Two podiums for Santa Cruz Syndicate's Jamie Goldman

Oct 21, 2005

Jamie Goldman places 2nd and 3rd in the Roc d' Azur jump competition held October 15th -16th in Provance, France. Two spectacular events were held this weekend starting with the water jump competition held Saturday night followed by the dirt jump competition on Sunday. The event was well attended by both spectators and media alike. Viewers will also get to see the action televised.

Goldman made some sensational moves on his SRAM/Rock Shox equipped Santa Cruz Jackal. Starting with the water jump comp, Goldman was one of two chosen for the last trick run into the water. As always, the entertaining Goldman tells it best:
"There’s a place in France where the naked ladies dance. There’s a hole in the wall but it’s too small to see at all…."

I have a sweet story to tell. After arriving in France, after losing almost everything, missing a flight, learning some bad words in French, and despite one million mechanical problems, I placed 2nd in the water jump and 3rd in the dirt jump. I landed my first tailwhip in a comp so I am stoked.

Since mechanical problems left me an hour late to the qualifier, it was nearing its end when I arrived. I went up for my first run; back flip, 360 x-up, pow-wow-wowsers!!! I blew up my tube! I borrowed a wheel from Cyril Cabiac. What a guy. Thanks man! I went up and did another run but his wheel was single speed and the cog was skippin' like a mad man. I got a couple of decent runs in, and luckily they qualified all the riders. I wasn't in the best mood, as you can imagine, but thank the lord some fun was about to begin.


With pink wet suits with holes in the crotch and buttocks, the water comp was epic! There was a huge 40-foot roll in, set up to a 6 foot kicker, off of the side of the boat launch into the Mediterranean sea. The boat launch was 3 feet higher than the water so the total drop was about 9 feet. So the comp went down, and all the riders were given 45 minutes to hike up the ramp, drop in and strut their stuff. I landed backflip tailwhips, superman seat grab backflips, front flips, and a sweet no-footed can-can tailwhip where I kicked my feet so hard both my shoes went flying into the abyss of the dark Mediterranean. It was sweet! Others were doing double flips, backflip heelclickers, humongous superman’s, and huge barrel roll attempts. The crowd was ecstatic. Flashes from cameras were going wild. Commentator Dangerous Momo entertained the crowd with the robot dance, while riders swam to the rope to be towed in. When the end was near, riders chose their 2 favorite riders to do a final run. Christopher Hatton and I went into the finals. I went first with a front flip no hander, but this trick was only good enough for second as Christopher threw the craziest jump of the night, double backflip 360. It was nuts!! And so the night was done, and the crowds dispersed, amazed by the spectacle they had witnessed.

Sunday was the dirt jump comp which was equally out of control! The roll in was a 20- foot tall traveling freestyle motocross landing. There were three jumps that each had a metal kicker ramp that was about 5-feet tall with a dirt landing with gaps that were set at about 15-feet.. The comp began and guys were going off! Most everyone’s first run was awesome; huge 360 tables, backflip one handed x-ups, ginormous supermans, cans and more. My first run was disrupted when a backflip no hander went sideways and I got all squirrelly on the landing making it impossible to hit the second jump. No problem since the contest was set at five runs, best three count. My second run was no better. The exact same trick with the exact same result. This was it crunch time, do or die, flying for 19 hours on the way home would be incredibly depressing without a podium. I had no choice but to throw it down in the last 3 runs. I had 2 great runs in a row and my final run I knew I had to go for it. Flip one-footed x-up off the first set, 360 x-up on the second set and topping it off with a tail whip. Good enough for the 3rd spot on the podium.


After the last run I thought the contest was over, but everyone was at the top of the ramp. Thoughts ran threw my head, aaaaaahh, didn’t I do my five runs? I was confused because everyone was speaking French, but it was the after show! I ran up to the top of the roll in to join a twenty rider train with flips, 360s, supermans, tailwhips, and one rider even pulled an eject front flip which is where you jump off your bike in the air, do a flip and land on your feet! This ended the day with everyone smilin’. Everyone had experienced an incredible show of talent and spirit.

The winner of both events was 25 year-old Frenchman, Christopher Hatton who attempted a back flip tail whip and came incredibly close to pulling it. Christopher, with sweet back flip variations and 360 tables, was smooth and entertained the crowd without a doubt.

Overall France is an incredible place. I enjoyed the jumps, street, and village life. You can count on seeing a lot more of French Jamie in the future.

Bon Swa (that’s peace out in French)!”

-Jamie Goldman

Special thanks to Elmar Keineke and Torben Huisman from Sram/Rock Shox for their mechanical support to get me to the podium.

Photo credit thanks to Damien Rosso!

Check more pics out at: www.raceco-mtb.com


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