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| 2009 PEANUT BUTTER AND RAIL JAM CHAMPIONSHIPS |
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Volcom’s 2009 Peanut Butter & Rail Jam tour wrapped up Saturday April 25th at Mammoth Mountain, CA with the $25,000 Championships!
Spring, for many like-minded individuals is notable for a few reasons; while the weather may be warming and the snow melting, the Peanut Butter & Rail Jam Championships is upon us. Melting the last of the wax, exchanging jackets for hoodies and goggles for sunglasses are just a few aspects of what makes spring a magical affair. For what seems to be only an instant, the world’s best amateur snowboarders shred together and remind each of us why we do it. The PBRJ Championships brings together the best of each region’s talent and places them on the same features at the same place and time. What results is something tangible for all the right reasons.
Mammoth’s Unbound terrain park crew is an over-qualified lot that use ordinary features to produce extra-ordinary jibbing contraptions. Oren Tanzer, Chris Zajec, Michael, Joanna Kaylor and the rest of the team know what they’re doing. For this year’s PBRJ Championships they dropped in a pole jam to 32ft. down-box, a 32 ft. down-flat-down rail and two off-set, flat-down lift towers. A little hard to describe so check the photos and video!
The honor of kicking off the 5th annual Peanut Butter & Rail Jam Championships was bestowed upon the 15 & Under Division! The groms wasted no time getting down to business and set the bar impressively high! Everyone’s riding was so impressive we knew the judges would have their work cut out for them! Amongst many, a few tricks we saw were; b/s 360 to 50-50, b/s 180 out on the pole jam, front boardslides the length of the down-flat-down and a back liplside on the flat-down lift towers! It was close!!
The 16 & Over Division was up next and came on stronger then a sun blister from the Mammoth sunshine (sorry Matt). With three packed heats of up-and-comers, it was clear we were in for a show! These guys were pumped up and ready to do battle. After bowing to their sensei, the 16 & Over riders attacked the features unmercifully and blew everyone away with some seriously aggressive riding! The hammers were too many to list so I think it’s safe to say there could’ve been 20 winners!
Next it was the girl’s time to shine. Making up the nearly 70-strong division, we had a large US contingent complimented by femme-shreds from Japan, France, New Zealand and Canada. Mammoth’s three features were quickly demolished in every sense of the word! The girls were going for broke and left it all out there! From 50-50 f/s 360s out on the down-flat-down to b/s 270 to boardslides on the pole jam to down-box, we saw it all! A high ten and a tip of the cap to the ladies!
Just when we were wondering what could be done that we hadn’t already seen, three heats of Open Division shreds answered! From my perspective on the mic, I can’t remember ever being so stoked to watch a PBRJ! We’ve witnessed amazing riding each weekend this season and to see all these local heroes throw down together was incredible! I’m not going to list individual tricks here as it would do a disservice to the charged atmosphere and energy in which they occurred. Check the video and be stoked.
A huge thank you to each and every competitor, family member and friend who made the journey out to the 2009 PBRJ Championships. We know the trip wasn’t a short one for many so we really appreciate it. While not everyone could take home 1st place, we hope the experience of competing at that level and making new friends in the process was a great one! Last but not least, thanks to all the Moms and Dads that made it happen for the younger competitors!
Thanks to Oren Tanzer, Lauren Franklin, Chris Zajec, Joanna Kaylor and everyone else at Mammoth for all of their ongoing stone support! We couldn’t be more stoked with how things turned out! Thanks to DJs Matty-Mo and Nomad for making this year’s champs sound good. Thanks to Electric (Cyle Cadam, Bobby Cherry and Amber Attebery), Vestal (Scott Klamecki), incase (Dawn), Signal Snowboards and TWS (Joel Muzzey) for stoking out the winners with extra prizes. Thanks also to Seth Huot, Alex Lopez, Curtis Ciszek, Billy Anderson, Ryan Boyes and Elena Hight for judging and to Arne Strate from Volcom Germany for escorting the European winners over the pond. Thanks also to Ebonee Spence and Beckie Peralta for tabulating. One last special thanks goes out to Jared King, Brandon Janssen, Liam Ellicott, Matt Lareau, Leroy Seymour and everyone else for all their hard work making the 2009 PBRJ tour a reality.
Take care and see you next season!
Results:
15 & Under:
1st: Garrett Weinert - $2000
2nd: Cullen Bernklau - $1500
3rd: Max Warbingjton - $1250
4th: Justin Henigin - $750
5th: Brandon Davis - $500
16 & Over:
1st: Wes Walsh - $2000
2nd: Scott Heffman - $1500
3rd: Sawyer Deen - $1250
4th: Gared Schneider - $750
5th: Ethan White - $500
Girls Division:
1st: Sara Winger - $2000
2nd: Madison Blackley $1500
3rd: Mary Rand - $1250
4th: Becky Bruce - $750
5th: Paige Rainear - $500
Open Division:
1st: Johnny Lazz - $2500
2nd: Shaun Murphy - $2000
3rd: Tyler Flanagan - $1500
4th: Matt Munn - $750
5th: Dylan Alito - $500
Electric’s $1,000 “Gooeyest Move” Award: Cody Boan!
For Peanut Butter & Rail Jam coverage and updates, check out The Weekly Update on Fuel TV.
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