Park City's Intelligent Design Contest |
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Posted on March 08 2009 at 02:24pm by heatherh01
Words: Heather Hendricks / Photos: Justin Olsen and Heather Hendricks On Saturday March 7, Park City Mountain Resort held the initial Intelligent Design Contest that was a 5 star TTR event. The premise of this comp was to create the most progressive course possible by integrating a slope style course, a super pipe and a quarter pipe in one run. The futuristic approach to the comp, coupled with a prize purse of 50G's lured snowboarding's finest to compete this weekend in the notorious city of parks. The layout of the course had some of the athletes joking that there should have been a boarder-cross section in the run because the course literally had features from every other contest format. The first hit was a 70 ft booter that led into a step-up and over jump. Alex S, a member of the park crew for Park City, said that this feature ranged from 50-80 feet depending on where the riders launched. Catty-corner to this landing, two rail features were set up side-by-side. Athletes could choose between a mellow down rail or a banked C box, each leading into the pristine 22ft super pipe. To top it all off, Park City built a behemoth of a quarter pipe at the base of the pipe which allowed riders to boost into oblivion one last time. Park City’s idea for the Intelligent Design was based off having the most progressive comp possible, and with a course like this, they definitely accomplished their goal.
Saturday started off precisely at 9am with practice for the athletes. Eighteen riders were in attendance and all were hungry for some dough of the $50,000 prize purse. The consensus among the riders was that they were stoked to be competing in this creative event and were excited for the course as it allowed them to showcase the versatility within their riding. Madison Ellsworth from Breckenridge, Colorado said, “I like this set-up because it really shows who can ride everything, vs. the guys that just ride pipe or rails.” All athletes seemed quite comfortable with the variations in the course, which led to a royal battle to the top. Qualifiers started as the sun illuminated the entire course. 17 dudes duked it out for the top 9 spots. Sebastian Toutant out of Montreal, Canada grabbed the first place qualifier spot with a run that was near perfect. The competition proved fierce and after two runs, the judges announced the controversial top 9. Missing from that roster was Jack Mitrani who had been stomping through the course all day, and many riders commented that they thought Jack got “jacked.” After a quick course cleanup, and lunch for the riders, it was time for the finals. By this point, the crowd on the side of the pipe had grown to a reasonable size, and fans were beginning to cheer/scream for their favorite riders.
Pre-qualified Shaun White dominated the course proving his adaptability to any terrain. His winning run had more rotations than a tilt-a-whirl as “The Machine” set off a front side 10 on the big air booter, a lofty backside 720 on the step-up-over, and a slick front side 270 on the rail. In the pipe, spectators got to see White send a backside 900, a front side 720, and switch front side 1080. Feeling the need to get a little inverted, White threw down a backside rodeo on quarter pipe. Judges just couldn’t deny the technicalities of this run and awarded White a 95.8.
Charles Reid, who qualified in the 8th spot came out with some of the most stylish bangers of the day, earning him a well respected 90.0 and second place. Reid, who hales from the great land to our North, started his winning run with a boostie front side 10 that was smoother than a fresh wax. Hauling into the second hit, Reid went to his bag of tricks and came out with a back side rodeo. Landing deep, he scrubbed some speed and headed into the rail feature, creasing a front side 270. In the pipe, Chaz sent a huge backside air, followed by a front side 9 and an alley-oop. On the last hit, Reid looked comfortable and collected as he crushed a huge backside rodeo on the q.p. This kid straight up killed it and deserved every penny of the 1,00,000 pennies that he won.
Luke Mitrani rounded out the top three for the men with a score of 82.25 on his last run. Luke was pretty inconsistent throughout his three laps, as he scored significantly lower on his previous two runs. Feeling the pressure and wanting to go home with some coin, Luke had his older brother film him on his last run. This must have been just the ticket as Luke’s confidence on the course was evident. As the Mitrani brothers made their way through the myriad of features, Luke sent a front side 7 on the first jump, to a backside 5 on the second jump, and a sealed the top of the course with a cab 270 lip slide on the rail. Looking like he was having the time of his life, Luke turned into the pipe boosting a Haakon Flip to front side 7, to the banger of the day- a switch double back flip. Cruising into the q.p. with a smile from ear to ear, Luke grabbed Japan and called it a day.
As the rest of finals continued, it was clear that White had the win and so he dropped into his third run already victorious. This allowed him to get playful on all of the features. Shortly after, the podiums were held and a media and fan frenzy ensued. Park City's Intelligent Design was a successful competition that highlighted the the progression of snowboarding by creating a format that truly showcased the versatility of riders. Much thanks to Park City Mountain Resort for hosting this event and being so accommodating. Also, big ups to The Park City Peaks Hotel, this place is awesome, definitely check it out next time you are in PC. Now check out the action and get a feel for the day!
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