Dirksen course testing on the the first practice day The Dirksen Derby is a fundraiser dedicated to an unfortunate neck injury of snowboarder and friend Tyler Ecklund. e
By Jake Price | Photos: Alex Nawrocky
Parallel Slalom Start Gate: “3, 2, 1, Drop.” When you hear those words coming out of Josh Dirksen’s Dad’s mouth at the start gate, you know your about to fly, pump, twist, launch, tree bash, slash, and carve your way through the most exciting 30 second snake run known as the Dirksen Derby.
In it’s 4th reincarnation of an original coarse placement on Mt Bachelor’s skate park-ish natural terrain. Nowhere else can you still find a competition with a hand dug coarse featuring over vert turns, banked out tree wells, and high speed g turns dug out by Dirksen himself. The Derby was such a success last Winter, that Josh decided to turn this years into a 2 day event. I don’t even know if I should even describe it as an event. There are no energy drink sponsors, no media passes, no tv commercial timeouts.
The Derby is all about going fast next to all your friends that love to slide on snow. The loose make it up as you go attitude of Josh’s event planning makes this contest the best atmosphere to be around. Every person that entered the race won just for showing up. No jock attitudes and smiles throughout.
In the day of Z-games, Do tour, and USSR Grand Prix, a contest like this is exactly what will carry the tradition of “real” snowboarding. You know when snowboard legends Jason McCalister, Travis Yamada, Kris Jamieson, Allister Schultz, Marcus Egge and Scotty Whitlake come out, it’s for a good cause.
My friends just showed up to Torcom’s bar to celebrate the BAF trifecta top 3 fastest times.1. Austin Smith (1st! overall with a time of 53.46 seconds) 2. Curtis Ciszek (54.31 seconds), and myself Jake Price (54.60 seconds)! Time to celebrate with some Beers to face and dreams of the Dirksen Derby’s of the future. Enjoy the photos by Alex Nawrocky.
