Lance 3rd at T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds
Marius 2nd in Xbox 360 Contest
Three of the adiridas, Lance McDermott, Marius Hoppensack and Phil Sundbaum were among the ten top pro riders to be invited to T-Mobile Extreme Playgrounds, which took place in Duisburgs’s Kraftzentrale on Sunday, 19 April 2009. Lance placed 3rd in the Mountain Bike Slopstyle Contest, Marius was the runner-up in the Xbox 360 Contest.
On a 110 m long course with a wooden step-up and in-run, 28 mountain bikers and bmx riders pulled world-class tricks, stepping the level up with each run. Riders were competing head to head with the better rider advancing to the next round. Pairings were chosen by lot, which put Amir Kabbani and Lance McDermott into one heat. After two very strong runs Amir received higher scores from the judges, but spectators voted Lance, who was already cheered on during his training runs, back into the competition. In the finals, it came down to France’s shooting star Yannick Granieri, adidas Slopestyle winner Sam Pilgrim, Lance and Amir, who had qualified for the event at the T-Mobile Local Support Tour. Putting all his eggs in one basket, Amir impressed the judges and his fellow riders with a massive and clean first final run (Backflip onto the Step-up, X-up at the drop, Back Flip No Hand, Truck Driver, 360 Tail Whip) that couldn’t be topped, not even by Lance who threw in his signature trick, the front flip.
At the Xbox 360 Contest Marius Hoppensack impressed the judges with his stylish 360 variations. His perfect 360 Tail Whip was only capped by Amir Kabbani’s technically more difficult 360 Tail Whip X-Up.