2010 BURTON NZ OPEN
2010 BURTON NZ OPEN GEARS UP
WANAKA, New Zealand (12th July, 2010)
With just 4 weeks to go the eighth annual Burton NZ Open, which has become the most prestigious snow sports event in the country, is gearing up to take Wanaka by storm. The invites are out, and those confirmed to attend so far include defending women’s Slopestyle Champion Jamie Anderson, and women’s defending Halfpipe Champion Kelly Clark, both of USA.
Other top international riders on their way include Seppe Smits (BEL), Christian Haller (SUI), Marco Grilc (SLO), Norwegians Tore Holvik, Stale Sandbech and Gjermund Braaten; Canadians Charles Reid, Mark Sollors, Mark McMorris and Matts Kulisek; Americans Chas Guldemond, Sage Kotsenburg, Jack Mitrani and Louie Vito; as well as Japanese rippers Kazuhiro Kokubo, Ryo Aono, Daisuke Murakami and Kohei Kudo. Some of the women to confirm include Kjersti Buaas and Lin Haug (NOR), Sina Candrian (SUI), Enni Rukajärvi (FIN), Rana Okada (JPN), and Elizabeth Beerman (USA). Kiwis Stef Zeestraten and Shelly Gotlieb, both strong contenders in the Slopestyle, have also confirmed their attendance.
The field is growing daily, and all will converge on Cardrona Alpine Resort from 10-14th August to compete for a chunk of the NZ$50,000 prize purse, which is spread equally for both men and women in Slopestyle and Halfpipe. Official training starts on Tues 10th, followed by an opening party at Lonestar Wanaka. Pre-qualifiers and Qualifiers start on Weds 11th. Invited riders are seeded directly to the Semifinal stages which start on Friday 13th. The event culminates with the Halfpipe Semifinals and Finals on Saturday 14th August.
This event marks the first stop on both the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and TTR World Tour for the 2010/2011 season. Full event details including a comprehensive gig and party line up will be published soon. All updates will be available via http://www.opensnowboarding.com
anyone heading over there for it?
PRESS RELEASE:
2010 BURTON NZ OPEN - THE OPEN SESSIONS
Tuesday 10th August
Burton NZ Open Launch Party, Lonestar Wanaka, 9pm
Features: Peacekeepers (Sambora and P-Digsss of Shapeshifter)
Wednesday 11th August
Open Sessions After Party, Opium Bar, Wanaka, 10pm
Features: Downtown Brown (of Sunshine Sound System)
Thursday 12th August
Open Sessions After Party, Opium Bar, Wanaka, 10pm
Features: DJ Reno (Devin Abrams of Shapeshifter)
Friday 13th August
Shapeshifter (Live), Wanaka Events Centre
Tickets: Base, Quest, and Amplifier.co.nz
Saturday 14th August
Shapeshifter (Live), Wanaka Events Centre
Tickets: Base, Quest, and Amplifier.co.nz
WANAKA, New Zealand (28th July, 2010)
Not all the action at the 2010 Burton NZ Open will be taking place on the mountain. Bringing it to the streets of Wanaka, the “Open Sessions” consist of a comprehensive line up of gigs and parties – the first of which will be the official Burton NZ Open Launch Party at Lonestar Wanaka on Tuesday 10th August. Tunes for the evening will be provided by the Peacekeepers, featuring the unmistakable vocals of P Digsss, along with the refined DJ skills of Sambora. This heavyweight duo have been ripping up festivals and dance floors across the country with their original style of dubstep and soul drenched drum and bass. There’ll be 1000 free tickets available through local Burton retailers, and the first 650 of these to show up at the door will be allowed entry.
The Opium Bar in Wanaka becomes the focus for the next two nights, with an Open Sessions Afterparty on both Wednesday 11th and Thursday 12th August. Queenstown musical icon Downtown Brown, whose roots are implanted deeply in reggae, soul, and hiphop, will be on hand to get the groove happening during the first Afterparty, while DJ Reno takes the stage on the second evening with his mix of hiphop, soul, jazz, house, funk and broken beat.
On Friday 13th August the Sessions step it up with the first of two Shapeshifter gigs. In past years the final Saturday night show has always sold out, so securing tickets to the Friday show could be a good way to make sure you don’t miss out on seeing one of New Zealand’s most dynamic and high powered live acts. Their stadium rave styled music is built to bring together music lovers of all genres, delivering monstrous live grooves, synthesized and barreling drum and bass, massive dub sound-scapes and hard rock for a truly epic live experience.
