2003 Boston Amateur Mountain Bike Video Awards
A Fundraiser to Benifit NEMBA's Land Trust Fund
Trek Bicycles and the New England Mountain Bike Association (NEMBA) hosted the first annual Boston Amateur Mountain Bike Video Awards in Somerville, MA on Monday, April 21, 2003. Over 180 spectators and mountain bike enthusiasts attended the event and raised more than $12,000 for NEMBA's purchase of open space in Milford, MA known by cyclists as "Vietnam". The evening culminated with the New England premiere of the Radical Films professional mountain bike video, Kranked 5: In Concert.
Somerville-based Redbones BBQ and Boston's Harpoon Brewery donated all the food and drink to the event, and the VFW Dilboy Hall donated the venue, which enabled over 95% of the gross proceeds to go directly into funding the land purchase.
In addition to the $12,000 raised, event sponsors Ace and Belmont Wheelworks celebrated the occasion by honoring their $5000 pledge for the land purchase and the Greater Boston and Blackstone Valley chapters of NEMBA announced challenge grants to their members for $5,000 and $2,500, respectively. Additionally, two NEMBA members made personal challenge grants totaling $2,500 to anyone at the event who donated to the fund.
"This event demonstrates that mountain bikers, if given the right mechanism, will come out and support the trails they like to ride in a big way," said NEMBA executive director, Philip Keyes. "We sold out weeks in advance, moved the event to a larger location and sold out again! It was a great excuse for mountain bikers to come together, support an important cause, and celebrate the new riding season."
"It was great to see such talented local film making," said one of the judges, Jean Dunoyer, a professional filmmaker who has edited award-winning adventure films about Everest, Denali, and Antarctica. "There is a lot of potential here, and I am happy to see NEMBA nurture this local talent with such a unique event. I'm looking forward to seeing next year's submissions."
Eight finalists presented their films at the Boston Mountain Bike Video Awards. The winners are:
People's Choice:
Kramped 4: The Old and the Breathless by Sean Sullivan (IWantMyMTB.com)
Best Production:
743 Days of Half-Assed Footage by Jim Ioannidis (Downfall Productions)
Most Entertaining:
RFP by Stephen Pope (Wild Ride Productions)
Best Riding:
Kramped 4: The Old and the Breathless by Sean Sullivan (IWantMyMTB.com)
The winners each received a plaque and prizes donated by Trek and OnGuard. The other finalists were Bill Lazdowski, Jeff Sanders, Dan Foster, Peter Brandenburg and Michael LaPlante. All finalists will receive a free course on filmmaking from the Boston Film and Video Foundation and those contestants whose video didn't make the finals will receive discounted courses.