South Island Snowboard Champs

An action packed weekend at Cardrona Alpine Resort saw snowboarders of all ages and abilities competing in the New Zealand Snowboard Association South Island Championships.

Stand out performance of the weekend was 15-year-old Kendall Brown from Mt Manganui.
image courtesy of Droplet Media.

Riders competed in the 540s/Onboard giant slalom and boarder-x, Option half pipe and Quest slopestyle, looking to secure enough points to qualify for the Nationals next week. While conditions were challenging in the giant slalom due to poor visibility, the remainder of the events enjoyed perfect weather.

Stand out performance of the weekend was 15-year-old Kendall Brown from Mt Manganui who won in the giant slalom, boarder-x ands slopestyle in the Youth Female and the halfpipe in the Senior Female, setting her in good stead for the Nationals.

Other successes were Joseph Mackenzie (16) from Canterbury in the Youth Male, winning all events apart from the boarder-x when he came second to Leroy Christensen from Ohakune. Junior Female, Ellie Richards from New Plymouth also placed highly winning all events apart from the half pipe when she got second.

In the Senior Men’s halfpipe Japan’s Dome Narita who scored an impressive 39.2 out of a possible 40 with a massive display of height out of the pipe and technical trickery.

Sunday’s Quest Slopestyle saw a large field enjoying ideal conditions in the Heavy Metal Terrain Park. In the senior men’s Nick Hyne from Queenstown impressed the judges with his solid rail slides and big air over the table tops while it was Haidee Mayen from Wanaka who took out the senior women’s with a comfortable margin.

“The set up at Cardrona worked brilliantly and the riders of all abilities enjoyed the rails and jumps immensely,” said Graham Dunbar, executive director of the NZSBA. “The level of the junior riders is on a par with senior riders meaning the future of New Zealand snowboarding is looking good.”