U.S. SBX Championships Mt. Hood Meadows December 16, 2005
(Subject to change) Boarder Cross
SBX Championships

American riders across the country will take their shot at a World Cup start and perhaps even the Olympic Winter Games when U.S. Snowboarding holds the inaugural U.S. Snowboardcross Championships at Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort in Oregon, Dec. 16. (Please note: This replaces the event previously scheduled at Snow Summit in California.)

The competition, which offers $15,000 in prize money, will attract an international field and feature top U.S. Snowboarding riders including World Cup winner Nate Holland (Olympic Valley, CA), World Championships medallist Jayson Hale (Sierraville, CA) and women's snowboarding pioneer Leslee Olson (Bend, OR), looking to make a run at the Games after being on the brink of retirement in 2004.

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"For snowboardcross athletes trying to make the U.S. Olympic team, this is the biggest event America will host this season," said Oregon native Peter Foley, U.S. Snowboarding head coach and SBX head coach. "This is the first U.S. SBX Championships, and even more importantly this race will decide who gets to compete in the final two Olympic qualifying events. Meadows has a bunch of snow so the jumps and banks should be huge, and I'm super stoked to have such a big event in my home town."

The U.S. SBX Championships will match the best U.S. Snowboarding and international athletes with more than 100 aspiring American riders looking to measure themselves against world-class racers as they aim for spots on the World Cup, Junior World Championships Team and U.S. Olympic Team. The top two U.S. males and females will earn spots in the last two World Cup events, which are still part of the Olympic qualifying period: Jan. 5 at Bad Gastein, Austria, and Jan. 14-15 at Kronplatz, Italy. The top two U.S. male and female juniors will earn their place on the U.S. Junior World Championships team. In addition, the winners of the men's and women's events will be crowned U.S. champions.

Mt. Hood Meadows, which opened in 1967, is the largest ski resort on Mt. Hood and has a long history of hosting snowboard events beginning with the "Wide Open" - a halfpipe competition that started in the early '90s. The resort gained national attention in 1996 with "Vegetate" - an environmentally themed snowboard festival and competition. That first year the event featured a big air and halfpipe competitions and Mt. Hood's first snowboardcross.

The event created awareness for the resort's award-winning native grass and wildflower re-vegetation program, a cause that snowboarders have proudly supported. The 11th Annual Vegetate will be presented March 10-12, 2006, at Meadows. Given that the national forest is one of 11 "urban forests" in the country - meaning one that is 50 miles or less from 1,000,000 people or more - the Mt. Hood Meadows serves to satisfy the high demand for alpine recreation on a relatively small portion of the public lands.

"We are excited about hosting this national caliber event,� said Mt. Hood Meadows Resort Vice President and General Manager Dave Riley. "We have the terrain, grooming expertise and abundant snow to build a course worthy of this competition, which ultimately will determine who our national champions will be. It is an honor, and our entire staff is looking forward to welcoming the best SBX riders in the USA.

"An event like this only reinforces our goal to introduce more young athletes to the sport - especially with the addition of snowboardcross to the Olympic Games this season - and the opportunity all riders have to compete right alongside possible Olympic champions."