Photo by Johnny McCormack

The Boost SnoSho kicked off yesterday in better conditions than we’ve seen in previous years. The sun was out and although the wind was a little high, I heard it was looking good. The Wild Card qualifiers happened in the afternoon and Ben Mates and Trevor Henshaw took out the two available places. Henshaw got an impressive 29.45m down the longest rail. The finals kick off at 6pm tonight – the weather is looking a little overcast at this stage but here’s hoping it’ll clear up over the day. I should have more updates in a few hours – click below the cut for photos from the qualifiers.

WINTER OLYMPIAN WINS WILD CARD FOR PREMIER SNOWBOARDING EVENT

In what was tipped as one of the best days of the season, the wild card event at the Boost Mobile SnoSho presented by LG kicked off two days of some of the best snowboarding Australia has ever seen.  The two top riders of the day – Winter Olympian Ben Mates from South Durras and Trevor Henshaw from Jindabyne – pulled off amazing big air tricks and slid down the world’s longest rail, and will now go on to compete with some of the world’s best snowboarders in tomorrow’s night time final.

In first place was Ben Mates who will be competing in the 2009 Winter Olympic Games in Vancouver; “I’ve been wanting to compete in the Boost Mobile SnoSho for the past two years but have always been overseas at the time, so I’m stoked that I was able to not only compete today but win the wild card entry to tomorrow’s final,” said Ben.

Second wildcard went to 17 year old Trevor Henshaw of Jindabyne who slid an amazing 29.45m on the world’s longest rail; “I am so excited that I now have the opportunity to go up against some of the world’s best snowboarders.  Going into the competition, I focused on sliding as long as I could and with the jam session, I went into each jump with as much speed as I could and focused on nailing the best tricks,” says an ecstatic Trevor.

With $30,000 in cash and prizes up for grabs the two wild cards will have to stomp some massive tricks in order to beat the likes of international snowboarding sensation, Danny Kass from USA – one of the most awarded snowboarders of all time with seven Winter X Games medals, five US Open Championships, and two Olympic silver medals, Charles Reid (Canada), Sebastien Toutant (Canada), Scotty James (Australia) and Boost Mobile Team Riders Mitch Allan and Jye Kearney.

Kicking off at 6pm on Saturday the two wild cards and 23 national and international pros will go head-to-head in a unique night time competition. The World’s Longest Rail contest will see the rider with the longest successful slide crowned ‘King of the Rail’ and win $5,000 prize money. Then it’s time for the SnoSho Jam Session – a free-for–all format with each rider endeavoring to land the most technical tricks in an attempt to impress the judges.

The highlight of the weekend is without a doubt the game show style final in which the six top scoring riders perform tricks randomly selected from a spinning gameshow wheel. With each successful trick the judges award a letter and the first rider to complete five tricks and spell the word B-O-O-S-T takes out the Boost Mobile SnoSho Winner’s title and the $15,000 winner-takes-all cash. This unique format always provides a dramatic conclusion to one of Australia’s biggest snowboarding events.

For more information visit the official event website at www.boostsnosho.com.au.

The Boost Mobile SnoSho Presented by LG is proudly supported by Oakley, Bebo, Burton, Perisher, Allphones, Corona, Habbo, Hot Hits and the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour.
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