The 2008 Alberta Freeride Awards are in the bag for another year and what a night it was!

Mar 19, 2008

This past weekend I had the pleasure of jumping on a plane and flying out to Calgary Alberta to hang out with all my old friends and take in the Sixth Annual Alberta Freeride Awards. The AFAs came about to honor riders that are killing it in their own fields with a heavy liking for gravity riding. Each year C.O.P. hosts the event and there is a killer biker cross event that precedes the awards ceremony aka party.

Check out the whole event in photos and video here.

Registration for the event started at 5pm and folks were lined up and ready in order to get a spot in the races. Practice ran until 6:15 with racing starting at 6:30. Some folks took this opportunity to practice, while others hit up the big jumps in the terrain park. Either way there was some entertaining carnage and good times.











Enough about the jumping and practice though, the sun was going down and it was time to get racing underway. The heats were all great battles with even better crashes in most of them.






Check out this video of all the action:

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Once the powder had settled it was time to move inside for the awards from the races and to find out who this year's winners for the Alberta Freeride Awards, presented by Devinci were. The new awards' venue was leaps and bounds more roomy over past events (Big thanks to Jamie Furguson at COP for getting us into it). The crowd of approximately 300 racers and spectators still managed to pack it from end to end while mingling and enjoying the atmosphere. The AFAs aren't just an awards night, to me it's about bringing the Mountain Bike community together for a fun filled evening, where you get to see buddies you hadn't seen in months and catch up, not to mention the draw prizes, like really over $20, 000 in prizing is a HUGE deal.

Calgary Cycle once again brought in the infamous Brad Ewen to MC the event and to keep the crowd on their toes. Brad is best known for his MC skills at the Crankworx and Red Bull events, so you know that an event is a big deal when he's brought in to MC it. Brad even had this to say about the event's prizing: "I've done events all over the world and I can't get over the caliber of prizes that is found here in Calgary, Alberta at the AFAs. Congrats to all the support you get behind this event!"

Devinci Bikes out of Quebec once again came on board as the title sponsor for the Alberta Freeride Awards. They showed a lot of love for the Alberta riding community with the donation a COMPLETE Frantik 1 full suspension bike, a COMPLETE District 2 hard tail bike, and various Dare Devil parts, not to mention the 100 t-shirts that were thrown into the crowd through out the night.

Dakine swagged the riders out with Hydration packs to keep them from getting thirsty, gloves to keep their paws safe and fresh jerseys to look and be cool.

Santa Cruz Bikes stepped up with 2 Jackal frames so that you could swap out your old frame or build up the dream street, DJ machine you've always wanted.

RaceFace Components from Vancouver B.C. showed their support for the Alberta Freeride scene by hooking lucky riders up with Cranks, headsets, grips, stems and handlebars.

The prizing didn't end there as folks like Block 8 bikes donated a Hard Tail frame and various components that they make, Pinkbike.com donated a whole bunch of shirts and stickers, while Kenda threw some rubber the crowd's way too. Canada Olympic Park and X92.9 FM were also great supporters of the Alberta Freeride Awards this year.

In order to win a prize, you just had to be there. Walk through the doors and you were handed a ticket and a can of Beaver Buzz and then grab yourself a seat and watch the big show unfold. They even did a midnight draw for all those that stuck around for the music and after party. More about that later. Ok enough about the prizing, lets see who took all the goods home this year.


The winners from the snow races were:

Open Women:
1st Steph Grassi
2nd Christina Hirota

Under 14:
1st Ty McKernon
2nd Markus Dean
3rd Philipper Bolduc

Junior 14-17:
1st Matt Montandon
2nd Robert McPhalen
3rd Cody Matechuck

Senior Men 18-29:
1st Eric Fisher
2nd Mike Chmielewski
3rd Nathan Froehler

Masters 30+:
1st Andrew Pohlmann
2nd Matt Powter

Draw prizes found their way into the crowd through out the whole evening and kept folks stoked!