Saturday 14th August sees the culmination of the Sessions, and a second Shapeshifter concert at the Lake Wanaka Centre. With the Burton NZ Open scheduled to be completed on this day, the gig is sure to be wall-to-wall with pretty much anyone and everyone involved, and a great conclusion to the event.
The Burton NZ Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a 5Star event on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. Full details and updates will be available via http://www.opensnowboarding.com and the event will be webcast live on http://www.go211.com
PRESS RELEASE:
2010 BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN – READY TO ROLL!
WANAKA, New Zealand (2nd August, 2010)
The southern hemisphere’s premier snowboarding event, the eighth annual Burton New Zealand Open (BNZO), is all set to take place 10-14 August 2010 at Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka. With elite athletes from around the world converging to compete in both Slopestyle and Halfpipe, and a share of the NZ$50,000 prize purse, the action promises to be intense from the outset.
The BNZO kicks off with a day of official training on Tuesday 10th August. Later that night the Open ‘Sessions’ get under way with the official launch party from 9pm at Lonestar Wanaka, featuring tunes from the Peacekeepers. Free tickets will be available through local Burton retailers, but only the first 650 people will be allowed entry.
Competition begins on Weds 11th with the Slopestyle pre-qualifiers and qualifiers. The field will be whittled down to just 10 men and 5 women, who will advance to join invited riders in the semis later in the week. The first Open Sessions after party takes place from 10pm at the Opium Bar that evening, featuring Queenstown music icon Downtown Brown.
Thursday 12th is the Halfpipe pre-qualifiers and qualifiers, again with the top 10 men and 5 women earning the privilege to advance once the dust has settled. The Opium Bar hosts another after party from 10pm, this time featuring DJ Reno.
Things step up a notch on Friday 13th, with the Slopestyle semi-finals and finals. Keep an eye out for invited riders like current TTR tour leader Gjermund Braaten of Norway, and defending women’s champion Jamie Anderson of USA, as well as top Kiwis Stef Zeestraten and Shelly Gotlieb. The 42 men and 21 women in semi-finals will be narrowed down to 8/6 respectively for the finals.
Saturday 14th August is the final day of competition, with the Halfpipe semi-finals and finals. Riders to watch for today include Japanese ripper Kazuhiro Kokubo who placed 3rd last year, and won the US Open earlier this year, as well as defending women’s champ and two-time Olympic medallist Kelly Clark of USA. Once again the field of 42 men and 21 women will be narrowed down to 8 and 6, with the finals kicking off at 1:30pm.
The Burton NZ Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a 5Star event on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. Full details and updates are available via http://www.opensnowboarding.com and the event will be webcast live on http://www.go211.com
SNOWBOARDING ELITE ARRIVE IN WANAKA, NEW ZEALAND
WANAKA, New Zealand (4th August, 2010)
260 athletes are currently converging upon the lakeside resort town of Wanaka, New Zealand, in preparation for what has become the southern hemisphere’s premier snowboarding event – the Burton NZ Open.
Now in it’s eighth year, the BNZO, which runs over 5 days and offers a NZ$50,000 prize purse, consists of both Slopestyle and Halfpipe. All comers can battle it through pre-qualifiers and qualifiers running Weds 11th and Thurs 12th August, for the few available spots to compete alongside the elite riders who are seeded directly to the semi-finals stage. The semi-finals and finals of Slopestyle run on Friday 13th and Halfpipe on Saturday 14th August. Official training for the event starts Tuesday 10th August.
The competition has attracted a multitude of top riders, with the confirmed rider’s list reading like a who’s who of the snowboarding world; Norwegians Tore Holvik, Stale Sandbech, Ulrick Badertscher, current TTR tour leader Gjermund Braaten, and recent US Open Slopestyle champion Mikkel Bang; Canadians Justin Lamoureux, Charles Reid, Mark Sollors and Mark McMorris; Americans Chas Guldemond, Sage Kotsenburg, Matts Kulisek, Jack Mitrani and Louie Vito; Japanese rippers Kazuhiro Kokubo, Ryo Aono, Daisuke Murakami and Kohei Kudo; Seppe Smits (BEL), Christian Haller (SUI), Marco Grilc (SLO), Roope Tonteri (FIN), and top New Zealand riders Stef Zeestraten and Jake Koia.
The women’s field is looking just as impressive with current TTR tour leader and previous World Champion Enni Rukajärvi from Finland, Norwegians Kjersti Buaas and Lin Haug, Swiss rider and recent US Open Slopestyle champion Sina Candrian, Rana Okada and Yuki Furihata of Japan, Americans Elizabeth Beerman, Spencer O’Brien and defending NZ Open Slopestyle champion Jamie Anderson, two-time Olympic medallist and defending NZ Open Halfpipe champ Kelly Clark (also USA), as well as New Zealand’s own powerhouse, Shelly Gotlieb.
