Over 250 Boarders hit the Fifth Annual Transfer Banked Slalom at Thredbo Resort… A gathering of the tribe like no other.
Huey came to the party for the renowned event that went down on Friday the 17thof August, delivering nothing but offshore winds, clean conditions and a double overhead swell… perfect to get technical and let it rip!
Thredbo Resort and the Thredbo Terrain Parks crew worked tirelessly throughout the week to design the unique surf-inspired banked slalom course located in the Cruiser Playground area, which offered riders a double entry option plus each turn emulated iconic waves around the world. From Cloudbreak, J-Bay, Pipe and Backdoor, riders loved the course and its massive banks that you could generate a tonne of speed on.
From bikinis to wetsuits and just about everything in between, competitors embraced the surf theme in true banked slalom style, creating a great atmosphere throughout the entire day.
Grommets to Grandmas all gave it one hundred percent effort racing the course, young gun Valentino Guseli raced so hard he ended up getting a time that would’ve placed him in 8thplace of the Open Men’s, beating some heavy hitting names.
The Masters sure gave it a nudge, amongst all the banter was some serious fast-paced racing! Wiki Jones, Thredbo’s fastest to ever live took out the Masters Women event with an impressive time of 57.86 seconds. The Masters Men category was just as heated as the Open Men’s, Australia’s iconic freeride snowboarder Damon Hayler flew down the course to take out the win.
The women showed the boys a thing or two, all dominating the course and riding perfect lines all the way down to the finish line. It was the shredder from Finland, Enni Rukajarvi who took out the fastest female of the day (55.00), flying down the course like a bat out of hell. Enni was closely followed by Georgia Baff and hot on Georgia’s tail was Crystal Legoffe, making for an impressive Open Women’s podium.
This year some huge names in snowboarding came out to have a crack at the banked slalom and enjoy all the fun terrain that Thredbo has to offer. Nicolas Muller, Stale Sandbech, Roope Tonteri, JP Walker, Scotty James and lots more all hit the course and stoked out competitors as they manoeuvred their way down the line, through the various waves and the tricky tube section. In the first time in Transfer’s Banked Slalom history, Scotty James took out first place for the Aussies with the quickest time of 51.49 seconds.
All the way from Switzerland, Nicolas Muller took out second place, taking a very different line to most riders and walking away with a time of 52.20 seconds. In third, it was Olympian Jarryd Hughes who was very close behind Nicolas with a time of 52.34, absolutely ripping up the course, using his boarder cross knowledge to its full capacity.
All in all, it was an awesome day of racing, good times, lots and lots of shakas and big double overhead barrels. Massive thanks to Thredbo, Transfer, Quicksilver, Red Bull, Lib Tech, Sun Bum and of course all of the 250 plus competitors that made the day so special! Let’s do it all again next year, start training now!
