I got a press release the other day with details on the 2009 Burton NZ Open. The comp kicks off Wednesday, August 12th and will feature Antti Autti, Mason Aguirre, Danny Kass, Louie Vito and a tonne more in a 22 foot halfpipe. In addition, if you’re in the area get along to the premiere of ‘The B‘ – it’s getting a lot of hype at the moment as it’s Brad Kremer’s first foray after MDP and apparently the main feature of the film is incredible! Check all the details below the cut.

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

2009 Burton New Zealand Snowboarding Championships to Feature
Olympic Athletes, Rider Signings, Free Parties, Gravis Open Sessions and More Presenting the World Premiere of Burton’s “The B,” a Major Snowboarding Motion Picture

BURLINGTON, VT (July 4, 2009) – The Burton New Zealand Open, New Zealand’s premier snowboarding competition, will take place from August 11-15, 2009 at Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand. Cardrona Alpine Resort is the home to the only 22’ halfpipe in New Zealand, which is the same size pipe that will be featured at the 2010 Winter Olympics. Don’t miss your chance to see past Olympians like Kelly Clark (USA), Antti Autti (FIN), Mason Aguirre (USA), Cheryl Maas (NED) and Danny Kass (USA) and Olympic hopefuls like Ellery Hollingsworth (USA), Justin Lamoureux (CAN), Ryo Aono (JPN) and Louie Vito (USA) fine-tuning their runs for Vancouver.

Competition will get underway on Wednesday, August 12 with men’s slopestyle prequalification and qualification rounds, followed by the women’s slopestyle qualifications. That night, be sure to catch the world premiere of Burton’s new and highly anticipated movie, “The B,” which showcases the riding of Jeremy Jones, Jussi Oksanen, Nicolas Müller, Frederik Kalbermatten, Keegan Valaika and Shaun White, with appearances by Danny Davis, Terje Haakonsen, Mason Aguirre, Kevin Pearce, Mads Jonsson, Natasza Zurek, Mikey Rencz, Luke Mitrani, Jack Mitrani, Mark Sollars, Charles Reid, Gabi Viteri, Spencer O’Brien, Mikkel Bang, Sani Alibabic, Marko Grilc, Peetu Piiroinen, Kim Rune Hansen, Stephan Maurer, Chris Sörman, Kazu Kokubo and Kyle Mack. This major motion picture features something bigger, and more iconic, something so over the top that the movie had to bear its name. Mark your calendars because “The B” is a must see. After the movie, stay and get autographs from some of the stars of the film and other big name riders on the scene.

Thursday, August 13 will see men’s halfpipe prequalification and qualification rounds, followed by women’s halfpipe qualifications. The Gravis Open Sessions will kick off that night with music from Black Sun Empire (NL), State of Mind and Truth at the Lake Wanaka Center.

All eyes will be on the slopestyle course on Friday for men’s and women’s slopestyle semifinals and finals, when 2009 BGOS Champions Chas Guldemond and Jamie Anderson take to the slopes alongside riders like local Kiwi slopestyle stars Nick Hyne and Shelly Gotlieb. Later that night, Casio Exilim will present ‘Through the Eyes of Anon,’ a snowboarding photographic journey featuring large canvas works and historical slideshows. Located at the Lake Wanaka Center, this extensive collection of international and NZ snowboard photography will document the sport over the years. This exclusive red carpet affair is not to be missed, although you must be 18 or older to enter.

Men’s and women’s halfpipe semifinal and final competitions will go down on Saturday, August 15. Spectators can watch local legends like Mitch Brown, James Hamilton, Ben Stewart and Kendall Brown competing for a piece of the NZ$50,000 prize purse. Tiki Live with support from DJ Reno, the final act of the Gravis Sessions, will wrap up the weeks’ festivities at the Lake Wanaka Center that evening.

Burton would like to thank Cardrona Alpine Resort, Go211.com, Speight’s Summit Golden Lager, Juice TV, The Edge FM, Anon Optics, High Cascade Snowboard Camp, Nature Valley, goodbars.co.nz, Joe’s Garage, SolRX, McKenna, Smirnoff Ice Double Black and Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour for their support of the New Zealand Open.

If you can’t make it to New Zealand, watch the semi-finals and finals live on Go211.com, where webcasts and highlights of the competitions will also be available for on-demand viewing once the event is over.

Media Contacts:
Mia Troy-Vowell
Burton Snowboards
T: 802 652-6765 E: miat@burton.com

Nicole Fairweather
EveNZ
T: 03 443 2700  E: nicole@evenz.co.nz

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 global spectacles 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, Japan and the United States, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com.

About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility and innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most respected snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest (1000 Swatch TTR points). Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the Swatch TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider at the end of the season are crowned Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.

About GO211.com
GO211.com is the leading community and video site for action sports created for and by athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to go for behind-the-scenes videos, blogs, and photos from pro athletes and featured contributors along with other action sports fans.  GO211.com is proud to offer a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes and is proud to host interactive live webcasts of the top events in surf, skate, snow and BMX. The current GO211 Pro Team roster includes: Hannah Teter, Nate Yeomans, Torah Bright, Mikes Losness, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Andy Finch, Donny Robinson, Christian Hosoi, and Holly Beck, among others.