Last Chance to Register to Compete at the 2009 Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships

Riders, don’t miss your last chance to register for the New Zealand Open, taking place from August 11-15, 2009 at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Cardrona Alpine Resort is the home to the only 22’ superpipe in New Zealand, which is the same size halfpipe that will be featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Olympic hopefuls can use this opportunity to fine-tune their runs for Vancouver.

The first stop on the 2009/2010 Burton Global Open Series and a Swatch TTR 5Star event, the New Zealand Open will include slopestyle and halfpipe competitions, offering riders the chance to earn a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse and gain valuable points towards Burton Global Open Series championship titles and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Tour championship titles.

Here’s how to register to compete:

Head to www.opensnowboarding.com, go to the New Zealand Open homepage and click on ‘Info’ and then ‘Halfpipe and Slopestyle Lottery Registration’ and follow directions in order to register online.

ALL riders that wish to compete at the New Zealand Open must register online for men’s and women’s halfpipe and slopestyle competitions. Registration will be open until July 3rd, 2009 5:00 PM (NZ Time).

If more registrations per format are received than the number of pre-qualification spots available, riders will be selected from the registration wait list based on their BGOS standings/results and their TTR standings/results, with priority given to the riders with the best standings/results.

You will be notified via email (and only email) on or before July 3, 2009 if your registration has been successful and that your entry for the New Zealand Open Halfpipe and/or Slopestyle Pre-Qualifiers is confirmed. At that time, your credit card will be charged immediately for the applicable registration fee.

If you are not selected from the registration wait list, you will be notified as well via email and your name will remain on the registration wait list. In case we receive cancellations from the selected riders, you will be notified immediately.

With events scheduled year-round and in five countries, the Burton Global Open Series boasts the most lucrative cumulative prize purse in snowboarding – over $900,000 – with equal prize money to men and women. All five Burton Global Open Series events offer riders the chance to earn points towards a male and female championship title.

The Burton Global Open Series is also part of the SWATCH Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world.
For more information on the Burton Global Open Series head to www.opensnowboarding.com

For more information on TTR, visit www.ttrworldtour.

If you can’t make it to New Zealand, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

About the Burton Global Open Series

The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in New Zealand, Europe, Canada, Japan and the United States, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com.

About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour

Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility, innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most respected snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest (1000 Swatch TTR points). Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the Swatch TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider is crowned Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.

About GO211.com

GO211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans. GO211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes. The current GO211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.

About Cardrona Alpine Resort

CARDRONA is located in the Crown Range between Queenstown (57kms/60mins) and Wanaka (34kms/35mins) in the South Island of New Zealand. With consistently good weather and reliable snow conditions Cardrona offers superb terrain suited to all ability levels. Cardrona is renowned for its wide open, undulating terrain that is perfect for beginners and intermediates, whilst the Arcadia and Tulips chutes offer extra challenge for more advanced riders. Cardrona is home to New Zealand’s premier terrain parks, with up to four half pipes, a gravity cross and a range of beginner freestyle features. For more information, visit www.cardrona.com