All 5 (Five) Star Events Confirmed
With less than a month before the Northern Hemisphere leg of the 2005/2006 TTR World Snowboard Tour kicks off, the anticipation of its new 'Star' tiering system, and its allocation to more than twenty applying bodies, has undergone weeks of assessment by the Board of the TTR Society. And, with a majority vote towards a powerful two year strategy, initiated by TTR CEO Drew Stevenson, a decision to allocate one 6 (Six) Star event per continent for the 2005/2006 year has been confirmed.
The three continents selected are:
1. Europe
2. Asia
3. North America
The three respective 6 (Six) Star events selected will be:
1. Nokia Air & Style Games (Olympic Stadium, Munich. Germany).3 Dec 05
2. Nissan X-Trail Jam (Tokyo Dome, Tokyo. Japan). 10 -11 Dec, 05.
3. Burton US Open (Stratton, Vermont. USA). 14 - 19 March, 06.
With the 6 (Six) Star events offering the premium points for a win on the new TTR 1-6 Star [event] seeded tour, it will be the first Northern Hemisphere event, the Nokia Air & Style Games that will launch the tour championships race. Followed one week later, in Japan by its 75,000 spectator strong Nissan X-Trail Jam and ending the 6 (Six) Star events of the Northern Hemisphere season at the US Open Snowboarding Championships. Being the longest running event on tour and one of the most respected 'Titles' in snowboarding history, the US Open Snowboard Championships mid March kick off date will ensure that the focus on Professional Freestyle Snowboarding will continue long after the Olympics have passed!
Top rankings in any one of the following 5 (Five) Star events will be mandatory for competitors to achieve solid end of season TT World Snowboard Tour result portfolios. The 5 (Five) Star's are compiled out of the following highly profiled events accredited to date:
1. O'Neill Pro Freestyle (Davos,Switzerland) 28 - 1 Jan. 06
2. Honda Session at Vail (Vail, USA) 12 - 15 Jan 06
3. Burton European Open (Laax, Switzerland) 14 - 22 Jan 06
4. Nescafe Open Champs Leysin (Leysin, Switzerland) 2 - 5 Feb 06
5. The Arctic Challenge (Oslo, Norway) 3 - 5 Mar 06* (*T.B.C)
Riders competing successfully in either a 5 (five) or 6 (six) Star TTR World Snowboard Tour event this season, gaining significant end of season rankings, will be automatically qualified for 2006/2007 TTR [5 and 6 Star] Events. And the race for points will be worth it as 2006 is looking promising! It can already be said that not only will the 2006/2007 TTR World Snowboard Tour enlarge its 6 (Six) Star Event count, it will also ensure that per continent there will be both Slopestyle, Stadium Slopestyle, Big Air and Halfpipe formats available for contention.
With the 2005/2006 TTR World Snowboard Tour having already kicked off down under in Australia at the 4 (Four) Star TTR event 'Oakley Stylewars' last September, spot-lights have shone on early tour leaders from Australia (Cheyne Southwell), Sweden (Jakob Wilhelmson) and New Zealand (Jacob Koia). Yet a migration to the Northern hemisphere, after the TTR 3 (Three) Star event 'The Rip Curl Throwdown' was cancelled due to lack of Snow in New Zealand, will bring new challenges, more competition and added pressure to the current leaders to hold their early season points advantage.
Accumulated unique values of stars, sponsors, thousands of fans, millions of spectators worldwide, more than a million dollars in prize money and one hell of a show makes the 'Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour' events the only place you can witness the 'Worlds Best Freestyle Snowboard Action.'
As the 'TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion' and 'TTR World Number One' titles are now becoming reality, and the race to claim them will finish shortly after the 2006 Olympics. We wish everyone involved good health and great success in the months to come.