NZsnowboard.com

10th January 2007

The final program of the Burton European Open 2007 (BEO) is fixed: for the third time the international Snowboard scene is gathering for Europe?s biggest Snowboard event in the Swiss Freestyle mekka Laax. The days from January 20 ? 27, 2007 are offering a week full of action and entertainment. A week with stars and starlets. A week full of highlights.

The BEO 2007 is kicking off with the Slopestyle competition. Two days of Junior events follow. The last event is the Halfpipe competition. The organizers are expecting up to 500 riders, for women and men there will be equal prize-money which totals up to US$ 125.000.

As the BEO is well-known for it?s tradition of creating themes and implementing them all through from the contest-setup to the side events to the general look of the event, this will be continued also for the 8th edition of the BEO. The theme for this year?s event will be ?Mexico?! Be prepared for a very Mexican inspired week! Nicolas M?ller, Burton Global Team rider from Switzerland, says: "The BEO are for snowboarding what the roots are for a tree. When I heard that the new theme is Mexico I simply have to say: Tequila, Shred and watch out for a Benihana!?

For the first time ever Shaun White will compete at the Burton European Open. The Californian is at the moment the most outstanding rider in the world: in 2006 he won Gold in the Halfpipe at the Olympics, and he left the US Open and the X-Games as the winner. Spectators and riders are excited to see the 20-years old riding the Slopestyle course on Crap Sogn Gion. The European riders don?t need to hide for the battle for the 2007 BEO title. Top riders like the Finns Markku Koski and Peetu Piiroinen or the Swiss riders Frederik Kalbermatten, Gian Simmen and Nicolas M?ller will give their best that the title stays in Europe.

During the week it?s the turn of the 8-16 years old riders. The BEO junior contest proved to be a good start for an international snowboard career already in the past.

The Halfpipe competition in the well-known Superpipe of Laax is the last highlight of the 8th Burton European Open, which are part of the Burton Global Open Series presented by Motorola and also the Ticket to Ride Tour.

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