RAYZ Rail Jam- How grass root events help shape all our sports!

Well its still winter and I feel compelled to write about another non biking event, but this time the parallels are so great that you should all get something out of this little story. I am currently on holidays in North Western BC enjoying a nice cold winter as opposed to the coastal crap that was being dealt to us on the lower main land and the Fraser Valley. My theory was to hit the road and find real winter. Ok I’m already off track here, so I’ll reel myself back in and head down the right road. I want to tell you all about an event that I got to go watch this past weekend. The event was called RAYZ Rail Jam (link to site) and it took place in Smithers BC, hometown to Wayne Goss and a host of other really talented mountain bikers. But this event was for the skiers and boarders of the North West, and they killed it.This was the 3rd annual RAYZ Rail Jam and the effort of the volunteers was amazing, from the sign in, to the course design/set-up, to the food on hand to keep folks warm and fed, to the DJ playing tunes to keep folks pumped. This year’s event has been unfolding for weeks with the course planning and design being the main under taking of local shredder Greg. Greg had helpers, like all events do, but he put in hundreds of hours to design and build a street set up that the riders could progress and excel on.

*pics of the parts being assembled for the course*


Prior to the event I had been walking around town last week and every other store had a poster in the window announcing the event. That alone told me that this must be big or just really well publicized-once again the volunteers were at work. The posters weren’t ghetto either, they showed all the pertinent info, the sponsors and time and place. As grass roots happenings like this grow, you can see how they become very “professionally” run with out the politics of a “professional” event. Grass roots events at their core are there to promote sports and riders at the non-pro levels and push folks to progress and develop skills. This is true in cycling too, look at events like the Calgary and Vancouver Outdoor shows or even Slope Sistair. These events are built by folks that want to see their sports progress and attain new levels of recognition. And they receive support from companies that have that common focus too-to see the younger generations feed off each other, progress and move the sport forward.

Now I’ve used the word event a few times and I think I need to change it to “a happening”, cause this was more then a simple event on a Saturday night. To me it was like seeing the Loonie XC races in Whistler take place-those weekly races are happenings cause folks are waiting week in, week out to ride the new courses and gather together at different venues afterwards to talk about the week, the race and life. Up here it brought over 50 competitors together from the surrounding North West towns of Terrace, Telkwa, Hazelton, Prince George, Quesnel, and of course Smithers. Both skiers and boarders came from all over to this happening in the parking lot of the Bulkley Valley Regional Pool and the spectators came to watch too.

Typically grass roots events in small towns start out with a ton of local sponsors and with out them very few events would ever get beyond the first year. As your event grows, so do your sponsors. The local support never fades away, but the industry sees what’s going on and backs it too. RAYZ had big name ski and board sponsors on board this year and even the Armada Ski rep-Andrew made the trek up from Kelowna to watch the locals kill it in the parking lot Rail Jam.


With any grass root event you have a crowd of spectators, heck even if its you and 3 buddies hitting a wooden jump in the back yard at 8 years of age and your parents watched on. You know that you pushed yourself not only for your buddies, but your mom/dad might see you getting rad and tell you “good work!” Well in a small town, where you have posters all over the place and the buzz in the younger folks of the community is the Rail Jam, you end up with 200+ spectators standing in the -10 and colder temps for hours watching competitors throwing down. So here is what the spectators saw during their time spent out in the cold cheering on the riders.


Riders had registration and sign in between 5 and 7 pm and were allowed to practice from 5 to 7:30 and the Rail Jam would begin at 7:30. More then 50 guys and 2 girls signed up to put on a show. Much like mountain biking, the boys out number the girls by more then 10 times. But also like mountain biking, the girls that do show up are there to throw down and have a good time and progress their own riding. During practice, riders all took their time to examine each of the 4 different rail/ledge options that were built into the wooden stair set up.


The first heats to hit the rails were the 13 and Under boarders and skiers. These little guys were doing full length nose presses down the easier of the ledges and stepping it up to sliding the big rail too. The format for the riders was a jam format, where you had a set time frame to ride as much as you wanted and get in as many solid hits to impress the judges and wow the crowd.


Next up was the 14-17 year old Skiers and Boarders-each got their own session as these were the biggest categories of the night. The level of riding at this age is just like it is in most “x-games” style sports-off the handle. These kids were throwing down hard, hitting rails, leadges switch and spinning onto the set ups. You name it, they were going for it. It was like watching the AMS at a DJ event giving it their all. They can do most of the big kid tricks, just the style that develops in time wasn’t all the way there yet. Its why guys like Holmgren and Boyko stand out when they spin their bikes and the kid at the local DJs wants to ride like them one day.



The cold night of competition was capped off with the open men and women’s sessions. The skiers and boarders rode together at this point to make the show go by a bit quicker. Style stood out now, with clean 270s on to any feature and huge 180s over the whole stair set ups. Spills were had through out the night, but no one left in the ambulances that were on hand incase someone pushed themselves a bit too much or a rail got the best of rider. At the end of the night there was a wrecked edge or two and prizes from all the sponsors were handed out and everyone was stoked on the whole set up. The riders that were there weren’t pros, some may be on their way, but for the most part they all buy their boards and skis and just like mountain bikers, they abused the hell out of them for nothing more then a good time. No one signed any contracts at the end of the night, but they all went home stoked on the progression they had made. No contest is complete with out an after party and this stood true for the Rail Jam as well. Off to the Alpenhorn for the adults and off to some house parties with the younger riders.


Now I’m sure you’re wondering what this is all about, well for me it was getting to see how an event like RAYZ Rail Jam helps to shape the locals and the sports they enjoy so much. Go out and look at your local events with a different perspective, not just cycling, but all of the sports and you’ll see that for the most part its about growing a particular sport and helping it progress forward in a great environment.

I also saw other things too. You need a core group that sees a common end goal to achieve a great event. Way to go to all those that stepped forward and made this one event happen-Jason at RAYZ for the backing of the event, Greg and his crew for knowing what the riders and themselves wanted to rip on, Josh for holding the MC duties for the night, the ladies at registration, the riders for coming out and throwing down and all the parents and spectators who stood out there and helped make this a great grass roots event so rad. Now if you see an event that is in your genre of cycling and its within a day’s drive, why not load up the vehicle and get out there to support the sport you love so much. It could be a great day in your life and help you shape your own life. Or maybe you want to host an event that will shape the future for others-either way, give it a go.

Our sport is always changing and there is always a niche group that is pushing different aspects of it in all directions. First came the shore and with it came hucks to flat, then guys liked getting huge air to trannies and ski resorts built runs to find the happy mediums. Bikes have evolved with that too. In some areas kids will never have ridden anything but a full suspension bike, while the kid in Jersey is killing in on a single speed street rig. Either way we all need little and big happenings to move our niches forward. So get out there and support grass roots riding in any genre of biking you most enjoy.

Happy Trails,