Please welcome Emily Richardson, Gemma Marshall and Jacobina Milne-Home.

Emily Richardson is a 16-year-old snowboarder, born in Lund, Sweden and now resident in Windlesham, Surrey. Emily spends as much time snowboarding as possible, whilst studying at college. She’s been riding since the age of 8 years and began riding park at age 12.

Her inspirations come from riders such as Laura Hadar and Natasza Zurek. After a set-back a couple of years ago breaking her leg skating, Emily realised how much she missed not being able to snowboard and has since taken every opportunity to ride with both feet strapped in.

Having started to compete in 2004 Emily has racked up some pretty impressive competition results to date:

1st Slopestyle British Snowboard Championships 2006 (Female Youth)
2nd Boardercross British Snowboard Championships 2006 (Female Youth)
2nd Big Air British Snowboard Championships 2006 (Female Youth)
1st Slopestyle ‘Ladi Jam’ Zermatt Under 18’s
2nd Overall The Burton Black Metal Rail Jam, Tamworth
4th Forum Youngblood European Finals Under 18’s

What’s next? Emily aims to retain her title in Slopestyle at the next British Championships in March and is determined to keep riding and progressing. She has competed at the Burton European Open and the World Rookie Fest this season and there’s plenty more to come.

On Nikita, Emily comments “What’s cool about Nikita Clothing is that you can wear it anywhere ….and like it says, Nikita is for girls who ride”.

Next up is 16 year old Gemma Marshall. Gemma has been snowboarding for 6 years, for fun to begin with and then on a competitive level for the past 3 years. She makes the most of riding with her friends at her local slope in Sheffield whenever she’s away from the mountain.

Gemma has great admiration for fellow female riders who illustrate and inspire her to greater heights, particularly Leanne Pelosi and Cheryl Maas and says competing has really helped her progress, pushing her to learn more.

Results at The British Snowboarding Championships 2006:

‘Best Unsponsored Female’ British Snowboard Championships 2006
2nd Half Pipe British Snowboard Championships 2006 (Youth)

Gemma is super driven and is focusing on going as far as she can in snowboarding, she would also like to get into the filming side of the industry. She’d be in great company with the level ladies snowboard movies coming through at the moment, she has just got to get her final year of G.C.S.E.’s out of the way first! Gemma has booked her flight to ‘The Brits’ after her return from The Burton European Open…….watch this space!

The final addition to the Nikita UK team is 23-year-old skier Jacobina Milne-Home, AKA ‘Beanie,’ from Kirkcaldy, Scotland. She’s based in Verbier this season and back in New Zealand for the summer, with a few stints at home in between.

Jacobina is a trained Sports Massage Therapist and a Pilates Instructor, as well as a professional skier. Having grown up skiing at Glenshee, she has fully embraced the lifestyle aspect of skiing all day, meeting like-minded people and travelling the globe. She’s happiest on any mountain but has a particular soft spot for Wanaka, New Zealand.

An inspiration to Beanie is Wendy Fisher (the first woman she saw in a ski mag) and she aspires to reach the same level of skiing, her interest in heli trips and filming keep her motivated. Beanie also wants to top the IFSA Big Mountain World Tour and push her park skills, especially in the Half Pipe.

Inside her first season, Beanie was credited with 16th on the IFSA Big Mountain World Tour and has since achieved great results in 2006:

1st Armadageddon Slopestyle, New Zealand
1st White Stuff Sick Trix, Val D’Isere
3rd Big Mountain Freeski Open, New Zealand
3rd Half Pipe, The British Championships
3rd Slopestyle, The British Championships

Next Beanie intends to go all out at Kirkwood, USA as part of the Big Mountain Tour, in the Half Pipe at the World Championships in Italy, The British Championships in Laax, the Half Pipe at the European Open and finally the Davos-Klosters Big Mountain!!!!!

Jacobina Milne-Holme - “I respect Nikita for being a brand in-tune with what girls want in the industry, the clothes are practical and cool, you can wear them on the mountain or in the bar”.

Nikita continues to support skateboarder Lucy Adams as an existing Nikita team rider. At just 23, she’s travelled throughout Europe skating and has cherished time in Australia. Her roots stem from Horsham but she claims life at present in Manchester, also skating Crawley as much as possible with her crew.