Schnastal, Italia - The Black Yeti didn’t hole up, he moved to Val Senales for the Summer Rookie Fest, the only TTR summer event scheduled in the Alps. The rookie champion Roope Tonteri won after a thrilling head to head final in the slopestyle contest with new Czech talent Darek “True Crail” Bergmann. The competition was initially 1Star level, but was elevated to 2Star TTR after the display of rotations up to fs1260 in the qualifiers in the amazing Gentlemen Riders Snowpark.
With regard to the groms, the South Tyrolean talent Markino Grigis was the best one with a frontside 1080 on the big kicker. As for the eight competing girls, all of them from the Czech Republic, the best one was the young Diana Augustinova, protagonists of the contest as well as of the parties.
- Markino Grigis
The Snowpark set up, realized by the Gentlemen's Riders crew, included a first table top with two jumps of 8 and 12m and a butterbox, a second table top with jumps of 14 and 18m and a 12-meter down rail. The contestants from Italy, Austria, Finland and the Czech Republic hit the park for a very high level slope style, but this event was not just about competitiveness. Sure enough, the program featured also skateboard sessions, video shootings with the pro RedBull who were invited as coaches: Filippo Kratter, Roman Dlauhy and Sarka Pancochova.
As for the contest, the format scheduled a day of training, one of qualifiers and one for the finals, everything in the jam session format. During the competition we saw cab900, cab1080, fs1080 and fs1260. In the finals, the sky-high level of the two final contenders Roope Tonteri and Darek Bergmann brought to an extra final run for a direct play-off where the Finnish won with the fs1260. Unbelievable level.
As in the tradition of the rookie fest, the prizes did not consist of money, but values for the career of young rookies: photo and video shootings with Entry Magazine and Board.TV, invitations to bigger events and surf camps offered by Protest.
2009 Summer Rookie Fest Final Results (Rank Bib G/R Last Name First Name Nationality):
Women
1- 9 G Augustinova Diana CZE
2- 17 G Stenclova Dorota CZE
3- 16 G Vankova Michaela CZE
4- 2 G Horakova Karolina CZE
5- 58 G Prazienkova Eliska CZE
6- 39 G Prochazkova Veronika CZE
7- 43 G Houvbova Eliska CZE
7- 48 G Fidrmucova Natalie CZE
- Girl Podium
Men
1- 49 G Tonteri Roope FIN
2- 6 R Bergmann Darek CZE
3- 31 R Weissenbacher Mathias AUT
4- 26 R Gurtwirth Filip CZE
5- 51 G Dreher Paul AUT
6- 46 R Grigis Marco ITA
7- 53 R Makarainen Vesa FIN
8- 44 R Naccari Ruggero ITA
9- 52 G Piller Cottner Filiberto ITA
10- 11 R Bisa Michal CZE
11- 24 R Porket Ondrej CZE
12- 19 R Mikyska Martin CZE
13- 54 R Bisol Mauro ITA
14- 3 R Vieider Hannes ITA
15- 5 G Porket Daniel CZE
16- 45 R Giacomelli Alessio ITA
17- 22 G Pajer Miki CZE
18- 20 R Horak Petr CZE
19- 38 G Noire Matteo ITA
- Grom Podium
- Rookie Podium
This was the closing event of a season of rookie events all over the world, and the international stops of the next season have already been announced:
World Rookie Tour 2010:
Iberic Rookie Fest 2009 – 2Star slope style, Spain, December 2009
World Rookie Fest 2010 – 3Star slope style, Italy, January 2010
Balkan Rookie Fest 2010 – 2Star slope style, Serbia, February 2010
France Rookie Fest 2010 – 2Star slope style, France, February 2010
East Rookie Fest 2010 – 2Start slope style and half pipe, Czech Republic, March 2010
World Rookie Finals 2010 – 4Star slope style, Austria, April 2010
Summer Rookie Fest 2010 – 2Star slope style, Val Senales, Italy, July 2010
The Summer Rookie Fest is organized by the World Snowboard Federation in collaboration with Board Riders and the Asociace Ceského Snowboardingu and made possible thanks to Nike6.0, O2 Telephonica, Snowpark.it, supported by Pirate Movie Productions, Cableway Val Senales, Gentlemen’s Riders, 100-one, Neuro, energized by Red Bull. You can watch it on freecaster.tv, Onboard European Snowboard Magazine, Tacky, Board.TV, Free Magazine, Freeride.CZ, Snowpark.it and Entry.