Last Sunday, the USASA Nationals began at Copper Mountain. 6 days of competitions began with 1,600 amateur athletes throwing down in halfpipe, slopestyle, giant slalom, slalom and boardercross. Today was the 4th day of competitions and a beautiful bluebird day to watch the events at Copper Mountain.
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The fine crew at Copper Mountain and USASA granted me access so I drove down to watch my favorite two events for the day: Halfpipe and Boardercross. It was my first time at a USASA event and I got to see some amazing riders leading the future of snowboarding. I was only able to partake in one day of competitions unfortunately but it was a great time and glad I did at least one day!
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Between the Boardercross and halfpipe events, there were plenty of coaches, competitors, staff, patrol and spectators to watch the action.
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The competitions started early, with riders practicing before 8:30am so I made a couple laps to see where the competitions were and headed to watch the halfpipe as the 14 years and younger boys competed. I saw some local Steamboat/SSWSC riders but didn’t get any good pics. Here are some of my favorite photos from today, these riders definitely stood out and threw down.
Rider: Shea McCarthy
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Rider: Robert Pettit
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Rider: Kent Callister
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Rider: Unknown
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Rider: Ben Ferguson
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Rider: Jack Herald
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Rider: Mitchell Moline
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Rider: Cameron St. Pierre
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Part of the reason I came to watch today’s event was two readers of this blog were competiting, so it was great to come down to watch them compete in their disciplines. I met up with Alex, competing in the halfpipe today and got some photos of him throwing down.
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Alex Competing
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Another reader, Nicole was supposed to compete in Boardercross today but unfortunately her injured ankle gave out so she didn’t compete. She did however place in halfpipe and slopestyle so congrats!
After the halfpipe contest ended, I made my way over to the boardercross course to catch the riders in action.
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Riders heading up the chairlift
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Boardercross was amazing to watch up close and in person. I’ve seen it on tv and you don’t feel the adrenaline, the quickness, the closeness as you do when you see it live. The riders are just inches from each other and it’s an amazing race of luck, talent and determination.
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As I was leaving to drive back to Steamboat, the base area had booths set up for the sponsors and some fun events to win prizes going on.
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I was really impressed after today, just watching these young athletes throwing down and I wasn’t even able to watch all the events. The people cheering them on, the athletes riding their best and being able to see it up close. I was blown away by the event, it was fun to watch with all the disciplines going on and Copper did an excellent job of putting it on. Just going from one event to another was easy to ride to, marked and patrol was always there to help out with any questions.
On the way out, I stopped by Copper’s marketing department to meet and greet with Alissa who has been amazing with my Copper questions. I am jealous they have putt putt golf in their office, how rad is that?! I’ll be heading to Copper for closing weekend on the 18th and 19th and looking forward to their events and live music they got going on!
BigNolDogg
April 8, 2009 at 10:08 amWow, cool pics. Looks like a fun time. Congrats to the riders from this blog!
Tyler
April 8, 2009 at 11:43 amSweet photos!
I got to shoot at LG WorldCup Snowboard event at Cypress this year. Boardcross is pretty cool, half-pipe is even better. The hike to the shooting spots for media was a bit of a pain though.
Andrew
April 8, 2009 at 4:43 pmJack Herald is only like 10 years old or something like that and he throws down. Imagine him in 10 more years.
Shayboarder
April 8, 2009 at 9:57 pmIt was a great time for sure!
Sweet you had a good time at the worldcup Tyler! I rode to get to take photos so that make it easier than hiking up to each event.
Yeah most of those boys were 10 and 11 years old…wow huh!
The end of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 – Shayboarder.com
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