mountainboarding Centre in Devon to present the Worlds first Mountainboarding Girly Camp. Following on from its success and a demand for more, the 2nd Camp (now nicked-named DirtFlirt camp), hosted by Hales Superbole Mountainboarding Centre, has just chucked out its latest bunch of mountainboarding graduates after a gruelling 2 days on the lush hills of Chester.

Twenty gutsy girls ranging from newbies to accomplished riders hit the slopes under the expert guidance of the Hales Superbole ATBA qualified instructors. After splitting the group into ability level, the newbs were taught the essentials such as powersliding and carving whilst the advanced group tackled the kickers and boardercross, polishing their technique and style. The girls were further inspired by an impressive freestyle demo by the Hales superbole team, Ladies World Freestyle Champ Jos Kirkman, and Sohpie Friedel. Confidence mounted throughout the day and after a very civilised stop for tea and cake even the newbies were flying off the kickers and nailing indie grabs! The evenings campfire was surrounded a very stoked bunch of girls especially on presentation of the goody bags stuffed with amazing array of cosmetics from Lush, Les Ettes and the Co-op, vouchers from Scar Tissue, stickers from all the sponsors, Boardology t-shirts, gear from Brunotti and the DirtFlirt trademark knickers!

Day 2 saw no end to the achievement with confidence levels peaking and everyone trying something they had never done before with spectacular results. The ominous weather held off until all were huddled under the shelter of the Superbole hut for the prize-giving. At that point the heavens opened in a triumphant downpour a fitting tribute to the very weary, bruised but exceptionally proud ladies of the 2nd Dirt Flirt Camp.

Prizes included a Fat Face Mountainboard, MBS Atom Longboard and MBS Vixen Mountainboard; Clothing from NIKITA, SP snowboarding gear, MBS and Scar Tissue; and Perfume by Les Ettes, Accessories and DVDs from Brunotti and Wind Designs; and 2 VIP tickets to the Fat Face Night Air Freestyle Champs.

Most Improved Newbie Rider award: Felicity Bullamore (Cooler Magazine VIP winner)
Runner up:Amy-Jayne Duttom
Most Improved Advanced Rider : Vicky Holmes
Spirit of the Sport Award: Vicky and Kyrienne Holmes (Mum and daughter duo)

Thanks to all the sponsors for their amazing generosity and support for contributing to the camps success.

Heres a letter from Vicky Holmes which sums up the weekend:
Hi there

I just wanted to say a HUGE THANK YOU, for what has to have been the most amazing boarding week-end experience ever! It was so much fun, Kyrienne and I had an awesome, fantastic time! The Superbole site is beautiful, the staff really friendly, welcoming and encouraging, and the instruction second to none. I was really apprehensive on Friday when we arrived and wondered how the week-end would go, but you were all so kind and took the time to really got to know us all as individuals, making us all feel special regardless of riding ability.

In particular, Clive's initial back to basics, thorough assessment and unique gentle encouraging teaching style has personally made me feel so confident in my riding, and has unleashed a side to boarding I hadn't experienced before. He went beyond his teaching scope to explain several riding techniques, styles, positioning and reasoning behind sequences used for various elements of boarding, his advice, patience, understanding and adaptability was a pleasure and very much appreciated. I can honestly say I gained so much in such a short space of time, that has to be nothing short of a miracle (Thank you Clive). As for Kyrienne, who I had almost given up hope ever riding again, Adam excelled in producing a ramp jumper from an obstinate, despondent and defiant non-rider, who was seen to be racing slalom tracks within minutes of teaching. How.........!!!!! After seeing her becoming more and more confident as the week-end progressed, this truly has to be a making of the impossible truly possible!

I have to congratulate your team on your organisation of your part of the event, and also such high class expertise in tuition, customer care, and willingness to get to understand where our problems lay, building on that to produce an excellent team of riding ladies within such a short space of time! The quality of teaching was of such an extremely high and well paced standard, all the staff were a pleasure to meet and worked so well as a team, it really was such an immense joy to experience. I only wish we didn't live so far away!

A special thank you too, Allie for all your much appreciated hard work and organisation of the event, also for the fantastic goodie bags, and wonderful prizes. Your sponsors were so generous; it's fantastic to see there are people out there who genuinely care about mountain boarding as a sport and concerned with raising its profile. Even more so that ladies are being encouraged and welcomed into the sport! I was so happy and grateful to have been one of the lucky winners, and would appreciate your passing on of my gratitude to the sponsors involved.

Thank you all so much for your time and company. I can't wait to see you all again soon!

Vicky

Dirt Flirt Camp 2008