Australia Open - Day 1 (01-Sep-08)

The second stop of the Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) officially got underway today at Perisher Blue in Australia, where men’s and women’s slopestyle and halfpipe competitions will run over the next four days.

Registered riders include Olympic medalists Hannah Teter and JJ Thomas; Aussies like Jye Kearney, Scottie James, Erin Tanner, Clint Allan and Robbie Walker; Burton riders and FRENDS crew Mason Aguirre, Danny Davis, Kevin Pearce, Keir Dillon, Luke and Jack Mitrani; and practically the entire DC AM team including Ryan Tiene, Andrew Geeves, Kimmy Fasani, Raewyn Reid, Lonnie Kauk, Torstein Horgmo and Chas Guldemond, who will all vie for a piece of the $50,000 AUD prize purse.

Although today marked the first day of spring in Australia, riders were greeted by freezing temperatures when they rocked up to register this morning. Pipe quals kick off tomorrow morning when the men drop in at 9:15am. The newly groomed slopestyle course will be open tomorrow for training, where competition begins on Wednesday morning.