Snowpark Tour 2008: Luau at the Kitzsteinhorn
• Finals at the DC Central Park
• Wild cards and other non-cash prizes are up for grabs
• Mathieu Crépel will judge!
Aloha! After ten thrilling tour stops at Austria, Germany and Switzerland, the time has come to celebrate the Finale Grande of the 2008 Snowpark Tour. From March 14 to 16 2008, the best snowsurfers of the ten leading snow parks of the Central Alps will gather to Kitzsteinhorn at Zell am See-Kaprun, Austria, to crown the champions at the freeski and snowboard sessions. There will also be the last opportunity to qualify for the finals at the tour stop on Friday, March 14. Another highlight of the weekend: the Hawaiian-style luau at the Castle Kaprun!
At the finals at the DC Central Park, it will turn out who will follow in the footsteps of last year’s champions: at the Saas-Fee contest in March 2007, Patrik Huber from Warth (AUT) was crowned the Most Impressive Rider of the snowboarders. Christoph Walchhofer from Eben im Pongau (AUT) won the freeskiers’ contest, Anais Cettou from Motiers (SUI) took first place at the female snowboarders’. And the team from Lech won the snowboarders’ Team Battle. At this team competition, the four best riders of each of the ten tour stops will represent their local snow park. Additionally, the best freeskiers and female snowboarders of the single tour stops will also show their skills at Kitzsteinhorn. The riders who are not yet qualified will have the opportunity to get themselves a starting place at Team Kitzsteinhorn at the qualification session on Friday just before the main event.
In the course of the Snowpark Tour 2008, 600 participants tried to qualify for the finals. 40 male snowboarders, 20 new school skiers and 15 female snowboarders have managed to do so. Most of them are rookies who want to gain contest experience and to qualify for pro events. Among the riders who have taken part in the Snowpark tour since 2003, there are many renown riders who are pros now, like snowboarders Manuel Bernert (AUT), Max Weickl (AUT), Elias Elhardt (GER), Benni Urban (GER), David Kittlinger (GER), Friedl May (GER), Kathrin Gappmayr (AUT) and Aline Bock (GER) or freeskiers Tobias Tritscher (AUT), Fabio Studer (AUT), Tobias Reindl (GER), Roy Kittler (GER) and Thomas Hlawitschka (GER).
Double snowboard world champion Crépel will judge
The finals of the Snowpark Tour will be held as a jam session. This relaxed contest format takes a lot of pressure from the young riders as they don’t have to go for broke in one or two runs. Within the given time, each rider is allowed to do as many runs as he wants to – only the best run counts for the ranking. As the participants already showed high-level riding at the qualifiers, a thrilling show is to be expected! The runs will be judged by international pros of the Rossignol, Quiksilver and Roxy teams. One of them is the 2007 FIS world champion and 2006 TTR world champion, Mathieu Crépel (FRA).
The set-up of the DC Central Park will again be prepared especially for the finals. The snow park near Sonnenkarbahn comprises 31 features. The 16 jumps and 15 rails & boxes are spread on five lines and guarantee a lot of varieties for the snowboarders and skiers. For sure, the finals will mainly take place at the hard line. But to warm up, the riders will certainly also use the new 70-metre fun-pipe at the Easy Park directly above the DC Central Park.
Non-cash prizes, wild cards and party!
As in the previous years, the winners of the finals will again be rewarded with non-cash prizes and precious wild cards for pro events – maybe the beginning of a pro career. The best snowboarder of the Kitzsteinhorn finals will travel to the TTR event Nanshan Open 2009 in China. The best freeskier will be invited to the Candide Thovex Invitational 2008 in La Clusaz (FRA) and the best female snowboarder will take part in the 6-star TTR event Roxy Chicken Jam 2008. Additionally, the winners of the finals will be interviewed by snowboard magazines Onboard and Snowboarder MBM and the ski magazines Skiing and White Out.
The “luau” on Saturday evening will be one of the highlights of the weekend. The Hawaiian-style party will take place at the legendary Castle Kaprun.
Schedule: Snowpark Tour 08 finals at the DC Central Park, Kitzsteinhorn:
Friday, March 14 2008
10:00-11:30 h Training / Coaching / Film and photo session
11:30 h Riders Meeting
12:00-14:30 h Snowpark Tour Jam Session (last qualification for the finals)
14:45 h Prize-giving / Interviews
Saturday, March 15 2008
09:00-11:00 h Training
11:00-12:30 h Jam Session Girls SB & Ski
13:00-14:30 h Jam Session New school skiers
14:45 h Prize-giving / Interviews
14:30-16:00 h Open practice Snowboard Teams
22:00 h Party at the Castle Kaprun
Sunday, March 16 2008
09:00-11:00 h Open practice
11:00-13:00 h Snowboard Team Battle (10 teams)
13:00-14:30 h Superfinals Snowboard Teams (4 best teams)
14:45 h Prize-giving / Interviews
Registration: For free, no age limit, participants younger than 18 need the signature of their parents: snowparktour.com
Organizers: Mellow Constructions Innsbruck, Thomas Marsh, office@mellow.at
Sponsors: Quiksilver, Roxy, Rossignol
Media partners: Snowboarder MBM, Skiing, Onboard, White Out, Cooler, freeskiers.net
Tuesday, March 04th 2008 @ 06:02 AM.
© Snowboard-Revolution.com
Click to Back
