Australia’s biggest park & pipe skiing and snowboarding series for 2017 kicks off this weekend with the Slopestyle event in Perisher 15 July.
Introduced in 2016, the SSA Park and Pipe Series brings together five competitive events that have been running independently of each other for many years.
Through international sanctioning with the Association of Free Ski Professionals (AFP), the World Snowboard Tour (WST), and the International Ski Federation (FIS), the series supports a comprehensive national competition pathway where every athlete registered for the series will be added to the World Ranking lists.
In creating a series with international event sanctioning, the level of quality and consistency can be applied across the domestic events, attracting a larger pool of athlete talent.
“With these events, athletes no longer need to travel to gain valuable competition experience.” SSA Park & Pipe Coordinator Richard Hegarty said. “The events also attract big name international athletes and teams to Australia, improving the competition landscape and experience for all competitors.”
The Series allows young athletes to compete with the best in the world in their age groups; a positive way to nurture and develop kids in the sport. It will create a stronger competition scene and give kids experience at home that they would have had to spend a fortune in the past to gain overseas.
“The sport becomes so much more interesting to the wider audience if it has a tour structure and World Wide ranking systems,” Hegarty said.
SSA Park & Pipe Series events:
- July 15 - Playstation Slopestyle - Perisher
- August 11-13 - Australian Junior Freeride Champs - Perisher
- September 1 - Thredbo Slopestyle Series
- September 2 - Thredbo Series Big Air
- September 5-9 - Toyota One Hit Wonder – Thredbo.
The series will conclude in Thredbo with the One Hit Wonder which will include Snowboard for the first time this year.
The One Hit Wonder event is an AFP Gold sanctioned event as well as an International World Snowboard Tour event, boasting the largest Big Air jump anywhere in the world.
“It will be a display of the very best progressive freestyle you will ever see in a Big Air event” Hegarty said.
Live Scoring of these events will be available through SSA’s new Snowracer website (www.snowracer.com.au), allowing family and the public to follow the events and results live from anywhere in the world.
Ski and Snowboard Australia
