Categories
World Rookie Tour

Cardrona NZ: the first ever WRT 2017-2018 stop

The Black Yeti, the most famous mascot in the snowboard’s world, is happy to announce for the first time the official stop of the World Rookie Tour at Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka, New Zealand! Cardrona Rookie Fest will be held from the 4th to the 6th of October. Athletes (national and international) must be members of Snow Sports NZ or any other WSF official national associations and registration will be through the Snow Sports NZ website.

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Event Disciplines and Dates 

Wednesday 4th October: World Rookie Fest Snowboard Halfpipe Thursday
5th October: World Rookie Fest Snowboard Slopestyle Friday
6th October: Weather Day

Age Divisions

Only riders born 1st January, 2000, or younger will qualify for World Rookie Tour ranking.

  • Rookies: born 2000-2002
  • Groms: born 2003 or later

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Registration 

Registration is handled through snowsports.co.nz. Riders, international and national, must create a membership through Snow Sports NZ before being eligible to register. Memberships cost $20 NZD for athletes under 16, and $60 for everyone else. You can do that by visiting here! After creating a membership, head to the Junior Nationals page, login, click the register link and then select Snowboard halfpipe, Snowboard slopestyle, or both!

  • World Rookie Fest Halfpipe: $45 NZD
  • World Rookie Fest Slopestyle: $45 NZD

Lift Tickets

Competitor passes are available from Sunday 1st October. Under 18 $40 per day. 18 and over $65 per day.

Workshops

Athletes will be invited to attend Judging Workshops after both events, in which the judges will explain their decisions and judging criteria. We hope this encourages the growth of quality competition by educating riders on what they need to do to progress in the sport!

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Prizes

1 free entry for a standout slopestyle athlete and 1 free entry to a standout halfpipe athlete at the World Rookie Tour finals in Austria! More prizes TBC.

Location

The event is located at Cardrona Alpine Resort NZ, which is situated in between Wanaka and Queenstown. Queenstown is the closest airport to the resort, and is about an hour and a half drive to Cardrona. Wanaka is an hour and a half drive from Queenstown, but is only a 45-minute drive to Cardrona. We recommend renting a car at Queenstown airport and finding accommodation in Wanaka! There are bus options from both Queenstown and Wanaka as well, if that is preferred. If renting a car, please rent a car that can handle a dirt road as the drive to Cardrona is on an unsealed road.

Contacts

Graham Dunbar           events@cardrona.com                          027 543 9779
Luke Hetzel                  luke@snowsports.co.nz                         021 0838 2997
Brogan Mackney          eventsadmin@cardrona.com               027 517 8662

Categories
Reports

Freeride Fun for Snowboard Competitors on Day Three at Cardrona NZ Junior Nationals

Competitors in the 2016 Cardrona NZ Junior Freeski & Snowboard Nationals were met with murky conditions for day three of competition at Cardrona Alpine Resort near Wanaka today. Overnight rain left the halfpipe saturated and unsafe to run the Salomon Ski Halfpipe event; however, the K2 Snowboard Freeride was able to go ahead with a skiff of fresh snow on course on the Tulips run in Captain’s Basin.

With conditions firm and bumpy under a couple of centimetres of fresh snow, judges were looking for safe runs which were well controlled and fluid from top to bottom, demonstrating good riding technique.

Competition started with female snowboarders and first rider on course, Eliana Collins (Arrowtown) set the bar high with a technical run, incorporating several rotations and good control for the win in female primary year 5-6.

Maddison Butcher (Auckland) one of eight Ruapehu Snow Sports athletes who have travelled south to compete at Junior Nationals, topped off an “incredible” few days by finishing in second place in the female Secondary 11-13 years’ age group.

After only a “couple of weeks on snow” when she was younger Maddison joined the RSS programme this season and jumped at the opportunity to compete for the first time. She showed no sign of first-time nerves, speeding through the course, dropping two rocks, ollying over tussock and maintaining control top to bottom.

“It’s been so great,” she said. “I haven’t seen so many amazingly talented skiers and snowboarders all in one place before. I’ll definitely be back again next year, 100 per cent.”

Zoi Sadowski Synnott (Wanaka) was the category winner with Juliette Perera (Auckland) in third.

The Primary 5-6 boys ripped through the course looking for features to hit in order to up their scores. Campbell Melville Ives, already a season Junior Nationals competitor at only 10 years old, figured that the judges would be looking for a “fast and flowing” run and knew just how to deliver. Coming out of the start gate fast but quickly adjusting to the catchy snow conditions, he “chilled out” and lined up three jumps, including some stylish grabs and was “pretty happy” with his performance.

The judges were more than impressed, wowed by his big rock drop at the top of the course and pleased to see him having fun while maintaining total control. They awarded Campbell first place, with Zephyr Lovelock (Wanaka) second and Jack Jeffs (Hawea) third.

The male secondary 7-8 category had the judges deliberating hard over how to award the top four placings. Timo Fitzpatrick (Queenstown) took the top spot, Xandah Gibson (Queenstown) second, and Sunny Steele (Australia) third. Harry Hart (Australia) just missed out on a podium finish by 0.33.

North Island competitors had a strong showing in the boys’ secondary 9-10 group, all three medal winners hailing from Auckland. Noah Wotton wowed the judges with a wildcat (side on backflip) right at the start of his run, followed up with a big method air. Coming through the bottom of the course fast, fluid and in total control, the win was his. Oliver Whiley placed second and Mac Rogers third.

Following in his younger sister’s footsteps, Tiarn Collins took the win in the 11-13 secondary year age group.  His second run had the full package: Fluid, fast and technical, with grabs and rotations and a big smile on the face. Second place went to Ethan Cruise (Queenstown) and third to Ryusei Wakushima (Queenstown).

Find full results here: www.snowsports.co.nz/events-and-results/results-2

Competition continues tomorrow at Cardrona Alpine Resort with the Bonfire Snowboard Halfpipe and K2 Ski Freeride. The Salomon Ski Halfpipe has been postponed until later in the week, and may run first thing on Friday morning. A new schedule will be released tomorrow.

For further information follow us on social media:
Facebook.com/snowsportsnz
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Twitter: snowsports_nz

Categories
Events

Cardrona Games 2016 – Date Change

In order to work in more effectively with Australian scheduling, the Cardrona Games has been moved a week later, to the 12-16 Sept 2016 to help athletes wishing to attend the One Hit Wonder event in Threbo.

Updated information is in the attached invitation.

Training at Cardrona
Teams wishing to train at Cardrona outside of the event window should be aware of the External Coaching Conditions which apply. Please contact hpc@cardrona.com for further information.

Cardrona Spring Camp
Cardrona HPC will once again be running their elite Spring Camp from 10th – 23rd October 2016. Download the HPC brochure here or contact hpc@cardrona.com for more information.