Top International Riders Confirmed For Burton Open

Top International Riders Confirmed For Burton Nz Open

Some of the world’s top snowboarders have been confirmed for this year’s Burton NZ Open at Snow Park NZ, Wanaka, all competing for a massive NZ$50,000 cash prize pool.

Leading the field is last year’s winner of the Quarter Pipe Invitational, Mason Aguirre (USA) who just missed out on a medal at the Winter Olympics coming in a close fourth but did manage to score himself silver at the Winter X Games. He is joined by fellow countryman, Danny Davis whose credits include US Open Rookie of the Year as well as Japan’s top riders, Kazuhiro Kokubo and Fumiyuki Murakami, both members of the Japanese Olympic Team.

The women’s competition promises to be a fiercely contested event with 2002 Olympic Gold medalist and X Games ‘06 gold medalist, Kelly Clark (USA), going head to head with top US Olympic athletes, Molly Aguirre and Elena Hight.

“This is a hugely strong field that promises some very exciting snowboarding in both the superpipe and slopestyle,” said event organiser, Reuben Yeoman. “This is by no means an exhaustive list – these are the Burton Team riders who have confirmed and we’re still accepting entries from individuals, including many of the top Kiwi riders, plus we may have a couple of surprises up our sleeve so watch this space!”

The full list of Burton Team riders attending the Open is as follows:
Men’s: Mason Aguirre (USA) Women’s: Kelly Clark (USA)
Danny Davis (USA) Molly Aguirre (USA)
Mikkel Bang (NOR) Elena Hight (USA)
Kevin Pearce (USA) Junko Asazuma (JPN)
Luke Mitrani (USA) Yuya Nakayama (JPN)
Keegan Valaika (USA) Fumiyuki Murakami (JPN)
Kazuhiro Kokubo (JPN)
Takaharu Nakai (JPN)
Shota Suzuki (JPN)
Takumi Suzuki (JPN)
Kodai Watanabe (JPN)

For further information on the Burton NZ Open, visit www.opensnowboarding.com.

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