Saturday 8th April : DOUBLE VICTORY FOR CHERYL MAAS - The dutch rider has taken the 2006 Roxy Chicken Jam and the first position of the WTTR (Women Ticket to Ride). This makes her the first female winner of the professional snowboarding tour.
Cheryl has proved all her worth, taking the Chicken Jam obviously ahead of number of excellent snowboarders including Olympic Bronze Medalist Kjersti Buaas (NO) who was top notch throughout the qualifying rounds to the final. It is then that Maas put 3 stunning runs in. She posted a large array of tricks like Frontside 720, Backside 360 and 520s over the hip, and showed great confidence on the rails. Her major trick was a transfert from the 2nd kicker with a FS 720, Cheryl being the only girl to land that trick to date. With this victory, she joins Matt Crepel on the first TTR tour, with one WTTR still remaining for the season.
Also on the podium, Jenny Jones from England and Austrian Kathrin Gappmayr who struggled to keep up with the "flying Dutchwoman". Kjersti Buaas was eager to prove that she did not get there by a fluke but saw her chances for victory vanish after a heavy fall and injury. A nice performance from the 19 year old Meri Peltonen from Finland, who came up from Friday's qualifications for the main event.
As the female snowboarding elite jumps and spins in St.Moritz, it becomed necessary to admit tha the women have become just as impressive as the men.
"Its the best of the Roxy Chicken Jams, the girls level has never been that good. Bravo to Cheryl who demonstrated the nicest of female snowboarding today" said an elated contest organiser, Tina Birbaum.
Friday 7th April - It is under a magnificent sunshine in St.Moritz that the qualifiers for the main contest have started. 22 female snowboarders went into the “jam session” in order to enter the main event. Just 6 will contend Saturday. For two hours, they did as well as they could on the kickers, rails and hips of the beautiful Corviglia Mellowpark. It is the Finnish Meri Peltonen that took the highest score wih 501 points ahead of Swiss Sina Candrian (385 points). The program will continue as follows:
Saturday 8th April
11AM-1PM : Main Session (25 riders invited + 6 qualifiers)
2PM-3PM : Super final
10PM : Contest Party / Austrian House - St.Moritz
Sunday 9 th april
Waiting day (in case of bad conditions)
April 6th - Who will be the new world number one in St. Moritz?
This weekend, at the Roxy Chicken Jam 2006, the winner of the Women's Ticket To Ride World Snowboarding Tour (WTTR) will be decided.
With just two major events left to go on the WTTR tour, the contest is set to go down to the wire at St. Moritz, with the title of world number one 2005/2006 at stake.
Scheduled for 7 to 9 April 2006, the Roxy Chicken Jam is the only all girls slopestyle competition, originally founded by the professional snowboarder Tina Birbaum. The competition – which consists of two rounds, one held in Park City, USA in December, the other in St. Moritz, Switzerland in April - has become an essential event on the worldwide snowboard tour, with the final WTTR standings often decided here.
The Roxy Chicken Jam takes the form of a jam session, with no set starting order and no limit on the number of runs, leaving the girls completely free to produce the most spectacular moves!
During the qualification round, 30 snowboarders will gradually be whittled down to just 5, who will join the pros in the main event.
At Engadine, the world's best women freestylers will be competing for the 20,000 Euro prize money and the title of WTTR world champion, in a park designed specially for them. Entrants from 9 countries have already signed up, including the USA, China and Canada. The big question now is: who will succeed Canada's Natasza Zurek at the top of the WTTR world rankings?
The 4-times winner of the Roxy Chicken Jam has withdrawn from the tour for the remainder of the season, having led the WTTR, just ahead of Holland's Cheryl Maas. After finishing 3 rd at the Roxy Chicken Jam in Park City in December 2005, 2 nd in the slopestyle and 3 rd in the Half Pipe at the Burton European Open, Cheryl is in blistering form and one of the favourites for the worldwide women's professional championship.
Although Torah Bright may have something to say about that. The Australian rider from Team Roxy, who recently won the Half Pipe event at the US Open, will be going all out for the 3 rd result she needs in St. Moritz to boost her personal ranking...
Let battle commence! |