“It’s great to see such a large field of riders, with so many strong contenders,” says NZ event manager Reuben Yoeman. “The high level of talent runs deep, which is sure to make an exciting event, for both the Slopestyle and the Halfpipe”.
As in past years, the Burton NZ Open will be webcast live on http://www.go211.com with live scoring, live chat, email the commentators, and real-time ranking among other features. In addition, the NZO will offer a live scoring service, accessible with any mobile phone or web browser. For iPhone users, a native iPhone app is available on the App Store free of charge.
The Burton NZ Open marks the first stop on the prestigious Burton Global Open Series and is also a 5Star event on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour. Full details and updates are available via http://www.opensnowboarding.com
SNOWBOARDING ‘LIVE SCORING SYSTEM’ TO BE INTRODUCED AT THE BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN
Wanaka, New Zealand – August 6th, 2010:
Following the successful launch of the Snowboarding Live Scoring System™ at The Oakley Arctic Challenge Slopestyle last winter, major events on the Swatch TTR World Tour have agreed to work together to expand and implement the system for all Halfpipe, Slopestyle and Big Air competitions for the upcoming 2010/11 season. The Live Scoring System is planned to be introduced across all 6Star TTR events in an effort to break down barriers posed by the current Overall Impression system and to improve the presentation and understanding of competitive freestyle snowboarding as a whole.
In a tight partnership between TTR, the World Snowboard Federation, the events, judges and riders, the Live Scoring System was developed as a completely new way to judge snowboarding. The current system in use, called Overall Impression, focuses on a rider’s run in its entirety and provides little to no feedback to riders or spectators on how a score is generated. The new Live Scoring System is more transparent and allows everyone to clearly see how judges give points by scoring each trick individually in a rider’s run. Each trick score is added up to generate a total trick score that is then combined with a total flow score (how well a rider links all tricks in the run) to make up the final score for a rider’s run.
The Live Scoring system will be used for the first time in both Halfpipe and Slopestyle at the 2010 Burton New Zealand Open. If the system is well received among riders, media and fans, the goal is to integrate the system in all 6Star TTR events throughout the upcoming 2010/11 season. However, based on the overall feedback from riders, spectators and television viewers from the 2010 Arctic Challenge, the general consensus is the system will be a major leap forward for the sport.
Leading the development of this new judging system are experienced head judges Dani Kiwi Meier and Greg Johnson who have both been involved with snowboard judging systems for over 15 years. Meier and Johnson have been working with top riders on the new judging system, especially Torstein Horgmo, Andreas Ygre Wiig and Terje Haakonsen, who have been key players in the overall development. Snowboard VM 2012, a Norwegian organization that will oversee the operation of the 2012 World Snowboarding Championships, has financially backed the development of the Live Scoring System and is also the current owner of the new system. Snowboard VM 2012 plans to make the new judging system available to all interested events within the TTR ranking system.
BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN KICKS OFF WITH SLOPESTYLE
WANAKA, New Zealand (12th August, 2010)
There was plenty of action on day one of competition at the Burton New Zealand Open with Slopestyle pre-qualifiers and qualifiers taking place under perfect blue skies at Cardrona Alpine Resort.
A field of 65 men and 18 women battled it out for just 16 and 5 spots, respectively, to join invited riders in the semi-finals, which will take place on Friday, August 13th. The custom built course was in pristine condition with the first feature offering a choice between a down-flat-down round bar or a round down bar, the second feature was a choice between an up box or a gap to flat box, followed by three jumps measuring in at 45-feet, 55-feet, and 75-feet, then finishing with a quarterpipe to goalpost / hip.
Leading in the men’s competition was Benjamin Farrow (USA) with a second run score of 89.67 points which he earned with a frontside blunt 270 out, tailslide 270 out, switch backside rodeo 540, frontside 720 double grab, backside 720 melon ending with a tail tap on the goal post feature. Jamie Nicholls (GBR) was only a fraction behind with 89.33 points, also on his second run, which started with halfcab-to-50/50, 180-to-switch 50/50 180 out, Cab 900, frontside 720 mute, and backside 1080 late cork. Rounding out the top three was Sam Hulbert (USA) with a score of 87.67 points. Others riding strong and advancing to semi-finals included Robbie Walker (AUS), Arthur Longo (USA), and Adrian Krainer (AUT). James Hamilton finished in 13th and was the only New Zealander to advance.
