Extreme Outdoor Supply: St. George Virgin Classic 2008

Congrats to all of our riders that competed in this year's comp. It was amazing to see some of the new tricks that were being thrown down. EOS rider Isaac Thomas came all the way from Washington to defend his title against the St. George locals and the Sac boys that came out.

Groms getting stoked before their session!

Lexi getting some press time - St. George local celeb!

The night before the comp, St. George experienced some rare flash rain storms. This of course raised the river substantially which made it really hard for the groms to get speed. Everyone pitched in to flatten out some of the sand bars to create more skim spots for the riders.

Prep Work

Sac Crew with an extra

EOS riders that competed were: Brent Lippencott (Sac), Peter Hodgins (Sac), Isaac Thomas (WA), Lexi Hutchings (UT), and newly acquired Blake Zimmerman (WA). Brent was still recovering from his ankle injury he sustained in Dash Point. That didn't really stop him though! He was hitting everything and appeared to be well in the running along with EOS rider Peter and Matt Head. Isaac and Matt were the only ones to land the S-Rail and the two looked unbeatable. Of course Peter was a Utah crowd pleaser, doing a couple "Utah tricks" like back flips, which had me rolling with the rest of the riders.

EOS rider Blake Zimmerman going big

The Virgin River is a great skim spot, but the comp itself has some issues still. Judging and rails are the two big issues that this comp still has to overcome. Rails come from local riders and some shops, but it seems that there is no one really taking the lead in getting the comp quality rails for the riders. You can see in the video the up and down is a little sketchy and the end result is pretty terrible. I think he got 11 stitches in his finger. The down rail just needed to be a bit lower then the up making the transition safer and easier to ride.

The majority of comps still have issues with judging, but in this case it became very obvious. Not to take away from the riders that made the finals, but everyone was surprised that Peter Hodgins did not make the finals. He landed some pretty big stuff and was very consistent throughout the comp. Don't forget the sweet back flip!! Ha ha! When all was said and done, everyone thought it was going to be a close 1st and 2nd between Matt Head and Isaac Thomas - both riders were killing it. Isaac did get 1st but Matt didn't place at all in the top three. Second place finisher, Zack, and third place finisher, Skim Louie, felt really awkward claiming their prizes. Lexi of course won the women's division and EOS newcomer Blake Zimmerman won his division.