4:30pm N.Z.
Today was the third event of the Nationals for 1997 up at Cardrona. The Northwave Half Pipe was the first national event to be held in Cardronas monster pipe, and the first N.Z event to be judged using a full F.I.S format. The weather was high cloud with intermittent warm sunny breaks. The pipe was in perfect condition and held up extremely well to a long day of riding. Many competitors said they loved the pipe although it was tricky one to ride.

The Format:
All competitors got 1 run in the morning. From this the top 8 men and top 4 women/juniors advanced directly to the final. Then those ranked 9-32 got one more run from which 8 more advance to the final. This ended up with a final of 16 men and 8 women. The final was 2 runs with both runs combined.
The standard of riding was exceptionally high and made for some tough judging calls. Unfortunately in the women s section the standard of Japanese riders pushed all Kiwis out of the final, the best Kiwis Heidi Godfrey and Juliane Bray shared 11 place.
The mens section saw some awesome runs and very tight scores making judging very difficult. Kentaro Watanabe of Japan was in great form to take first place followed by Queenstown rider Dylan Butt and Lee Rowlands. Reigning champion Olly Brunton with two consistant runs ended up 4th.