2009 Burton New Zealand Snowboarding Championships (30-Jul-09)

Cardrona, New Zealand, July 30, 2009 - The Burton New Zealand Open

The Burton New Zealand Open, New Zealand’s premier snowboarding competition, will take place from August 11-15, 2009 at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Cardrona Alpine Resort is the home to the only 22’ halfpipe in New Zealand, which is the same size pipe that will be featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Don’t miss your chance to see past Olympians like Kelly Clark (USA), Antti Autti (FIN), Mason Aguirre (USA), Cheryl Maas (NED) and Danny Kass (USA) and Olympic hopefuls like Ellery Hollingsworth (USA), Justin Lamoureux (CAN), Ryo Aono (JPN) and Louie Vito (USA) fine-tuning their runs for Vancouver.

Competition will get underway on Wednesday, August 12 with men’s slopestyle prequalification and qualification rounds, followed by the women’s slopestyle qualifications. That night, be sure to catch the world premiere of Burton’s new and highly anticipated movie, “The B,” which showcases the riding of Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Nicolas Müller, Frederik Kalbermatten, Keegan Valaika and Shaun White, with appearances by Danny Davis, Terje Haakonsen, Mason Aguirre, Kevin Pearce, Mads Jonsson, Natasza Zurek, Mikey Rencz, Luke Mitrani, Jack Mitrani, Mark Sollars, Charles Reid, Gabi Viteri, Spencer O’Brien, Mikkel Bang, Sani Alibabic, Marko Grilc, Peetu Piiroinen, Kim Rune Hansen, Stephan Maurer, Chris Sörman, Kazu Kokubo and Kyle Mack. This major motion picture features something bigger, and more iconic, something so over the top that the movie had to bear its name. Mark your calendars because “The B” is a must see. After the movie, stay and get autographs from some of the stars of the film and other big name riders on the scene.

Thursday, August 13 will see men’s halfpipe prequalification and qualification rounds, followed by women’s halfpipe qualifications. The Gravis Open Sessions will kick off that night with music from Black Sun Empire (NL), State of Mind and Truth at the Lake Wanaka Center.

All eyes will be on the slopestyle course on Friday for men’s and women’s slopestyle semifinals and finals, when 2009 BGOS Champions Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson take to the slopes alongside riders like local Kiwi slopestyle stars Nick Hyne and Shelly Gotlieb. Later that night, Casio Exilim will present 'Through the Eyes of Anon,' a snowboarding photographic journey featuring large canvas works and historical slideshows. Located at the Lake Wanaka Center, this extensive collection of international and NZ snowboard photography will document the sport over the years. This exclusive red carpet affair is not to be missed, although you must be 18 or older to enter.

Men’s and women’s halfpipe semifinal and final competitions will go down on Saturday, August 15. Spectators can watch local legends like Mitch Brown, James Hamilton, Ben Stewart and Kendall Brown competing for a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse. Tiki Live with support from DJ Reno, the final act of the Gravis Sessions, will wrap up the weeks’ festivities at the Lake Wanaka Center that evening.

Burton would like to thank Cardrona Alpine Resort, Go211.com, Speight’s Summit Golden Lager, Juice TV, The Edge FM, Anon Optics, High Cascade Snowboard Camp, Nature Valley, goodbars.co.nz, Joe’s Garage, SolRX, McKenna, Smirnoff Ice Double Black and Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour for their support of the New Zealand Open.