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Today 63 of the worlds best skiers and snowboarders gathered deep in the Mt Aspiring National Park for the Chinese Downhill event. This years chosen site was the spectacular 7,000 plus foot Mt Brewster, a steep and radical peak running into a crevice littered glacier that had only ever been accessed by a lucky handful of locals until today due to it being deep in the backcountry of a National Park.

Chinese Downhill is competition in its purest form, testing the limits of courage and ability as competitors race at lightening fast speed down steep undulating terrain in a 'no rules, first to the bottom wins' format. It was unanimously agreed that today's races were the most challenging in the event's five year history, with both skiers and snowboarders reaching speeds of up to 110 kph down the 1.5 km virgin slope.

As Event Director Tony Harrington put it.
"This place is a jewel, I've been waiting five years to bring the event to this amazingly beautiful place and today the dream came true. New Zealand's mountains at their finest".
The reaction of the competitors to the one and a half kilometer course run on variable wind affected powder snow ranged from awe, to praise, to out-right fear. A sharp drop-away half way down the course which the competitors hit at top speed caused a number of big falls, but no major injuries were incurred. Reigning snowboarding champion and current Queen of The Hill champ Karleen Jeffery (CAN) summed it up best: "This here was probably the most gnarly Chinese Downhill run in the world. It was awesome, the most terrifyingly fun course I've ridden. It was so fast, you actually had to try to keep some sort of a check on your speed, and the drop-away in the middle of the course was gnarly."

Head judge Cisco Oldlani was glowing in his praise of the athletes, recognising that at least limbs if not life were on the line. "The riders and skiers would have been hitting 110 kph - that's as fast as you'd drive down the road in your car."
Jeffery conquered the challenging terrain to claim another victory in the women's snowboarding, using her considerable skills and outright bravery honed in the mountains of Alaska to triumph over local New Zealand girl Julianne Bray. World number two ranked boardercross racer Marguerite Cossettini (AUS) landed third position, acknowledging a little luck needed in negotiating a few out of control competitors and adding: "That's why they usually have this day of competition last, it's a full contact sport."

Nineteen year old Alaskan snowboarder Ashley Call drew on the courage of youth to bust open an elite international men's field displaying an all out attack style, an amazing achievement.
"This event is screwball, totally wild, there were people flying all over the place. The key for me was not turning. There ain't no strategy, just point it down the hill and go fast!" he said.

Extreme snowboarding legend Matt Goodwill (USA) came in a very close second with Australian rider Tim Vlandis third. Snowboard speed specialist, Rip Curl's Jayson Onley from Australia, led the world class field for over half the steep course before a spectacular high speed crash ended his hopes of back to back victories in the Chinese Downhill.
"There was no way I was going to turn," said Onley. "I guess I put it all on the line and went straight down the hill, but I unexpectedly took huge air, and landing at that speed was near impossible. I just exploded".

Rip Curl's event manager Paul Lacy commented:
"Today's event was incredible. To be in such a beautiful and remote alpine location and witness the worlds best freeriders going ballistic was an incredible experience. And everyone had so much fun. It was full adrenalin but everyone had grins from ear to ear. These competitors are a very special breed of people. Incredibly talented and so free in their approach to life in general".

Stay tuned as the event continues: