Burton New Zealand Open - Halfpipe

The 9th Annual Burton New Zealand Open wrapped up on Saturday with Ryo Aono and Kelly Clark winning the halfpipe competition for the men and women respectively. Aono won the event with a last-minute upset over event favorite Louie Vito who held the top spot going into Aono's final run. Aono's winning running included a massive frontside 1080, Cab 1080, frontside 900, backside 900, and a frontside 1080 double cork. Vito tried to answer with back-to-back-to-back double corks in his final run but fell short.

As for the women, American Kelly Clark continued her halfpipe domination. With her win in the halfpipe at the BNZO her streak was now extended to ten in a row. Clark's winning run included a frontside 720, Cab 720, backside 540, and a frontside cork 900.

Aono and Clark each pick up $7,500 and 850 TTR World Tour event points for their wins and each now hold the top spot in their respective TTR Halfpipe World Tour ranking and the Burton Global Open Series which continue in Switzerland, January 7-14.

Burton New Zealand Open - Men's Slopestyle

The 2011 Burton New Zealand Open Slopestyle competition took place last Friday with Mark McMorris of Canada taking first place by just edging out fellow countryman Sebastien Toutant in an almost-too-close-to-call showdown. While Norwegian rider Stale Stanbech took third place on the podium.

McMorris' winning run included two double-tap Cab bonks over the barrel feature, a Cab 720 frontside boardslide to fakie on the down-flat-down, half Cab to backside 350 on the cannon rail and then absolutely killed it on the jumps with a mute backside 1080, frontside melon 900, and a huge Cab 1260 nosegrab on the final hit.

Toutant's run consisted of a Cab 540 tail bonk on the barrel, a frontside blunt 270 on the down-flat-down rail, a tailslide 270 off the cannon rail, then hit the jumps with a backside double cork, a frontside 1080 double cork melon grab, and a backside rodeo truckdriver. Toutnat run earned him a score of 90.55 which fell just short of McMorris' 90.90.

McMorris walked away with $7,000 and takes 850 TTR World Tour event points onto the next stage of the Burton Global Open Series which takes place in Switzerland, January 7-14.

New Zealand's World Heli Challenge 2011

The winners of the World Heli Challenge were announced last week. The event which is held in Wanaka, New Zealand is a competition featuring a handful of the top athletes from around the world. The goal is to find out who is the best "all around" rider by combining their freeride and freestyle skills. 

To showcase their overall talents the event is broken up into two days; an Extreme Day and a Freestyle Day. The Extreme Day has athletes riding big steep mountains and dropping cliffs. The object is to see how good a rider can "flash" it down the course riding hard, fast, in control and utilizing the features of the mountain. The Freestyle Day is used to showcase the athlete's acrobatic and aerial skills. Riders take what they have learned in the resorts and apply it to the back country. The scores from each day are added to determine the best all around rider. 

This years winners in the ski division were New Zealanders Sam Smoothy and Janina Kuzma. Among the snowboarders, Australian Benny Bright took top honors in the men's division and New Zealander Abby Lockhart won the women's event.