Until relatively recently, the best surfers, snowboarders, and skateboarders kept a narrow focus on their sport. But now all board sports are witnessing an expanded crossover, due in part to cross training and insane vacations: skateboarders are surfing, surfers snowboard, and snowboarders skateboard. One sport anchors the profession while the athlete follows a passion for another kind of boarding. Although crossover competitions are rare, they are on the increase as riders look for other ways to hone their boarding skills. The Flying Tomato (Shaun White) is an example of an athlete capable of killing it going sideways on any board.
With a $30,000 purse, the upcoming Ultimate Boarder Competition, one of the first competitions of its sort, provides a great platform for athletes to show off their cross-pollinated skill set. The best of the best will be put to the test in all three boarding disciplines at this multiple-venue competition that spans terrain from the slopes at Squaw Valley to the beaches of Ventura – all in California, the perfect setting. Snowboarding progressed and developed at Squaw, skateboarding and surfing took hold in the rest of California. The competition kicks off April 12 with a party in the Village at Squaw Valley, followed the next day by the snowboard slopestyle competition on the resort’s world-class slopes. Local legend Jim Rippey will be judging (a perfect match since it was Jim, a snowboarder, who took the whole shebang to the next level by landing the first backflip on a snowmobile). Expect some ill maneuvers to go down at Squaw and during the rest of the week.
After the slopestyle event, the competitors vying for the boarder trifecta head to Ventura. Surfing is next and will be held April 16 to 18 at C Street. The window allows flexibility in getting the best surf out of Mother Nature. On April 19 the skateboard competition will go down at the Ventura County Fairgrounds and, later that day, the awards ceremony will be held. After the awards ceremony there will be a benefit concert and fundraiser for Boarding House Mentor, a nonprofit organization that introduces at-risk youth to the exhilaration of snowboarding, skateboarding and surfing.
First place will pocket $30,000 and gain global boarding bragging rights. Ten thousand dollars goes to second place, and $5,000 to third. A total of $50,000 is out there for top ten. Balance, edging, sliding, slashing, spinning and some hucking all will be noted and calculated to determine the Ultimate Boarder.
Take advantage of this chance at Squaw to see world class athletes and legends such as Terje Hakkonsen, Keir Dillon, Omar Hassan, Todd Richards, Shane Pospisil, Kurt Wastel, Tosh Townend and Nathan Fletcher. And they’re not just coming for the cash. Props and international recognition as a next level triathlon champion may be just as valuable as the thirty big ones.
Local legends Dave Brumm, Rick Gravesen and True Love will compete for the prize money and the notoriety. Since qualifying for the competition, Dave Brumm has gone on three trips to Hawaii to hone his skills on the waves once ridden by kings. Rick has been dialing his frontside spins and is somewhat amphibious. ‘At least Shaun White isn’t in it. I think it’s anyone’s game now,’ says Rick Gravensen. Olympian Todd Richards is amphibious as well, and rumor has it that Todd snowboards mainly to support his surfing habit. Each sport has its core talent and legends arriving to compete, but who will win the overall is anyone’s guess.
Andy Finch, world-class snowboarder and Truckee local, is in the Ultimate Boarder Competition as well. ‘My traveling and contest season is done now. I have been everywhere so I’m glad to be home,’ he said. ‘This is going to be a fun competition. I’ve been looking forward to it. It’s motivated me to push it on the skateboard and I love surfing, which has become a passion of mine, so getting the chance to get in the water is huge.’
The Ultimate Boarder is going to push athletes to their limits in all three board-sport disciplines. Each boarding arena will allow the professional and professionally passionate an opportunity to showcase their board skills. It’s going to be sick and it’s going to be at Squaw Valley USA on April 12.
History of Boarding
The surfboard is the oldest board-riding device. The art of surfing the waves on wooden boards originated in Polynesia millennia ago and then was perfected in Hawaii. It was the sport of kings. Snowboarding evolved only in the last three decades from skiing and sledding, millennia-old endeavors as well. Skateboarding evolved from the now all-but-defunct activity known as roller skating. People put the skate wheels on planks of wood and coasted down asphalt hills as early as 1893 in Brooklyn, but skateboarding really took off in the 1960s.
