Countdown To Burton NZ Open 2007
Countdown To Burton NZ Open 2007
LAKE WANAKA, New Zealand (August 2, 2007) – With under a week to go until the fifth annual Burton New Zealand Open kicks into action at Snow Park NZ on August 7, here’s what sets New Zealand’s largest winter sports event apart from the rest:
International People
Over 230 competitors from 16
countries: Australia (7), Austria (1), Belgium (3), Canada
(21), Finland (6), France (8), Great Britain (5), Germany
(10), Japan (44), Norway (4), New Zealand (31), Poland (6),
Russia (1), Spain (1), Sweden (2), Switzerland (22), USA
(63). The youngest competitor is 11-year-old Taylor Watling
from Canada.
International Circuit
The Burton New
Zealand Open is the first event of the Burton Global Open
Series which features competitions in Australia, Japan,
Europe, Canada and the USA. The event is also part of the
international Ticket to Ride Series (TTR).
Big
Names
The field includes: World Superpipe Champions (3),
Olympic gold medalists (1), TTR leaders (1), X Games
Champions (7), World Cup leader (1).
Big Prize
Money
Competitors are competing for a share of the
NZ$50,000 prize pool plus a chance to compete for US$100,000
as overall Burton Global Open Series winner, last year won
by Torah Bright (AUS) and Shaun White (USA).
Massive Pipe
Snow Park NZ’s superpipe is the Southern
Hemisphere’s only Olympic and X Games Standard Halfpipe.
It has taken 10 days to shape for the event, uses 70,000
cubic metres of snow and 2.5 weeks of snowmaking. The pipe
is 5.5m deep, 160m long and 18.2m wide with a 17 degree
pitch. The quarterpipe is equally monstrous at a massive
10.3m tall and 24.3m
wide.
ends.