That's a wrap ladies and gentlemen. The 5th annual Sudden Rush Banked Slalom went down in Laax last weekend smoother than one of Terje Haakonsen’s wax jobs. Over 400 riders showed up to get a piece of the action, ranging between the ages of 4 to 56 to experience 21 hand-shaped turns of pure slalom magic.

The overall event caters to all abilities with Masters, Pro, Open, Junior,  Fakie race categories and plenty of other activities to enjoy. Particularly the Tidal art show in the basement of the Riders Hotel on the Friday night featuring pieces from Jamie Lynn, Scoph, Will Smith and many more.

The course construction began shortly after Christmas and was hand-crafted by none other than Nicolas Müller and Terje Haakonsen, snowboarding icons and our wonderful event hosts. It should be noted of course that Terje took home 2 wins over the weekend in the Men’s pro and Fakie race categories at the age of 44. Looks like he’s still got plenty of gas in the tank.

A massive thank you goes out to all the sponsors and hosts involved in such a fun event and we can’t wait to show up again next year. For now enjoy our exclusive photo recap with a tonne of familiar faces. Check the full podium results here at the end of the recap.

Words by Tom Shapiro

Photos by Theo Acworth

The Results:

Super Masters Men (50+)

1. Peter Bauer - 1:12.27

2. Andy Meyenberg - 1:15.75

3. Ruedi Herger - 1:16.41

 

Grand Master Men (45 - 49)

1. Jan Prokes - 1:12.23

2. Urs Kroepfli - 1:15.24

3. Thomas Scherrer - 1:16.40

 

Masters Women (ab 40)

1. Murielle Imhof - 1:15.22

2. Katharina Keller - 1:17.82

3. Martina Tscharner - 1:20.98

 

Masters Men (40 - 44) 

1. Reto Neiger - 1:10.12

2.  Raymond Brechbühl - 1:10.19

3. Ivo Gmür - 1:10.62

 

Pro Women (ab 18) 

1. Chloe Sillieres - 1:14.06

2. Ariane Staib-Glaus - 1:14.63

3. Yuka Fujimori - 1:14.98

 

Pro Men (ab - 18)

1. Terje Haakonsen - 1:07.14

2. Felix Dellaire - 1:07.25

3. Arthur Longo - 1:07.69

 

Open Women (18 - 39)

1. Tiziana Casutt - 1:14.70

2. Lia Langenegger - 1:15.81

3. Joelle Juchli - 1:16.19

 

Open Men (18 - 39) 

1. David Birri - 1:10.03

2. Andreas Oester - 1:10.53

3. Renato Nadig - 1:10.59 

 

Fastest Man - Elliot Grondin - 1:06.91

Fastest Woman - Ariane Staib-Glaus - 1:13.37

 

YOUNG KIDS GIRLS: (bis 10)

1. Paula Bauer - 1:30.57

2. Samira Sprenger - 1:33.75

3. Anneli Thoresen - 1:50.10

 

YOUNG KIDS BOYS: (bis 10)

1. Nico Bondi - 1:16.09

2. Leo Thoresen - 1:21.02

3. Felix Meier - 1:21.36

 

OLD KIDS GIRLS: (11 - 13)

1. Siria Poltera - 1:15.17

2. Corti Tosca - 1:20.31

3. Julia Meier - 1:22.56

 

OLD KIDS BOYS: (11 - 13)

1. Jonas Hasler - 1:09.89

2. Luis Marchesi - 1:16.10

3. Raffael Schütz - 1:16.66

 

JUNIORS: GIRLS (14 - 17)

1. Leonie Hasler - 1:15.80

2. Bianca Gisler - 1:16.23 

3. Mona Danuser - 1:17.14

 

JUNIORS: BOYS (14 - 17)

1. Julian Furrer - 1:13.55

2. Luca Osnes Feci - 1:13.63

3. Nicolas Schütz - 1:14.20

 

Fakie Race 

1. Terje Haakonsen - 1:12.67

2. Reto Neiger - 1:15.69

3. Simon Oswald - 1:17.05

Keep an eye out for the video recap coming soon. Until next year Laax!