| PARK CITY, Utah (June 12) - Maine's Sunday River Resort will welcome the world of snowboarding when it hosts the Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup this February 27 - March 1, 2009 the U.S. Ski and Snowboard Association announced. It will be the sole U.S. World Cup stop for snowboardcross and parallel giant slalom. The worldwide World Cup schedules were approved by the FIS Congress in the end of May at its meeting in Cape Town, South Africa. "It's an incredible opportunity to take a world-class event to a resort like Sunday River where they have great passion and first class resources within their events department," said USSA Vice President of Events Calum Clark. "We look for this event to be a showcase for snowboarding in New England." Sunday River Resort has long been committed to hosting elite level competitions from alpine and freestyle skiing to snowboarding including the U.S. Snowboarding Grand Prix, the elite snowboarding series in North America. The resort also hosted a FIS Freestyle World Cup in 2001. "We're looking forward to welcoming the best snowboarders in the world,” said Jim Costello, director of marketing for Sunday River and Sugarloaf. "These are fantastic spectator events. Thanks to Seth Wescott (Sugarloaf, ME), Maine knows just how exciting snowboardcross can be.” The world's best snowboardcross athletes are expected to compete including Maine's Olympic SBX gold medalist Wescott including Olympic silver medalist Lindsey Jacobellis (Stratton, VT). Snowboardcross, which never fails to amp up the crowd with its competitive intensity, has four riders at a time tackling the varying terrain of turns and jumps. The snowboarding discipline debuted at the 2006 Olympics. Parallel giant slalom also will heat things up with nothing but high speeds as racers go head-to-head until a winner is determined. Massachusetts native Tyler Jewell (Steamboat Springs, CO), who had two World Cup podiums last season including a second place finish at the World Cup in Lake Placid, NY, will look to have success in front of a U.S. crowd again. Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug (Aspen, CO), Olympian Michelle Gorgone (Boston) and World Cup performers Adam Smith (Bend, OR) and Justin Reiter (Steamboat Springs, CO) also are expected. "The competitions will be intense and with the finish arena in the base-area for both events, spectators will easily see the sports up close. It will be a fun and exciting weekend for all," added Clark. The Visa U.S. Snowboarding Cup Schedule:- Friday, Feb. 27 - official training and SBX qualifying - Saturday, Feb. 28 - SBX finals - Sunday, March 1 - PGS qualifying and finals |
