Rip Curl have announced dates for the 2009 Rip Curl FreeRide Pro. The release says “The Rip Curl Australian FreeRide Pro is a unique event that takes advantage of Australia’s best freeride terrain – Thredbo’s famous Bluff run.” Nate Johnstone took out the Open Men’s Snowboarding division last year and walked away with $20k for his effort. Charles Beckinsale will be lending his expertise in designing the terrain park for the Rip Curl Throwdown Invitational which happens as part of the FreeRide Pro. Check below the cut for more details in the full press release.

2009 Rip Curl FreeRide Pro
11-13 August, 2009
Thredbo, NSW Australia

For Immediate Release

OFFICIAL DATES ANNOUNCED FOR THE 2009 RIP CURL FREERIDE PRO

On the back of Rip Curl and Thredbo’s recent 3-year partnership renewal of the Rip Curl Australian FreeRide Pro, event organisers have now officially confirmed that this year’s event will take place from August 11 to 13.

The Rip Curl Australian FreeRide Pro is a unique ski and snowboard event that takes advantage of Australia’s best freeride terrain – Thredbo’s famous Bluff run.

The 2008 event was hailed as one of the best freeride contests of the Australian season, with the skiers and snowboarders having the opportunity to compete in perfect snow conditions for their share at the event prize purse.

Sam Foster (Jindabyne, NSW) and Nate Johnstone (Mona Vale, NSW) took out the Open Men’s Ski and Snowboarding divisions respectively, each claiming the winner’s total of the $20,000 prize.

“The Rip Curl FreeRide Pro is a great event and definitely more ‘rider’ involved than others,” said Johnstone. “The event organisers keep in touch with the riders and get our feedback on terrain set up, it’s going to be a highlight of the season again, for sure!”

Australian skier Andrea Berchtold echoed Johnstone’s remarks: “For me, the Rip Curl FreeRide Pro is the best event on the Aussie calendar and I can’t wait for another go! I’m excited to see what the course designers and event organisers come up with for this year’s contest.”

The Rip Curl Throwdown Invitational is an additional event that will be held under lights, one evening, during the three-day event window at slopeside Thredbo Village. The Throwdown event, which is held in a purpose-built terrain park, is a crowd pleaser with an exciting mix of rails, jumps and boxes ready to challenge the invited male and female riders. The competitors are also the judges in this unique event, deciding together who takes out top honours at the end of the night. Last year’s winners were Boen Ferguson (Jindabyne, NSW), Tom McGrath (Canberra, ACT) and Erin Tanner (Canberra, ACT) in the Open Men’s ski, Open Men’s snowboard and Open Women’s snowboard respectively.

Rip Curl seeks the assistance of competitors and experienced terrain specialists, such as Thredbo’s Terrain Park Manager Charles Beckinsale, Rip Curl snowboarder Russell Holt and Rip Curl skier Andrea Berchtold, when planning the special course design.

“Last year was fantastic and we are really pleased to see the partnership with Thredbo renewed for another year. We have a great team of people working on the event and it’s always exciting to see what happens when Charles and his team from the Thredbo terrain park cut loose on designing features,” said Rip Curl Marketing Manager Nick Russell.

The contest schedule will be confirmed when the Australian snow season begins and announced accordingly.