In the midst of handing out more than $20,000 in prizing to all that were in attendance, the Alberta Freeride Awards (AFAs) also happened. The AFAs are a true people's choice awards night, first you go online and nominate your peers that you feel are deserving of such recognition, then the voting begins. Thousands of people cast their votes for this years winners of the AFAs and in turn showed recognition of who they feel is the most deserving in the Province of Alberta in their specific styles of riding. The people spoke and here is what they said:

Seriously these things are RAD

Ya you win a Trike

Here are the 2008 AFA Winners:

Freeride Advocate: Doug Zech

Park/Urban Rat 17 and Under: Reece Wallace

Park/Urban Rider 18 and Over: Andrew Pike

Trail Builder: Trail Crew Designs

Junior DH Racer: Geoff Briggs

Senior DH Racer: Nick Quinn

Junior Dirt Jumper 17 and Under: Jesse Darling

Dirt Jump Guru 18 and Over: Andrew Pike

All Around Rider 17 and Under: Glen Bradley

All Around Rider 30 and Over: Reg Mullet

All Around Female Rider: Sarah Leishman

X92.9fm All Around Rider 18-29: Nick Quinn

Devinci Freerider of the Year: Reg Mullet

Reg won the Freerider of the Year award last year as well. This guy loves our sport and is always out riding his bike in the mountains. He hike a bikes all season into areas that most of us would think twice about simply hiking too, let alone carrying a bike and going for a rip too. This year he made the first ever AFA acceptance speech, where he challenged other riders to get out, learn from the older riders and build/up keep more trails. He wants to motivate people to get out and rip and have fun, but also to give back by learning proper building techniques and ways to sustain the trails we've got.

Once the awards were all handed to the racers and to the winners of this years Alberta Freeride Awards, it was time to grab another beverage and sit back and visit all those that stayed behind to party. Marco Pringle played the beats for everyone to enjoy. Calgary Cycle kept everyone going with free Beaver Buzz and drink tickets and then at Midnight everyone lined up to get another ticket, but this time it was for something way better than a beverage. Yep another draw ticket was handed to all those that remained and the Devinci Frantik 1 was drawn for. I thought this was a great way to do it, as more than one person was hording tickets that they'd got from folks that had left earlier in the night-congrats Leah and Derek for keeping it all fair. The lucky winner was none other than Peter Matthews. This guy has become a staple in the Calgary Riding community and spends his summers teaching the youth of tomorrow how to ride at COP. It was great to see the bike go to him.


If you've made it this far and are still wondering if there is a picture with you in it, please check out my AFA Album. You can also go to www.albertafreerideawards.com to view their pics from the evening and of the nominees.

Events like this would never happen with out all the sponsors and volunteers that all come together to make it a great time for all. The following companies made the 2008 AFAs possible, so if you like Gravity riding, then get out there and support them as they are backing your sport day in and day out:

Calgary Cycle
Devinci Bikes
Santa Cruz Bikes
Dakine
Raceface Components
Pinkbike.com
Kenda Tires
Beaver Buzz Beverages
Canada Olympic Park
X92.9FM
Block 8 Frames and Components

It's been 6 years since I was part of the original crew that brought the AFAs to life and it's great to see the evolution of the awards ceremony over the years. Back in the days we'd scoot into the lodge after the snow race, fire a few banners up and hope that the crowd could hear us as we yelled out the winners of the AFAs. Today you've got the biggest announcer in Mountain Biking MCing the event, the venue set up takes the better part of the day to put together and all the details from prizing to press releases takes months in advance to plan. The one thing that hasn't changed though is the feel good vibe you get from the evening, we are all there to enjoy our two wheelers by kicking off the riding season and hanging out together for the biggest biking awards night in Alberta, if not in all of Canada. Based on what I know and have seen over the pasted 6 years, I believe the Alberta Freeride Awards will continue to grow and recognize the riders at the front of their games and hopefully show them and the world that Alberta really is a great place to live and to ride your bicycle.

-Tyler "Brule" Maine