March 23, 2008 - Hundreds of spectators turned out under bright blue skies, lining the course for the 26th annual U.S. Open Snowboarding Championships held over the weekend at Stratton Mountain.
Australian Torah Bright took top honors in the women’s division with an 84.17 score, besting three-time champion Kelly Clark, of West Dover, who finished with 79.33, after a fall on one run. Gretchen Blier, of Aspen, Colo., finished third.
Bright also won the six-event Global Open Series, which culminated with the U.S. Open.
On Saturday, contestants were judged on the best of three runs, for difficulty, technical achievement, height and landing.
Kjersti Oestgarad Buaas, of Norway, won in the women’s division of slopestyle, followed by Jamie Anderson and Jenny Jones.
Vendors doled out sunscreen and vitamin and energy drink samples and manufacturer Burton Snowboards — in keeping with the medieval theme of “the Most Righteous Snowboarding Battle of the Ages” — gave out foam swords, plastic horns and “My sword is bigger than yours” stickers.
In between events, spectators got a chance to “joust” — pummel each other in foam and nylon knights’ suits, trying to knock off the other’s Velcro-fastened heads. Needless to say, a good time was had by all.
Loading ...
Leave a Reply
You must be logged in to post a comment.