The Rip Curl Freeride Pro presented by Redken saw Ryan Tiene...

The Rip Curl Freeride Pro presented by Redken saw Ryan Tiene and Boen Ferguson take-out first place in their divisions, claiming their share of the $25,000 prize money.

Boen Ferguson’s hopes were realized today “There’s $3,500 in prize money so it’d be nice to win”.

With early morning storms looming, event organizers decided to move the event to mid-mountain, but as the first competitor hit the course the sun broke through the clouds, making it a spectacular day at Thredbo.

The Thredbo events & park team worked through the night, and pulled together a fantastic course with a rail, two fifty-foot jumps and 1 hip jump to finish.

With high-profile athletes like Andy Finch (USA Olympian) in the event, the riders definitely pushed themselves to the limits in their attempt to win a share of the $25,000 prize money.

Eventual winner Ryan Tiene said “It’s been rain, snow, clouds this morning, now we got sun. It’s Australia! But we’ll see what happens with the ‘big dog’ [Andy Finch]”.

The winners in the ladies divisions were Alison Dean (Victoria) in Open Women’s Snowboard and Zoe Joboor (Victoria) in Open Women’s Ski.

USA Olympian Andy Finch came in second and young Nate Johnstone placed third in the Open Men’s Snowboard.

Other standouts were Russell Henshaw (NSW) and Chris Booth (NSW) who came in second and third, respectively in the Open Men’s Ski.

Presenting sponsor Redken threw down $500 for the most experimental manoeuvre in both the ski and snowboard divisions. Andrea Berchtold pulled off a switch back flip on skis. Jim Cunningham on snowboard pulled off a half-cab nollie front-flip (a backwards 180 spin to forward flip) - making him one of the only riders in the world to have landed this trick.

Russell Henshaw commented, “Everyone’s doing really well and the standard is really good. The jumps are good and it’s a good atmosphere”

The village backdrop along with some periodic sunshine provided the perfect setting for the event, with riders and event organisers both commenting on the great vibe.

“Everyone’s riding pretty good, it’s fun, the weather’s good. You can’t ask for much more,” Russell Holt said.

The first year in it’s running the Rip Curl Freeride Pro has proven to be an outstanding success. After the testing conditions earlier this week, event organisers and competitors were all smiles at the end of the day.

Added: October 5, 2008
Producer: Rip Curl
Copyright: Rip Curl
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