Makes ya sick, don’t it? The 2003 Red Bull Ride freeride competition at Jindabyne, Australia featured 28 of the best riders in the world. The likes of Nathan Rennie, Sean McCarroll, Robbie Bourdon, Dave Watson, Richie Schley, Tyler Klassen and Shaums March, not to mention World Cup DH champ Steve Peat and runner-up Cedric Gracia were in attendance. And 17 year old Sam Hill beat the lot…

The course was a kilometre long, and included a nine metre vertical drop (that’s thirty feet, Imperial fans), a fourteen metre (forty six – count them – of our English feet) step-down gap jump, all manner of other assorted dirt jumps, balance beams and the barely-describable “sled-saw”, a see-saw mounted on rails so it slides downhill as it tilts.

It sounds scary, and it was. Second-placed John Waddell said, “It was such a gnarly course that you could never expect to do it all cleanly.” To give you some idea, Steve Peat went out with a crocked knee in practice and Shaums March snapped his bike in two on the gap jump. But clean it Sam Hill did. He’s already World DH Junior Champion – watch out for great things from him in the future…

Photos and video clips from the Red Bull Ride can be found on their website – turn your volume down if you’re at work…