Women took to the course later in the afternoon with New Zealander Rebecca Torr coming out on top. Her score of 76.33 was earned with a run that consisted of a backside 50/50, 50/50 frontside 180 out, halfcab, backside 360 stalefish, straight air, and a handplant on the final feature. Second place went to Rana Okada (JPN) with 74.17 and Danielle Adams (USA) came in third with 73.67 points. The other two women to make the cut and advance to semi-finals were Megan Whiteside and Ty Walker (both USA) in 4th and 5th respectively.
In addition to the Slopestyle qualifier round, riders were able to practice in the 22-foot halfpipe in preparation for tomorrow’s halfpipe pre-qualifier and qualifier rounds.
TUNE IN: Watch the Burton New Zealand Open on GO211.com
August 13 – 14, 2010
WHAT: Live event webcasts on GO211.com will feature men’s and women’s Slopestyle and Halfpipe semi-finals and finals taking place August 13–14 at Cardrona Alpine Resort, New Zealand. GO211.com will be providing live scoring, live standings, competition rankings and rider bios that allow the viewer to take a more interactive role.
WHO: Kazuhiro Kokubo (JPN), Louie Vito (USA), Chas Guldemond (USA), Jack Mitrani (USA), Charles Reid (CAN), Stef Zeestraten (NZL), Shelly Gotlieb (NZL), Kelly Clark (USA) and Jamie Anderson (USA) are just a few of the top riders planning to compete for a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse.
WHEN: The entire event goes LIVE with webcasts on GO211.com during the following times:
LIVE WEBCASTS: Australia Time Zone
Slopestyle Finals, Friday August 13 - From 7:00 a.m.
Halfpipe Finals, Saturday August 14 - From 7:00 a.m.
Qualies
So the Open officially begun with the Slopestyle Qualifications on Wednesday. For the guys, what was meant to be pre qualies followed by qualifications turned into one massive qualification session due to time with the top 16 going through to join the invited riders in the finals on Friday. The ladies qualifications saw the top 5 going through to the finals. The setup is pretty sweet and good to watch with a massive 75 footer thrown into the mix the sketch out the bravest of men. In good news for the Aussies, Robbie Walker made it through to the finals finishing 4th in the qualies with a 87.17.
Full results for both men and womens qualies are available here:
Mens Qualification Results
Womens Qualification Results
Today saw the Halfpipe Qualifications, with the weather and wind rolling in to make the pipe even more challenging. Most riders seemed to struggle for the most of the day, but a few of the riders mastered the conditions to post some good scores. Taku Hiraoka from Japan, coming out on top with two really impressive runs. Japanese riders seemed to do better with the condition with 5 of the top 10 placings. Conditions worsened for the girls and again the Japanese riders dominated in the testing conditions with some awesome riding.
Mens Qualification Results
Womens Qualification Results
The slopestyle semi’s and finals kick off tomorrow. I will try to keep this updated as much as possible, throughout the day. Failing that, You may also want to follow me on twitter (User: bran_van) or on Facebook (Brandon Neumann) for shorter updates if possible throughout the day.
Rider: Hans Mindnich (USA)
Rider: Mitch Brown (NZL)
Looks like some heavy rain hit Cardies last night. Snow down the base is slushy, luckily it hasn’t frozen solid. Schedule change for today: No semi’s, with the finals to kick of at 12 NZ time. 2 runs each, womens, mens, womens, mens with a 30min maintenance break between runs 1 & 2.
Riders are nearly done with practice. Some small rain falling, not too much, just enough to be annoying. We are 45 minutes away from the finals.
The Slopestyle finals live webcast will start at 9am Syd / Melb time. We have had a slightly delayed start however it’s all about to kick off. Great conditions here with no wind a great visibility.
Tune in here http://www.go211.com/burton/nzo
- Burton Australia
BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN SLOPESTYLE FINALS
WANAKA, New Zealand (13th August, 2010)
The Burton New Zealand Open Slopestyle finals took place today at Cardrona Alpine Resort with Burton rider Christian Haller (SUI) taking first place in the men’s event, and Jamie Anderson (USA) winning the women’s competition. Haller and Anderson both walked away NZ$6,000 richer for their performance on the challenging Slopestyle course which was even more tricky with today’s variable weather conditions.
Due to the snow conditions and morning delays, the competition format was condensed, with all 37 men and 19 women semi-finalists going straight into a single final round, where the riders took two runs, best of which counted for their final score. The low visibility and variable snow didn’t seem to hinder the best riders, with some amazing runs being thrown down regardless. The first feature of the course offered a choice between a down-flat-down round bar or a round down bar, the second feature was a choice between an up box or a gap to flat box, followed by three jumps measuring in at 45-feet, 55-feet, and 75-feet, then finishing with a quarterpipe to goalpost / hip.
