Mike Reed disasters. Words by Maxwell Whyte

Photos by James Farrell

Despite hard conditions on Marquette Mountain Saturday, the first MM

Affiliates comp went off. The contest dubbed "MM Meltdown" showcased

midwest talent in an early season rail jam. The setup, built by

Marquette Mountain's new park manager Steve Shelby, was clean and

straight forward with three rails setup side-by-side offering riders

the option to hit a down-flat-down rail, 20ft flat box, or a flat-down

rail. With an assortment of ages and a steady flow of beats from the

Smith tent, riders threw down. The final came down to Mike Reed, Josh

Bennett, and Zane Paquette. Despite Josh Bennett's attempt at a 450

disaster on, Mike Reed's cab 270 disaster to switch on the

down-flat-down took the trophey and prize money at the first annual MM

Meltdown. Special thanks to Red-Bull and

Smith Optics for helping put on the comp. Also look for the MM Park

page to be up at marquettemountain.com, and a special NS.com Marquette Mountain feature coming soon!

**Watch the video**

Steve Shelby on the box.