From: Newcastle
What do you do: Snowboarder / DJ / Composer / Masters music student
Do you have a snowboarding speciality? Boardercross is definitely my thing and it’s what I’ve spent the most time training in but I like every aspect of snowboarding and each one for different reasons.
What resort is your favourite to ride? It’s always good to have a decent park and pipe but to be honest I really don’t think it matters what resort you go to, if there’s snow there then you make what you make of it. Besides, I hate map reading, especially in gloves! I could do the same run all day and still find something fun to do…there’s always new tricks to learn!
Why do you like boardercross? It’s fast and because of the competitive factor it pushes you to do things you’d maybe think twice about doing if you weren’t racing to the bottom. I like the thrill of overtaking someone and I like the fact that no boardercross course is ever the same, each one is a new challenge.
Why don’t you like boardercross? Because anything can happen…someone can fall in front of you leaving you to win or lose so you can always make excuses for why you did well or not so well and in that sense there’s not as much true satisfaction there.
What’s your favourite trick? I like jibbing about…switch nollie 360 feels sooo nice!
What’s been your best comp of the season? The World Student Games in China definitely (Feb 09). It was an incredible experience, I got to meet so many people from all over the World, had my first insight into Chinese culture and saw some of the best girls in the World ride pipe (going way bigger than most of the boys, literally leaping two-people-tall out of the lip)….and I got 6th place in the Boardercross!
Do you get nervous before competitions? It depends on whether I care about my performance in the comp. You can’t be nervous if your goal is just to have fun but if my aim is to achieve something then I get nervous. I’m trying not to get too nervous nowadays because it really affects how I ride, in a bad way! A few nerves gets you amped though, which can work in your favour.
What do you think about competitive snowboarding? I think it’s good in the sense that it pushes you to improve your riding and gives you a certain means of measuring your ability but I think it’s important to remember why you started snowboarding in the first place. If it gets to the point where your mood and sense of well-being are entirely affected by a good or bad result then I think that’s dangerous.
Do you have a best tip for learning to snowboard? Stay relaxed and bend your knees! Even if you think you can’t get any lower the chances are you can and it’ll make everything so much easier.
And for boardercross? The snow is faster than the air.
Why is snowboarding so great? It’s almost like a super power…you can jump cliffs, glide over sheets of ice, leap metres into the air, go miles per hour with just the wind in your face…basically things you wouldn’t be able to do on foot if you weren’t strapped to a snowboard. Plus, there aren’t many other sports that you can play all day every day without getting bored!
What are your niggling hates? Waste, narrow-mindedness, smoking and littering.
What questions do you get asked wherever you go? “How do you get your hair like that?”, “So do you just not wash it?”, “Why are you vegetarian?”
How DO you get your hair like that? Its hours and hours and days and days worth of back-combing to knot it all into strands…in the end you should have something that resembles old rope (as my grandma puts it!). I do wash it (I’m not a skank) but with special dread shampoo (from dreadworx.co.uk) and admittedly not as often!
And the vegetarian thing? I never really liked proper meat that much anyway, I think an animal’s life is more valuable than a steak on my plate, I disagree with the way a lot of these farmed animals are restrained in order to make more of a profit and to be honest I’m pretty squeamish and it freaks me out to think I’m eating an animal’s muscle let alone intestines and cartilage and all that. The end.
Do you do any other sports apart from snowboarding? I don’t do them as much as I used to but I really enjoy aggressive inline skating and cross-country running. I also love badminton and rock climbing when I get the chance and I’m always up for trying new extreme sports! I had a go on an exboard the other day, that was mental! It’s like a cross between a skateboard and a snakeboard…it’s only got one wheel for the nose, one for the tail and you propel yourself forward by swinging your back leg back and forth and turn by leaning.
What’s the next thing on your list to try? Surfing hopefully!
Do you have a party trick? I can always be persuaded to do a breakdancing freeze or two!
What else do you like to do with your time? I DJ, make mash-ups and compose music on my laptop.
What’s your DJ style? I combine traditional turntablist techniques such as scratching and beat juggling with more digital practices like looping and effects. I think of my DJ sets as sound collages and love to mix in unexpected samples, working under the hip hop ethos of taking anything and everything from around me and putting my own 'spin' on it.
What equipment do you use? Turntables over CDJs every time! You can’t replicate the feel of vinyl under your fingertips. I use Rane Serato, which allows me to play digital music with my turntables and a MIDI controller as well for extra sample triggering.
What’s your favourite music to ride to? It depends really…if I’m just cruising about then I’ll just put my ‘top rated’ on, which tends to be hip hop but if I’m in the mood for riding more aggressively then something energetic, usually punk or electro. I love riding to Goldfinger’s ‘Superman’ because it reminds me of playing Tony Hawk! Sometimes I prefer to hear what I’m doing as well as see and feel it though so I’ll just settle for the sound of the snow.
What’s the best thing about Nikita clothes? The designers aren’t scared to experiment with patterns and prints and colours!
And your favourite piece of Nikita clothing? Ooooh, this is a tricky, I’ll have to pick five….my Adhil jacket, Gacrux buttoned hoodie, Electra Knit hoodie, Reality jeans and my turquoise down bodywarmer from last season. I’d say I wear at least one of those on a daily basis!
