"Due to the tight schedule and the demanding snow park, we demanded a great deal of the riders - but in the end, everyone was stoked", Bernd Gutwenger from organizers Mellow Constructions reported. "As we had at least one good-weather day and a high level at every tour stop and at the finals, it was the best Snowpark Tour ever!"
After the bad weather conditions at the qualifications on Friday, the sun shone the whole day at the Kitzsteinhorn. As new snowfalls were predicted for Sunday, the organizers decided to hold the complete finals on Saturday. At a four-hour jam session, the riders had the opportunity to show their skills on nearly every obstacle of the varied DC Central Park. First, they entered a line with a straight box, a huge A-frame box, a jib tree, an elephant down rail and several kickers before they changed to the kicker line including an A-frame and a flat down box, a step down kicker with three take-offs, two more big kickers and a wallride. Lots of possibilities to show creativity! The judges looked for the overall impression including style, creativity and execution of the tricks.
Last year's champion Patrik Huber from Warth was crowned the "most impressive rider" again - the 24-year-old's flip and switch flip variations were unbeatable. "Especially his easy style was very convincing", Bernd Gutwenger said. "If Patrik is riding everything looks really easy." Patrik Huber won a wild card for the TTR event Nanshan Open 2009 in China. "It's very attractive to go to China", the Austrian was thrilled. "For sure I wanted to try to defend my title", he stated as the reason why he took part in the Snowpark Tour again. "I'm stoked I won again. It was a fine park, nice weather - perfect conditions!" 22-year-old Swiss Matthias Vogt came in second and showed the best trick of the day, a backside 720 Japan. Thomas Coldabella from Stans (SUI) took third.
At the team battle, the Swiss team from Gran Masta Park Adelboden secured a tight victory over last year's champions from Lech (AUT). The riders from Real Park Flumserberg (SUI) came in third. At the female snowboarders', the Swiss took a triple victory: Elena Könz from Vna was first in front of last year's champion Anais Cettou from Mortiers and Nora Hodel from Gunten. Elena Könz now has the opportunity to show her skills at the 6-star TTR event Roxy Chicken Jam 2008. "This victory means a lot to me", Elena said. "Last year I was second and it was my goal to win now though I didn't really expect it. Now I'm really happy for sure!"
The prize-giving took place at the party at the castle Kaprun in the evening. Here, snowboard double world champion Mathieu Crépel bestowed the non-cash prizes by Rossignol, Quiksilver and Roxy to the winners. "It was a good park and I saw great riding - you could see that the riders really had fun", the French said. "The jam session format is perfect to show your best riding, especially for riders who have not yet done so many contests. I was surprised to see such good riding and such a good park. The event was bigger than I expected!"
For more information please see www.snowparktour.com
Results Snowpark Tour 2008
Snowboard - Boys
1 Patrik Huber 24 Warth (AUT)
2 Matthias Vogt 22 Freiburg (SUI)
3 Thomas Coldebella 21 Stans (SUI)
4 Killian Wiget 23 Rickenbach (SUI)
5 Clemens Jezler 19 Bern (SUI)
Snowboard - Girls
1 Elena Könz 20 Vna (SUI)
2 Anais Cettou 22 Motiers (SUI)
3 Nora Hodel 24 Gunten (SUI)
Organisation: Mellow Constructions Innsbruck, Thomas Marsh, [email protected]
Sponsors: Quiksilver, Roxy, Rossignol