Events

The X-Mas Jam in Hamburg, Germany is an institution. It has existed for a long time and each year it draws a large international crowd of skaters to compete. Besides being internationally renowned it has become the official German Championships competition, making it the most important contest for this nation.

After a successful year with events in Bremen, Leipzig, Bonn, and Wuppertal, the finals of Grindhouse Miniramp Masters 2011 took place on the 17th of December in Cologne, Germany. In the second year of its creation, the series was host to over 100 competitors. Skaters from all over the country attended and made the final event one to remember.

Preparing for months for one of the biggest competitions in Florida, Bladesgiving has turned out to be one of the funnest and biggest rollerblading events in the Southern United States along with the Pow-wow. And we are only in our second year! Skaters gathered from all over the country for a chance to rank up the WRS points and take home some cash and the huge trophy. Tim Franken, out of San Diego, Razors rider Wake Schepman, out of PA, Pro SSM rider Joey Chase and Razors flow Sammy Chase, out of Orlando, just to name a few. Also, coming all the way from Canada was our good friend Kevin Lapierre, who hurt his ankle warming up, and had to drop out of the contest. He made that huge trip, and our sympathies are with him, and we hope he recovers very soon.

Man, look at the size of that jump. It’s like a super-mega ramp with a gap. 900…900..1080? What is this, freeskiing? Not even close. The danger factor just got amped up one thousand times. As if you didn’t know already from what we’ve shown, if you missed out on Air FISE Marsielle, you made one of the biggest mistakes of your life. If you have been following, you already know. Either way, it means you are thirsty for bangers. So, back to that super-mega ramp. Think you have what it takes? This is a do or die situation. You don’t clear that landing and you’ll be sipping out of a tube for the next year. So, why don’t you just sit back and see what Aragon, Morales, Haffey, Godenaire, and some friends have been up to. Don’t worry, we won't tell anyone about the drool on your keyboard.

While the rolling community celebrates Chris Haffey's world record jump, more and more clips of the Air FISE are popping up on the net. Below you can view Franky Morales lacing a super clean 900 over the Mega Jump. Additionally, we discovered another clip from Romain Godenaire that reveals the real dimensions of the ramps the pros are dealing with here. However, Romain over-rotated this huge flat-spin and accidentally landed in the flat. According to Freddy White from www.frenchyfries.fr Romain is doing fine again. As soon as we have more information about his health status, we will let you know.

After a long period of building up anticipation Chris Haffey went for the big one last night at the FISE experience in Marseille. Chris Haffey took the World Record with a spectacular 30 meter long jump! It took weeks in preparation until the final moment had arrived. Being who he is Chris Haffey not only pushes the sport in creative stuntman like tricks but now has decided to leave his mark by breaking records! Check out the video here. Enjoy the madness...

In a few hours (8pm) the big show will start. Chris Haffey had his final rehearsal this afternoon. Everyone is excited for tonight! Are you ready? Come back on be-mag to find out how Chris Haffey did on the world record.

Yesterday each rider had the chance to test the FISE big air ramp, except those that didn't dare to do it. Yeah, this jump is a serious business as you can see in the pictures below. The riders kicked off the session with a 'small' gap (10 metres). Chris Haffey was kind enough to share all his Mega Jump experience with the other attendees. The riders entered the ramp one by one. Their initial fears have been quickly forgotten: Straight after landing the jump they wanted to be back in the air. Jumping a ramp like this is not an easy task: You have to be fully focussed, even the smallest mistakes aren't allowed here. After a while the riders started to feel more comfortable to this new setting and therefore their jumps got bigger and more risky. This test session made us all pretty excited for the Friday show. To be honest - the world record attempt looks really scary. Only god knows if it's possible. Stay tuned for more action tomorrow.

Photographer Stephanie Barthelmess set up a little photo booth at the X-Mas Jam in Hamburg, Germany last year. These photos are further effort of ours to make it easier for you to decide wether or not you should be attending this year's event which is going to take place this weekend. As if it even needed consideration... there is absolutely no reason not to go. Enjoy the photos!

More and more rollerbladers are entering the Air FISE venue in Marseille to check out the location. But the FISE staff is still working hard to prepare this massive course. We just have to be a bit more patient until the who's who in Rollerblading can roll on these massive ramps. Stay tuned for more updates.