NZsnowboard.com

25th October 2007

For the first time ever, The Burton European Open will award Suzuki cars to both the male and female BEO Overall Champions on Friday, January 18 following the halfpipe finals. This season?s BEO will take place from January 11-18, 2008 in LAAX, Switzerland, where the crew at LAAX will once again construct a perfect pipe up on Crap Sogn Gion as well as an innovative slopestyle course.

Following the halfpipe finals competition, the event?s main sponsor Suzuki will award a Suzuki Grand Vitara Freeride Edition to both the male and female overall BEO winners, which will be determined by the overall performance of riders in both the slopestyle and halfpipe competitions.

 
BEO Pilots (Gigi R?f, Sani Alibabic, Hannes Metzler, Chris S?rman), Photo: Christian Brecheis

The Burton European Open is one of the premier snowboard competitions on the continent and the fourth event in the 2007/2008 Burton Global Open Series (BGOS). The European Open offers riders a generous prize purse of US $125,000, important points in the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour (Ticket to Ride) Ranking and the chance to earn points towards the US $100,000 male and female 2008 BGOS Championship titles.

The BEO is a favorite event of riders around the globe as LAAX offers an incredible halfpipe, progressive slopestyle course and plenty of late-night parties. Online registration for all riders will begin early November. US Superstar and Olympic Champion Shaun White has already confirmed his appearance at the BEO.

Schedule BEO 2008:

• Friday, Jan. 11th: Slopestyle Juniors

• Saturday, Jan. 12th: Halfpipe Juniors

• Sunday, Jan. 13th: Slopestyle Pre-Qualification & Qualification Men

• Monday, Jan. 14th: Halfpipe Pre-Qualification Men and Qualification Women

• Tuesday, Jan. 15th: Slopestyle Qualification Women and Semi-Finals Men & Women

• Wednesday, Jan. 16th: Halfpipe Qualification Men and Semi-Finals Men & Women

• Thursday, Jan. 17th: Slopestyle Finals Men & Women
• Friday, Jan. 18th: Halfpipe Finals Men & Women

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 Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe. For more information, visit www.opensnowboarding.com .

About TTR
The Burton Global Open Series is part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest group of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. TTR ranks riders based on their results at participating competitions and crowns a Swatch TTR World Champion at the US Open. For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com .