If there's one event in the year that always makes you realize how quickly it goes by, it's definitely the Morphium X-Mas Jam at the Skatehalle Aurich. It feels like only a few weeks ago that we drove from the TITUS Tornados Tenerife Tour video premiere in Berlin to Aurich at night. But no, that was actually another year ago. Either way, the X-Mas Jam is a must-attend event and so we headed north again on Saturday, December 7, 2024. A record-breaking 2 hours and 11 minutes later, we parked in front of Germany's biggest skate hall and, to our surprise, were one of the first teams to arrive. Then nothing could stand in the way of a 5th victory in a row...!
Created by T. Gentsch |
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Morphium X-Mas Jam 2024
Finally with “Best Trick Car” again!
“Could” should be emphasized at this point, as the competition was very strong this year. In the end, a total of 14 teams had registered, although it was noticeable that some of the regulars from previous years were unfortunately missing. This didn't detract from the skateboarding as a whole, but I would have liked to have seen the guys from Cleptomanicx somehow. Instead, the “Montana Bauchspeck” team had formed a real contest killer crew. Christoph Radtke, Mika Möller, Henry Alberts and local hero Jan Hellwig were a real powerhouse of a team, but the REELL guys from the Lower Rhine also brought a breath of fresh air to the far north.
Apart from the “company teams”, the contest is of course particularly alive with all the “homie crews” who not only always come up with the coolest names, but also inspire with extremely creative skateboarding - see Team SKRTS aka “smart kids run the strees” from the Paderborn area. Unfortunately, it was and still is a pity that a few guys from the east or from regions south of the white sausage equator don't make it, but probably the location of Aurich is a bit of a deterrent when you look at the map of Germany. But it's not as far as it looks, believe me!
It finally started at around 2 pm and all teams had 2 runs each in 2 heats, the better one was counted. Both the first and the second heat were given another 20 minutes of practice, so the whole thing took a while. The aforementioned Team Montana Bauchspeck showed in the first heat what to expect in the final, but after the Tornados team opened the second heat as the first team, the bar was set a little higher. And so the boys once again qualified for the final in first place, which of course doesn't mean anything - but it does give you a taste of what's to come!
The whole thing was livened up by the annual raffle, where a huge amount of fine clothing and other items were sold. The following final saw only one run per team, after which each rider had a “best trick” on an obstacle of their choice. So anyone who has ever had a flawless run without bails with their team could consider themselves lucky. As the Tornados boys were the first to qualify, they were the last of the 5 finalist teams to start and therefore had the burden of riding after Team Montana Bauchspeck. They had an absolutely flawless run and so it was more or less clear after the final that they could have won this event. Nevertheless, it was only a few points that separated the two crews and therefore a welcome “winner's change”.
Last but not least, there was the “Death Race”, which was pretty “rough” this year, to say the least. Nevertheless, the focus here was of course on having fun and no-one held a grudge for some of the “fouls”. “No rules” should only apply to a limited extent, ‘common sense’ might be a suitable keyword here! The day ended with the best trick contest over a car, which included a flatrail on the hood, which was used extensively. Here, “Cash for Tricks” was thrown out, which gave all the rippers of the day another chance to earn a few small bucks. Mika Möller killed the car with a huge Fs flip, but Mike Brauer, Antoni Zeyer and Jeffrey Esguerra also pulled out some sick moves. This was followed by the official award ceremony and then we were on our way back to Münster. Many thanks to all the sponsors, Karl Knoop, the Skatehalle Aurich with its fantastic crew around Frauke and all the spectators and starters - and as I said, the next X-Mas Jam is (it feels like) in a few weeks anyway! See you there!
