NIKITA CHICKITA EUROPE 2010
Words by Pia Kaipainen (Nikita Chickita Europe 2010 event organiser)

As the saying goes ‘all roads lead to Rome’. Well on Saturday 10th of April, sixteen Nikita Chickitas took the road to Serfaus where the 4th Nikita Chickita Europe contest took place. Us here at Nikita would like to think that there are many different ways of doing something and Nikita Chickita is our way of organizing an event where competing is totally secondary and having fun together on the slope is what counts! And once again, this was achieved with a day that could best be described by Nikita’s own Julia Baumgartner’s words on Saturday afternoon after the event was done and dusted; “For me, it was the best jam session ever!”

But to get a better picture of what took place on Saturday, let’s begin with registration for the event that started at 08.30am at Serfaus ticket office. There was a constant flow of girls registering in and everyone was super excited about the day ahead! After getting their lift passes from the lovely ladies at the ticket office and placing their Nikita goodie bags behind the info desk for the day, everyone headed up the mountain to hit the park and warm up under the spring sunshine.

The judges decided that a jam session would be the best format instead of qualifications and finals with the amount of girls enabling that and what could be a more relaxed and fun way of doing a contest than jamming together –  absolutely nada! The shapers of the park had busted their butts off to ensure a top course (a jib line and a kicker line) so big up to the boys for that! As there were no juniors taking part this year, we were ready to let the sixteen ladies go off in Serfaus park!

And off they went! The level of riding was sick and the judges were super impressed by all the girls. The Chickitas pushed each other as much as possible and this lead to a fantastic atmosphere amongst the riders as well as the crew who were there and in the spirit of things 100%. All the girls did around 6 runs, getting to decide themselves whether they wanted to hit the jib line or the kicker line. Every single girl gave both lines / every obstacle a shot which was fantastic. There were no injuries which naturally made the whole day a happy one for everyone there. Some girls did have some hard slams but nobody gave up, showing true soldier spirit!

The chill area next to the park was full of ‘shiny happy people’, enjoying drinks and BBQ while some received top notch physiotherapy provided by Jan Schröder, whose assistance and calming attitude helping throughout the event was invaluable.

The ladies had so much fun hitting the park that after the judges were ready to decide the TOP 3 riders of the day, they all wanted to continue to ride and who can blame them; it was bluebird and the park was is stellar condition so the session kept going on as long as the last lift call.

The judges, Nikita lovelies (AND super cute and talented as they specifically wrote onto their judging sheets) Julia Baumgartner, Lisa Filzmoser, Maude Richon and Vanessa Waldenhofer faced a tough decision coming up with the final order of the TOP 3, as the level between them was just so close. But a winner was found and this was to be kept top secret until the evening’s prize-giving ceremony at the Patschi pub down in the village.

A crowd of smiley, panda tanned faces took over the après ski in Patschi and around 22:00pm it was time to announce the winners and get them on the podium. With a rain of colourful balloons falling from the roof and raging applauds in the air, the winner of Nikita Chickita Europe 2010 was crowned and this super talented young lady is called ELENA KÖNZ. She was a deserving winner after impressing the judges with a bunch of tricks including a frontside 3, backside 5, switch backside 1, frontside 5 and by trying a backside 7. Well done Elena!! Second place went to Switzerland’s NC Swiss Tour finals winner, Isabel Derungs proving also why she was the deserved winner from the Tour, with smooth frontside 3’s, backside rodeo and backside 5’s.  Isabel was also rewarded Best Trick of the day for her whopping backside rodeo. And finally, it was Malin Johansson from Kläppen Sweden (also the winner of NC Sweden, and 3rd in NC Scandinavia) who took third place landing a super clean cab 5 and showing what the Scandinavians are made of with tricks like a switch backside 1 and a huge backside 3.

The best jibber of the day was Mary Luggen who rocked the park with some serious moves, like her frontside 180 to 50/50 on the rails.

So here are the TOP 3 RESULTS and a shout out to all of the other ladies who took part on Saturday:
1. Elena Könz
2. Isabel Derungs
3. Malin Johansson
4. Conny Bleicher
5. Mary Luggen
6. Diana Sadlowski
7. Fanny Vuagniaux
8. Katrin Wegschneider
9. Karin Hofer
10. Tania Bukhari Benz
11. Nicole Sommerauer
12. Sandra Graf
13. Karin Zimmerli
14. Simone Twelkemeijere
15. Mona Hueber
16. Daniela Landerer

The winning trio were bombarded with some amazing prizes from K2 snowboards, DaKine, Sector 9, Les Ettes, Dragon and naturally some rocking Nikita gear plus some reading for summer from our media partners Cooler and Onboard. Heida gave out the prize cheques along with her son Frosti and congratulated everyone with huge hugs.  Elena took home a hefty prize cheque worth of €1000, followed by Isabel with a cheque for €500 and Malin €250. The celebrations of the winners and everyone who took part in the event went on until the early morning with The Cuban Brothers’ downright funky DJ Kengo Oshima and local DJ talents. Off the roof fun it was!

HUGE THANKS goes to our sponsors K2, DaKine, Sector 9, Les Ettes, Dragon, Onboard and Cooler. Also big ups to the local crew in Serfaus, we could not have done it without all your support and help – you all rock!! Thanks to Patschi, Kengo from the Cuban Brothers, Reini from Serfaus Marketing, Mexx and the lovely shaper boys, thanks EVERYONE who came to be part of the best event this season! Thanks Nikita crew and thanks Jan – this event was the sum of us all!

Hopefully next year the juniors will come and flash off their skills and of course all the lovely ladies coming back that took part this year – as well as all ladies who like to join in the fun and ride!