Big White Ski Resort is hosting the World’s Best Snowboard Cross athletes for the Inaugural Barrels & Berms World Cup. The field contains the who’s who of the sport from Olympic Medalists to World Champions in both the male and female fields.
The action kicks off today (Friday) with the Qualification time trials where riders attempt to qualify for Saturday’s Finals. The conditions at Big White Ski Resort through the training days have ranged from variable to bluebird visibility over world class snow conditions. Big White Ski Resort is certainly living up to its reputation for hospitality, snow conditions and a World class venue, with over 4 meters of snow having fallen this month! Snow conditions at the resort are drawing crowds from around the world. Due to the deep snowpack the course building crew from White Industries in partnership with the Big White Ski Resort Event Team have constructed a World Class course for the event.
The course is over a 1000m long, with a good speed averaging at around 50 seconds per run. It contains a good mix of jumps, airtime and rollers, which helps to create closely contested heats with lots of passing action. This should make great TV viewing. There is a lot of snow here in Canada which is a wonderful change having just flown across from Germany where resorts are unfortunately looking a little green! Uwe Beier, FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup Race Director
The Event weekend is scheduled to host 2x World Cup events. Due to the lack of snow currently in areas of Europe, which has caused SBX event cancellations and the need for the International Teams and athletes to have as many Individual SBX results as possible in the competition season there has been a change in the format to the Barrels & Berms event from a singles event and a team event, to two singles events. Statement from the Local Organizing Committee below –
BIG WHITE SKI RESORT, BRITISH COLUMBIA – “The Local Organising Committee (“LOC”) of the 2020 Barrels & Berms FIS Snowboard Cross World Cup has officially changed the event format from running the planned combination of Individual SBX World Cup + Mixed Team SBX to a double Individual SBX World Cup format. The LOC decision to host the additional Individual SBX World Cup race in Big White Ski Resort was made due to the cancellation of an Individual SBX World Cup event in Feldberg (GER) which left the FIS SBX Tour athletes short in World Cup events. Following discussion with the international teams and coaches, the request was made to shift to host two individual events back-to-back. Due to the great snow conditions at Big White Ski Resort, Canada and a willing Local Organizing Committee the event change has been made to this format to best support the athletes and the tour internationally. Big White Ski Resort is looking forward to being the only host on the Tour to run a double Individual SBX World Cup for the 2019 / 2020 Season.”
Broadcast Information
Canadian Audiences:
You can watch in Canada on CBC streaming, live or on their show, The Road to The Olympic Games on Saturday. Sunday’s World Cup (changed from Mixed Teams to Individual SBX) will also be shown live on CBC.
You can access the full CBC Snowboarding schedule here https://cbc.calreplyapp.com/snowboard
International Livestream (non-Canadian Audiences): Through your local distributor or on the FIS Youtube channel.
ALL World Cup events will be live streamed on the FIS Snowboard YouTube channels. (not in Canada)
Media Information including athlete profiles and who to watch
For all MEDIA information and rights cleared event images please go to the below link
https://www.barrelsandberms.ca/en/media/
World Cup Sponsors and Canada Snowboard Partners
Big White Ski Resort is our hosting partner, Mazda Canada official automotive partner and Li Ning is our official outerwear partner. Native shoes are our official footwear, Okanagan Springs is the official beer partner, TELUS is our technology partner, Sunbelt rentals official power supplier, Prinoth Bison X help build the course and Clif Bar keep us energized. A huge thanks goes out to our funding partners the Government of Canada and the Government of British Columbia as they are how we make the event a reality.
A special thanks to the Indigenous peoples of Westbank First Nation.
We acknowledge that this event is taking place on the traditional and unseeded territory of the Syilx (Okanagan) peoples. We are thankful to share in the special spirit of this place, rich in the energy of Mother Earth, our ancestors and the love of all Creation. We recognize, honour and respect the land in which we work, live and play.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xuRjeRXAWbo
About Big White Resort
Big White Ski Resort is Canada’s favourite family resort, home to
Okanagan Champagne Powder receiving an average of 25 feet of Mother
Nature’s finest every year. Family owned and operated since 1985 our
commitment to snowboarding began shortly after in 1988
with hand-dug features and a halfpipe. This commitment to freestyle
continues today with the TELUS Park, a fully stacked terrain facility
that includes our world class Snowcross course.
Located just 40 mins out of Kelowna BC and a short flight from
Vancouver, Calgary, and Seattle, Big White has over 17,000 on-mountain
beds in Canada’s largest ski-in ski-out village, 119 runs, five powder
bowls and plenty of sunshine, you’ll soon realize why
we’ve been consistently voted as one of the top ski and snowboard
resorts in the world. It might be easy to get here but the powder makes
it hard to leave.
About Canada Snowboard
Canada Snowboard is the national governing body for snowboarding in Canada.
Canada Snowboard is committed to high performance excellence in FIS
World Cup, World Championships, World Snowboard Tour and Olympic &
Paralympic Winter Games competition. We are supported by valued
corporate partners including Burton Snowboards, Zanier Gloves
and Mazda Canada, along with the Government of Canada, Own the Podium,
the Canadian Olympic Committee and the Canadian Paralympic Committee.
Canada Snowboard also provides a wide range of programs and support
services based on the established principles of
Long Term Athlete Development (LTAD). For more information on the
services and programs offered by Canada Snowboard, visit:
www.canadasnowboard.ca
For further information, please contact:
Rich Hegarty – Canada Snowboard Media
media@canadasnowboard.ca