2011 BURTON NEW ZEALAND OPEN JUST 1 WEEK AWAY

Wanaka, New Zealand (August 1, 2011) With much of the Northern Hemisphere sweating it out in the summer heat, snow is dumping in New Zealand – just in time for the ninth annual Burton New Zealand Open (BNZO) presented by MINI. Known as the Southern Hemisphere’s premier snowboarding event, the BNZO will go down from August 9-13 at the Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka where top riders will compete in both Halfpipe and Slopestyle.

As the kick-off to the Burton Global Open Series and a 5star event on the TTR World Tour, the BNZO will get underway on Tuesday, August 9^th with official training in the morning that leads right into Men’s and Women’s Slopestyle Pre-qualifiers and Qualifiers.

The next day on Wednesday, August 10^th, things will heat up in the Halfpipe as Men’s and Women’s Qualifiers take place. The 10 men and 5 women who come out ahead will move forward into the Semi-finals.

On Thursday, August 11^th, Slopestyle will once again take center stage with an intense day of Semi-finals where the top 8 women and 16 men will advance to the Finals on Friday August 12^th.Be on the lookout for key riders like Mark McMorris and Jamie Anderson to take the Slopestyle competition to new levels.

Next up are the Men’s & Women’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals and Finals where Burton Team riders like Hannah Teter and Danny Davis will be competing for the top spots. Happening the last two days of the event, the Women’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals are set for Friday, August 12^th followed by the Finals on Saturday, August 13^th. The men will battle it out all in one day with Men’s Halfpipe Semi-Finals and Finals both taking place on Saturday, August 13^th.

In addition to the world class snowboarding action taking place all week, Burton is proud to announce a host of BNZO evening activities for both riders and attendees to enjoy. The party continues with the following list of nightly events:

• THE BURTON OPEN APRES BOARD ROOM: Starting Tuesday, the post-competition activities begin as Burton and Lone Star Wanaka present, “The Burton Open Après Board Room”, where attendees can sit back and enjoy some après time from 5pm until 10pm every evening through Friday. Taking place in the upstairs room at the Lone Star Wanaka, the Après Board Room will be the evening hub for all things BNZO including Burton movies, rider signings, SLS presentations and good, local hospitality.

• THE BURTON OPEN ‘AFTER APRES’ PARTY: The nights never end as Opium Wanaka will be hosting, “The Burton Open After Après Party”, taking place Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday, from 10pm onwards. Full DJ line-up to be announced soon.

• THE BURTON OPEN SESSIONS: The BNZO will host a final celebration, “The Burton Open Sessions”, at the Queenstown Events Centre on Saturday night. This event is open to the public and will feature an impressive entertainment lineup including Shihad, Kora, Optimus Gryme, Tiki and Sunshine Soundsytem. The official closing party for the BNZO will be from 8pm until 1am. For more information go to www.opensessions.co.nz and tickets are available at www.ticketek.co.nz

Full BNZO details and updates are available via www.opensnowboarding.com. The live webcast will be available on www.opensnowboarding.com and Redbull.tv from August 12^th-13^th.

About the Burton Global Open Series

The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to a global competition series, attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in New Zealand, Europe, Canada and the United States, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe.

About MINI

The MINI brand is represented by 1,320 dealers in more than 90 countries. Since 2001, over 1.9 million MINI, MINI Convertible, MINI Clubman and MINI Countryman models have been sold. As the presenting sponsor of the Burton Global Open Series, MINI will be supporting the renowned snowboard manufacturer for the second year in 2011/12.

About TTR Pro Snowboarding
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, TTR (Ticket To Ride) PRO SNOWBOARDING is a non-profit, rider-driven organization that owns and operates the TTR World Snowboard Tour and the TTR World Ranking Lists.  TTR Pro Snowboarding strives to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world using authenticity, accessibility and innovation as guiding principles and has developed the TTR World Tour into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring a 10-month season filled with hundreds of grass roots and major independent freestyle snowboarding events. Events are rated on a 1-through-6Star system, where all competing athletes earn TTR world ranking points based on the star level of each event; a 6Star event holds the highest allocation of ranking points.  The TTR awards World Champion titles based on the World Ranking lists in four different areas including halfpipe, slopestyle, big air (men-only) and overall.  In February 2012, the TTR and the World Snowboard Federation (WSF) will hold the inaugural World Snowboarding Championships, an elite level event that will be held every four years in alternating cities around the world.

For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com.

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