rus / eng

 

Releases

Freeride World Tour 2008

The planet’s best male and female freeride skiers and snowboarders are invited to finally contest in a Freeride World Tour. The tour is made up of five events and boasting the biggest prize money — $300,000 — ever in the history of this sport. Every single one of the invited riders has accepted the invitation promising a world class first edition. The total elite of the sport will put on a great show from North America to Russia and finally the Alps.



The growing popularity of freeriding along with the development of professional athletes has initiated the first edition of the Freeride World Tour. “The idea of putting together a world tour is 10 years old. Thanks to our main partners Nissan,
O’Neill and Swatch, as well as our resort partners and industry partners, seeing it happening 10 years later is a great feeling. The sport is ready,” said organiser Nicolas Hale-Woods, also initiator and organiser of the prestigious freeride contest Verbier Xtreme.
The two first contests are new events that have been added to complete the tour with three already existing events. The tour stops in Western and Eastern Europe as well as on the American continent with:


• Nissan Mammoth Challenge, in
California, USA, 22 - 26 January
• Nissan Russian Adventure in the
Caucasus Mountains, Sochi,
Russia, 31 January — 5 February
• Swatch O'Neill Big Mountain Pro,
a mobile event in the Alps, 24
February — 2 March
• Nissan Freeride de Tignes in
France, 9 - 12 March
• Nissan O'Neill Xtreme Verbier in
Switzerland, 14 - 23 March

After the final event, the four Freeride World Champions (ski/snowboard/men/women) will be crowned. Up to now, the joint participation of skiers and snowboarders already existed in individual contests but their reunion in a world tour is a new idea. Every rider — on one or on two boards — has a different way of reading and interpreting the possible lines on a slope, but they all share a common approach and the same mountain spirit.

Organiser Nicolas Hale-Woods comments:
“The feedback on the new born Freeride World Tour we have among the riders, industry and media communities is fantastic and beyond our expectations. We are very excited to launch this global tour, visiting some of the most prestigious resorts in the world. Offering the best conditions to the riders is, and will remain our first objective. The success of the Freeride World Tour will then naturally flow.”

For riders not selected to the Freeride World Tour there is another opportunity to fight for the top through three contests of the Freeride World Qualifying Series (FWQS) and two open prequalification contests. Unknown top-level riders will thereby have the chance to challenge the world’s best freeriders in the quest for the World Champion title.