The Quik Cup contest has just ended today at Les Arcs in the French Alps with the victory of skater Omar Hassan in the overall contest and French snowboarder Mat Cr�pel in the snowboard final. After competing in both surf and skate in Anglet (near Biarritz) from 10th to 16th March, the 20 riders arrived in the French Alps on Sunday 17th March to participate in the last part of this board riding triathlon: the snowboard discipline.

The snowboard contest
The park itself was a work of art. Dropping in from the top, there was a small jump prior to a large table with the choice of three different sized kickers to launch from. Two hundred metres or so further down the hill were two huge hips, one on the left and one on the right. Following on from this, one hundred metres further down the hill was the entrance to a fifty metre long half pipe. Alternatively, there were two nice rails on the right hand side as you ride through the park, if the riders prefer to mix it up a little and give the pipe a miss. Finally, for anybody with a little bit of strength left in their legs, there's was a mailbox to slide or jib in front of the judges cabin.

Qualifications took place under cloudless skies with warm spring sunshine beating down from above on Monday 18th. After a day off, due to rain, the contest resumed today. The final of the Quik Cup was nothing short of amazing. Six riders, three runs each and more tricks than Houdini ever dreamed of. As expected, the battle between all six finalists was incredible. Tomi's first run was possibly his best: a huge backside 720� over the big table, a big switch indy over the hip with a method into the pipe backed up by a mctwist. Crepel's best run was his second. He performed a 540 front side over the big table, a huge nosebone over the whole length of the hip (incredibly high), followed by a front side 360 in the pipe.

White also had a great first run: front side 360 before launching a huge backside 720 on the table. Impressive stuff. Unfortunately for White, he failed to land cleanly an enormous air on the hip on his second run and also crashed in the pipe attempting a front side 900.

Marcus Wehrle and Clint Allan, the two Australians in the final, also impressed with some big tricks.

The Frenchman Greg Poissonnier was typically stylish landing rockets airs; backside 720�s and one smooth back flip to fakie. Again a tough job for the judges but the final results of snowboard contest were as follows:

1/ Mat Crepel (Fra)
2/ Shaun White (USA)
3/ Marcus Wehrle (Aus)
4/ Tomi Toiminen (Fin)
5/ Greg Poissonnier (Fra)
6/ Clint Allan (Aus)

For the second year in a row, young Frenchman Mat Crepel won the snowboarding.

After accepting his trophy and being hoisted upon the shoulders of Reto Lamm (head judge) and Jeff Hakman (Quiksilver Europe founder), he had the following to say: "another great event this year. Thanks very much and see you next year."

QUIK CUP 2002 OVERALL RESULTS
And so to the overall results. Californian Omar Hassan is the official overall winner of the Quik Cup 2002 and 25,000 euros richer for his efforts. After learning of his victory, he said: "I'm just really stoked. I can't really believe I've won it; it could have been anybodies with the heat draws and everything. Everyone was ripping. I had a great time and that's just the way it happened. I never expected it so it's kind of overwhelming. I'm just having a great time over here. Next year, I'll try to back it up again."

When asked what had been the highlight for him over the past ten days of competition, he replied:

"Being able to catch a wave (laughs) and landing some tricks in the snow today."

In second place overall was the 15 year old Californian Shaun White, who blew minds with a second places in both skating and snowboarding. He is definitely a talent to watch for the future.

Overall Final Results:
1/ Omar Hassan (California)
2/ Shaun White (California)
3/ Nathan Fletcher (California)
4/ Christian Fletcher (California)
5/ Mike Morrissey (California)

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