Campus Rail Jam Tour mobilized by

Cricket and Ford - RECAP U of A!

Words: Taylor Murray

Photos: Darcy Bacha

For the full photo gallery click  HERE!

The Arizona desert is a weird place.  Maybe it’s the 700 year-old cacti, the

awkward co-existence of frat boys and gypsies, or the fact that it just snowed more

in Flagstaff than anywhere else in the country.  Regardless, the crew from the Campus Rail Jam Tour

was stoked to

explore Tucson and feed their appetite for the bizarre.  Check the

first Weekly Update video below to see what went down before the event.

With an amazing

debut in Tucson last February, the Tour is no stranger to the University of

Arizona.  The crew was welcomed

with open arms as they skated through campus spreading the stoke and making

friends with every attractive girl to walk by.  Tucson may not be the breeding ground for the next LNP or

Tom Wallisch, but the locals sure do love snow.   That being said, the crew was psyched to add their own

blend of bizarre to the desert and swap sand for snow in the middle of

campus. 

If there’s one

thing learned from last year, it’s that Arizona locals love to skate.  So when students walked out from

classes to the sight of snow and a brand

new mini ramp, it was like Christmas came early to the UA campus. 

When the event

kicked off at noon, classrooms must have been emptier than a box of doughnuts

in a cop car, because over 3,000 kids were on-site enjoying the snow and

skate.  The UA students must have

liked what they saw last year, because over two times as many people applied to

ride in the contest.  Not bad for a

place where most people have never even seen snow!  Snow-hungry co-eds flooded the sponsor booths, making custom

t-shirts at the Cricket Wireless tent, and entering to

win the FordDrivesU Ultimate Snowboard Getaway.

Only two female

snowboarders came out to play in the big snowcone pile, and both walked away

with more product than they could carry! 

Kristin Swanson was all smiles and took home second place along with a

limited edition snowboard from Ford.  Tour veteran, Emily Astiz started things off with mellow

slides on the rainbox-down box but soon started eyeballing the 10-foot gap

box.  With the crowd roaring, Emily

flawlessly floated the gap and powered through the box.  Needless to say, Emily landed in first

place with and new banana traction board from Roxy snowboards.

Emily pushes over the rainbow

(L-R) 1st place – Emily Astiz, 2nd

place  - Kristin Swanson

For many of the

male shreds, the three rails on the new setup were bigger than anything they’ve

hit all season.  However size

didn’t seem to concern the AZ rippers as they attempted to pull out everything

in their bag of tricks to impress the judges.  Colin Ofloy went into the finals dropping hammers with 270s

and 360s onto the gap box.  Judges

awarded Colin third place and a full kit from Bonfire

Outerwear.  Second place

went to Tempe local, Loren Brinton for his proper 5-0s and frontboards on the

kink.  At the end of the day it was

David Biner in first for his buttery combos and smooth style.  David slayed all three rails and was

hooked up with a new board from Salomon Snowboards for his effort.

270 to frontboard by Loren Brinton

(L-R) 2nd place – Loren Brinton, 1st

place – David Biner  (3rd

place – Colin Ofloy not pictured)

Skier Alex Gaynor came out on top for the two plankers and

walked away with a fresh pair of Coreupt

Skis after throwing down stylie 270s on the gap box .  Andrew Salter followed closely in

second and was rewarded for his efforts with some sick new Bonfire

Outerwear.   Last year’s winner, Nate Johnson

rounded out the pack in third scooping up the Neff x CRJT collabo hat and some other

goodies.

pushing two planks through two kinks

(L-R) 2nd place – Andrew Salter, 1st

place – Alex Gaynor, 3rd place – Nate Johnson

With the first event in the books, the Galvanic crew packed

up the semi, waved goodbye to new amigos and is headed towards Tempe for the

second event of the Campus Rail Jam Tour to take

place at Arizona State University. 

The rail jam will be the main attraction of “Devilpalooza” this Friday

the 19th.  Be sure to

hit up http://www.campusrailjamtour.com

to apply to ride and for more info on the tour.