Burton New Zealand Open 2007

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COUNTDOWN TO BURTON NZ OPEN 2007

LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (August 2, 2007) – With under a week to go until the fifth annual Burton New Zealand Open kicks into action at Snow Park NZ on August 7, here’s what sets New Zealand’s largest winter sports event apart from the rest:

International People
Over 230 competitors from 16 countries: Australia (7), Austria (1), Belgium (3), Canada (21), Finland (6), France (8), Great Britain (5), Germany (10), Japan (44), Norway (4), New Zealand (31), Poland (6), Russia (1), Spain (1), Sweden (2), Switzerland (22), USA (63). The youngest competitor is 11-year-old Taylor Watling from Canada.

International Circuit
The Burton New Zealand Open is the first event of the Burton Global Open Series which features competitions in Australia, Japan, Europe, Canada and the USA. The event is also part of the international Ticket to Ride Series (TTR).

Big Names
The field includes: World Superpipe Champions (3), Olympic gold medalists (1), TTR leaders (1), X Games Champions (7), World Cup leader (1).

Big Prize Money
Competitors are competing for a share of the NZ$50,000 prize pool plus a chance to compete for US$100,000 as overall Burton Global Open Series winner, last year won by Torah Bright (AUS) and Shaun White (USA).

Massive Pipe
Snow Park NZ’s superpipe is the Southern Hemisphere’s only Olympic and X Games Standard Halfpipe. It has taken 10 days to shape for the event, uses 70,000 cubic metres of snow and 2.5 weeks of snowmaking. The pipe is 5.5m deep, 160m long and 18.2m wide with a 17 degree pitch. The quarterpipe is equally monstrous at a massive 10.3m tall and 24.3m wide.