Christian Haller put it all together in his second run to score 80.84 points with a backside lipslide on the down-flat-down bar, tailslide on the gap to flat box, switch backside 720, Cab 900, frontside 720 tailgrab. But the margins were tight with current TTR tour leader Gjermund Braaten’s first run score of 80.64 points holding top spot until then. Gjermunds run consisted of a frontside 270 gap over the down-flat-down rail, frontside 270 on the gap to flat box, frontside 540, Cab 720, and double back rodeo 900. Coming in third with 79.00 points was 2010 Burton US Open Slopestyle winner Mikkel Bang. Mikkel’s run started with a gap to switch backside lipslide on the down-flat-down rail, backside lipslide on the gap to flat box, backside 540, Cab 720, switch backside 900.
In the women’s competition, Jamie Anderson (USA) took her third straight New Zealand Open slopestyle title and had this to say about her win, “I can’t believe it, I love the Burton Opens and winning this event three times in a row is amazing, so I’m ecstatic and so stoked to start of the year with a good result.”
Jamie’s winning run earned her a score of 79.20 points and consisted of a boardslide-to-tailpress on the down bar, a frontside 180 out on the up box, switch backside 180 mute, backside 360 mute, and a backside 180 mute. Coming in second place behind Jamie was Burton rider, Shelly Gotlieb (NZL), who held it down on her home turf with a great second run earning her 74.56 points. Rounding out the podium in third place was Kjersti Buuas (NOR) who also had a good run that scored 73.60 points.
The newly developed Snowboard Live Scoring system (SLS) was used today by the judges, which gives scores for each individual hit during a run that is then combined with a flow score to provide a more transparent final score. Viewers of the live webcast on GO211.com were able to see this system in action and watch real-time ranking changes, among other features of the site. The live action at the Burton New Zealand Open culminates tomorrow with highlight event, the halfpipe.
Jamie Anderson
Gjermund Braaten
Christian Haller
BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN HALFPIPE FINALS
WANAKA, New Zealand (14th August, 2010)
The eighth annual Burton New Zealand Open Halfpipe finals took place under blue bird skies today at Cardrona Alpine Resort with Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) taking first place in the men’s event and Kelly Clark (USA) winning the women’s competition. Podladtchikov and Clark both finished the day NZ$6,000 richer for their efforts and set themselves up nicely with solid early season results counting towards the 2010/11 Burton Global Open Series and the Swatch TTR World Rankings.
Although the weather was perfect, warm temperatures meant the competition format had to be shortened, in order to keep Cardrona’s 22-foot Olympic sized halfpipe in top shape. All 38 men and 19 women semi-finalists went straight into a single final round, with the best of two runs counting for their final ranking.
The women were up first, and Kelly Clark threw down the gauntlet on her first run with a giant frontside air, backside 540 mute, frontside 900, method air, frontside 720, and Cab 720 mute for 88.70 points and her 2nd consecutive NZ Open halfpipe title. Kelly was very happy with her win saying, “I had a great day, it’s a great way to start off my season and I was really happy with how I rode today. I walked away doing the tricks I set out to do and had a lot of fun.”
Queralt Castellet (ESP) was the closest challenger with 82.45 points, also on her first run. Queralt’s run started with a backside 540 mute, frontside 540 melon, method air, and frontside 720 to place second. Taking third with 76.84 points was veteran Soko Yamaoka (JPN), who’s run consisted of a McTwist, frontside 720, Cab 720, frontside 540 melon, and backside 540. Kendall Brown was the top New Zealander, finishing in 8th place.
14 year-old Taku Hiraoka (JPN), who dominated the pre-qualifiers and qualifiers, continued to amaze with his first run score of 89.35 points setting the benchmark. Hiraoka’s run was a backside 540, frontside inverted 720, Cab 1080, and massive frontside 900 tailgrab. This Cinderella story proved that it’s possible to ride all the way from the pre-qualifier round through to the podium and second place. But taking the win was Iouri Podladtchikov (SUI) who let out all stops on his second run with a huge crippler, double McTwist 1260, frontside 1080 tailgrab, and Cab 720 for an impressive 93.70 points. Louie Vito (USA) also had a strong second run to jump up into third place with 88.04 points. Louie’s run started with a frontside 1080 double-cork, Cab 1080 double-cork, double crippler, backside 900, and frontside corked 900.
I-Pod
Kelly Clark