Snow Park NZ Showcase Top Junior Snowboard Talent

Snow Park NZ’s Junior Slopestyle was a huge success today with sun beaming and picture perfect conditions for the Rossignol snowboard competition.

Junior snowboarders from far and wide made the trip to Snow Park NZ to compete on the creatively built slopestyle course, designed especially for junior riders.

“I had an epic day and the park crew brought together a world class set up,” said Local Wanaka Snowboarder Tim Herbert, 14, who took control of the Junior Boys Division stomping two strong runs and earning a high score of 24.1 from a possible 30.

Rowan Thompson. Credit bel Jones

Top of course. Photo credit Bel Jones

Junior Boys Division. Photo Niki Peters

Christchurch talent, Carlos Garcia-Knight, 13, was top placing in the Boys Youth Division, while young French rider Noe Larochaix, 10, was top placing in the Boys Grommet Division.

Boys Youth Division. Credit Bel Jones

Groms Division. Credit Niki Peters

“It was a pretty sweet day all round because of the awesome weather,” said Garcia-Knight. “The course was great. The first jump was perfect for doing my front three tails.”

Zoi Synnott, 10, from Wanaka, took the top spot in the Girl’s Youth Division, while Thalie Larochaix, 11, from France, and Kristal Roberts, 13, from Cromwell placed second and third respectively.

“My favorite feature of the day was the big side of the second jump,” said Synnott.

Girls Youth Division. Credit Niki Peters

“Conditions were mint, we couldn’t have asked for a better day,” said Head Judge Mel Simmons. “It’s a really great event because we were able to reward all age groups for their participation and progression.

Along with the division winners, riders with top results in their age group were also acknowledged.

Zak John Baikie, 8, hailing from Twizel, was the youngest competitor taking out the best in his age category.

“Seeing Zak with the biggest smile in town and Carlos getting all inverted were the highlights of my day,”  said Chief of Comp, Josh Clarke.

FULL RESULTS

Tomorrow will see the Armada Slopestyle competition, featuring New Zealand’s top young freeskiers.

The Snow Park Junior Slopestyle is part of the NZ National Points Tour (www.snowsports.co.nz) giving every rider the opportunity to score points towards becoming overall National Junior Champion. The event is also is also the first stop on the new Armada Ski’s ‘Rat Bag Tour’ (www.armadanz.com).

This entry was posted on Thursday, July 21st, 2011 at 4:56 pm and is filed under Event News, Homepage Features, Latest News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.