WORLD'S TOP SNOWBOARDERS TO COMPETE IN BURTON NZ OPEN
An all-star line up featuring the world's top snowboarders has been announced for this year's Burton New Zealand Open at Cardrona Alpine Resort and the Snow Park in Wanaka.Over the last three years the Burton New Zealand Open has come to represent the pinnacle of snowboarding in New Zealand. However, never before has such a high calibre of athletes been present at any New Zealand event as at this year's Open.
Fourteen of the Burton International team are scheduled to compete including current world superpipe champion, Keir Dillon, Olympic gold medallist Ross Powers and current women's world champion and Olympic gold medallist Kelly Clark, all from the USA. There's also a possibility the world's leading slopestyle rider, America's Shaun White will compete.
New Zealand's own top riders, such as current national champions Mitch Brown and Juliane Bray, will join the sport's elite for a share of the $50,000 prize pool and an opportunity to compete in a world-class competition on home turf.
Cardona Alpine Resort will host both the Slopestyle and Super Pipe events while Snow Park NZ will host the evening Quarter Pipe invitational. Three days of fun and festivities will encapsulate the essence of snowboarding and will transform the Cardrona Valley into a high energy, action packed, snowboarding mecca from 11-13 August.
'This is going to be THE snowboarding event of the winter,' said Guy Alty of Burton. 'To have all these pro-riders here in New Zealand is an amazing opportunity. It gives our own riders a chance to step up to the mark with the world's best and gives the viewing public a chance to see just how good this sport can be. In previous years, thousands of spectators have lined Cardrona's half pipe looking for a slice of the action and this year, with a line up like this, is going to be huge!'
