teva mountain games slackline competition
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Vail Daily 06/04/2012
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06/04/2012
June 5, 2012 4:34 pm / Powered by TECNAVIA
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How do youcompete inslacklining?
With competition slacklines,competitors have 55 feet of line withwhich to work. The center isnaturally the most bouncy and the
line becomes less bouncy as onebalances closer to the posts.
There are four rounds ofelimination-based competitionwhere two athletes duel oneanother.
A panel of judges evaluateseach performance based oncreativity, skill and performance.
Competitors perform tricks ofstrength, skill and grace on a flat, 3-inch-wide line of climbers webbing,4
12 feet off the ground.
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Californian wows crowdBy Stephen KasicaSPECIAL TO THE DAILY
VAIL What was once considered a parlor trick by rockclimbers was inducted into the pantheon of mountainsports at the Teva Mountain Games this year. The gamesfirst hero is only 14.
Alex The Machine Mason from El Cerrito, Calif., wonthe first Gibbon Games International Competition on Sun-day before a tight, cheering crowd in Vail Village. He pulledoff the victory by outperforming older competitors fromaround the world, including 21-year-old Michael Payton,
who was the 2011 world champion in this sport.The comp was fantastic. It was the greatest comp
ever. The altitude was refreshing; it lets me know Ineed to work harder. said Payton, who finished third inthe competition.
In the semifinal round, Mason competed against 17-year-old Lukas The Big Cheese Huber, from Italy. Huberwowed the crowd with his quick, technically difficult trickson the line. However, after several falls into the thick crashpad, he could not contend with the swagger that the Cali-fornian kid, who competed in blue jeans in the high noon
sun, brought to the competition.Against Japans Toru Gappai Osugi in the final round,
Mason consistently completed one-handed cartwheels,360 spins and front flips, once landing on his back andlaunched himself upright to gasps and then cheers fromthe crowd.
Osugi began his performance with a 20-foot heel-grab-bing leap across the line, but after several failed flips, the
winner was a foregone conclusion.On the podium with Mason was Osugi, who earned sec-
ond place by default, and Payton in third.Its a lot of fun, Mason said. Its a really great experience.
What is slackline?This discipline, called trick-lining, resembles what
would be the lovechild of Olympic trampoline and powertumbling, who grew up listening to alternative rock.
Slackers, such as Mason, performed the typical backflips, front flips and 360 spins of alternative sports whilebalancing on the line. Slacklining also has its own tricks,such as the lemur leap, when one jumps from one end ofthe line to another, and back bounce, where one fall onhis or her back and is bounced back upright.
As a sport, slacklining is still in its toddler years. Domes-
tic competitions were first organized in 2010; the first inter-national competition was in 2008. Most of the crowd wascomposed of slackline enthusiasts who could not buy oneof these tightropes without being driven to the store bytheir mothers; it is an index of how popular this new sportis with a generation of athletes now coming of age.
To have a young hero at this young of an age in the sportis phenomenal, said Emilio Torres, vice president of salesat Gibbon Slacklines. It just shows that the sport can growso much because he is getting older and young kids areembracing the sport. Some of these kids will be Alex ina couple of years.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | [email protected]
Mike Payton front flips on the slackline during the Teva Mountain Games slacklining finals Sunday in Vail Village.Payton finished in third place.
Slacker prodigy: Mason wins at 14
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | [email protected]
Andy Lewis does a split on the slackline during a crowd-judged best-trick contest at the TevaMountain Games slacklining finals Sunday in Vail Village. Lewis won the best-trick contest.
DOMINIQUE TAYLOR | [email protected]
Mike Payton, right, picks up Japans TouOsugi, left, as Osugi celebrates beatingout Payton to make it to the slackliningfinals Sunday in Vail Village. Osugifinished in second place.