The bikes were fast, the crowd was loud and the energy was vibrant at Wam Bam Dirt Jump Jam on Sept. 2.
Bikers wowed spectators and judges with hairpin turns and thrilling jumps.
“The energy was definitely really alive. Everyone was having a lot of fun. It was really good to see people from the community. There were people from all over, Edmonton, Calgary, Vancouver,” said judge Kyle Higgins.
“It was pretty difficult. There were pretty big jumps. It’s pretty crazy to see that this is a set up in a community spot. A lot of places don’t have that kind of size of jumping in something that is run by the community,” he added.
Two awards for Best Trick were given out that evening, one to pro rider Alex Pickering, and the other to non-pro rider Liam Bergeron. Pickering completed a trick known as Cash Roll.
“It’s basically a 720 front flip and it was pretty insane,” said Higgins
Bergeron impressed the judges with a Double Bar Spin.
“Your handlebars, you spin them around 360 degrees and then spin them around again,” Higgins explained.
READ MORE: Bikers hit the dirt at Wam Bam
Jack Feick won the pro category and collected the $1,000 first-place prize. Ben Markwick came in second, Sebastian Riopel in third, Matt Dennis in fourth and Dylan Siggers in fifth.
Feick and Riopel both placed second in their respective age categories at Vancouver Island Slopestyle in Nanaimo in the summer. Siggers is a local Fernie rider and skier.
Higgins said many of the pro riders are travelling to competitions across B.C. in order to accumulate enough points to make it to Crankworx Whistler.
“You basically gotta do a bronze event, which this one was, and then that can get you into gold events, and then once you do so many gold events, you can do diamonds,” he explained.
Riders from the beginner and intermediate youth, advanced youth, and open men and women categories were divided into two groups for the final judging — blue line and black line.
Bergeron won blue line, while Russel Hawkins won the more difficult black line course.
Alex Vos received an award for best spirit. This title was dedicated to Thomas Dunn, a Wam Bam founder who passed away recently. When Dunn helped created the event, there was nothing else like it Fernie. He made the competition an inclusive community event where anyone could participate, regardless of their age or skill. In the early years, everyone who entered won cash or a prize.
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