The 6-Star Burton European Open will be kicking off in Laax, Switzerland from 9th – 16th January, and it’s set to play a pivotal role in the tightly contested Swatch TTR Title battles. Previous TTR World Champs and uprising stars will be giving everything in the hope of locking down some of the TTR ranking points on offer – and, of course, to snag a share of the whopping $125,000 event prize purse. The top male and female shredders will be coming together for this 6-Star competition that will consist of both Slopestyle and Halfpipe formats.
Snowboarding’s female cream of the crop will be in attendance, including Swatch TTR World No.1 Jamie Anderson (USA) who will be the one to beat as she looks to defend her tour lead. Beside her, two-time BEO halfpipe winner and current World No.10 in the TTR rankings, Kelly Clark (USA), will be trying to earn her third BEO HP victory to keep moving up the rankings. She started her season off strong with a third place finish at the 5Star New Zealand Open and definitely has the skills to take out the contest.
Not convinced you should pop along..? Here are just a few of the countless reasons to go to the BEO’s big birthday bash…2 is the number of new Volvo XC60 cars that will be given out at the BEO – one car each for the best female and male overall rider at the event.
4 is the number of albums The Streets have released so far. Their latest album “Everything is borrowed” will be presented live in concert in Riders Palace on Jan. 16th.
4 is also the number of days Go211 will produce live webcasts from the BEO, from Jan. 13th-16th on www.Go211.com.
6 Burton Global Open Snowboarding Championships currently take place around the world – one in Switzerland, one in Japan, one in the United States, one in New Zealand, one in Australia and one in Canada.
10 is the number of years the BEO has been around. 10 is also a decade, 10 is the basis of the metric system, 10 is the number of official inkblots in the Rorschach test and 10 is the atomic number for neon. There will be plenty of neon (lights) at the BEO birthday parties.
13 is Burton’s lucky number as well as the amount of media partners for the BEO 09.
15 is the number of riders who have claimed more than one BEO title – in the lead is Natasza Zurek/CAN with four BEO titles during the last 10 years.
26 countries will be represented at this year’s BEO – three more than last year.
51 is the number of riders who signed up online for the BEO Junior events.
62 is the age of the oldest competitor at the BEO 09 – Dick Schulze from the US (born Feb. 8th, 1946).
140 meters is the length of the LAAX Superpipe, which features six-meter high walls.
377 riders signed up for the open men’s and women’s Halfpipe and Slopestyle events – 102 female riders and 275 male riders.
1000 is the number of beds that LAAX’s new hotel, rocksresort, will offer once it’s complete in 2010. Approximately 50 apartments are ready for this season and also for the BEO.
3687 riders are currently listed on the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Ranking.
75,000 cubic meters of snow are used to create the well-known superpipe (15.000 m³) and slopestyle course (60.000 m³) on Crap Sogn Gion.
$100,000 is the amount of money both the male and female Burton Global Open Series champions will take home after the US Open. Jamie Anderson and Luke Mitrani are currently in the lead for the BGOS Championship title and trying to keep it at the BEO.
$125,000 is the total amount of money awarded to winning riders at the BEO, which offers equal prize money to men and women
387,000 is the number of search results if you Google the Burton European Open.
For more information on the Burton European Open, head to opensnowboarding.com
