The Dumont Cup

Here's an article that I wrote for Newschoolers.com, re-posted from their site:


Fresh off his two-week journey through Norway and Sweden for the Jon Olsson Super Sessions, Simon Dumont returned to his home resort of Sunday River in Newry, Maine to host the first annual Dumont Cup. Over 70 competitors came out to the event in good weather & soft snow to see who would walk away with the first victory of what will surely become one of the signature events to that you’ll want to mark on your calendar.

With check-in for the competition at 8:00 am, the day began early as athletes vying for a chance at $15,000 in prize money made their way to the Gould Academy Competition Center, while the Sunday River park crew made the final preparations on the course. At the start, conditions were a bit firm and the competitors were only allowed to view the course from the side as last minute branding and adjustments took place. But by 9:30 competitors were given the green light to have at er on the well-manicured course, starting the inaugural event in a jam format.

Pros and ams alike worked it for the growing crowd in the Rocking Chair park, located on Barker Mountain underneath the Sunday River Express. Further fueling the crowds intensity was Luke Van Valin, who made more than one person happy by tossing out Target gift cards to the crowd.

Charles Gagnier

The course was the culmination of almost a full week of shaping by the Sunday River park staff and featured a cannon box to start followed by a 70-foot step down which transitioned to a 80-foot gap jump and rounded off by a stair set featuring, from left to right, a down-flat-down, down-flat with a five-foot drop and a down rail.

The skill level amongst the amateurs at the start of the Cup was varied, some opting to hit the smaller features that sat adjacent to the larger jumps while those who had the skills pulled out their respective bag of tricks from the start in hopes of landing a position in the Pro event later in the afternoon. The spring snow led to a few course holds for injuries, as competitors who checked their speed approaching the larger jumps usually didn’t make the knuckle. Some gnarly crashes ensued.

But for those who were able to work with the conditions, they were quickly able to set themselves apart and earn an invite and bib to the Pro competition to join the likes of Simon Dumont, Peter Olenick, Jossi Wells, Colby West and Tom Wallisch.

Simon Dumont

Peter Olenick

The qualifying competitors were Vincent Gagnier, Joss Christensen, Clayton Villa, Henrik Lampert, Mike Riddle, Tyler Thistle, Joe Schuster, Maks Gorham, Scott Nelson, Samuel LaGrange, Laurent Farve, Christopher Laker, Dale Talkington, Charlie Owens, Charles Gagnier and Matt Margetts.

Tom Wallisch

Each competitor was given the best of three runs and in the end; the man with the money was Tom Wallisch with 10k. His run included a rodeo 6 on the box, right 900 cork with an opposite tail grab into a switch double rodeo 1080 followed by a switch on, switch off on the down flat. Amateur Joss Christensen followed closely behind with a stellar run, earning him 5k. Rounding out the top three was Mike Riddle who scored himself 3k.

When asked about how the day went, Dumont responded, “The event went really well today, a lot of good talent and Sunday River was nice enough to put together one of the nicest courses we could have on the East Coast…a lot of people threw down and skied really well and Joss Christensen, a little rookie kid I saw last year out at the NAO that really killed It and came out and really dominated.”

Joss Christensen (2nd), Tom Wallisch (1st), Mike Riddle (3rd)

After the awards ceremony and prize giving, an open rail jam took place on the lower stair set of the course where Wallisch continued to wow the crowd with a victory lap of rail combos before heading to the after party at the Foggy Goggle.

Tom Wallisch & The Dumont Cup

Results

1) Tom Wallisch
2) Joss Christensen
3) Mike Riddle
4) Simon Dumont
5) Matt Margetts
6) Vincent Gagnier
7) Clayton Villa
8) Joe Schuster
9) Laurent Favre
10) Samuel LaGrange