Tahoe City, CA – The 2-star competition of The North Face Masters of Snowboarding presented by PrimaLoft concluded under sunny skies at Tahoe’s Alpine Meadows ski resort on Thursday. The venue conditions were firm but chalky, providing many fun features and technical lines for athletes. Harry Kearney of Telluride, Colo., and Mary Boddington out of Crested Butte, Colo., took top honors at the event.
“The riders impressively managed adverse and variable snow conditions throughout today’s competition,” said judge Rob Kingwill. “It takes a lot of experience and skill to maintain control while executing difficult tricks and fluid speeds on this type of snow. At the same time, the athletes really pushed the progression of big mountain snowboarding choosing creative and highly technical lines.”
Kearney took the men’s first place position with a score of 82.00 by tacking the incredibly technical Castle Chute. He rode a flawless line through the chute, maintaining fluidity and control throughout the maneuver. He punctuated his stellar performance with a back flip off a jump near the finish.
Rounding out the men’s podium in second place was Squaw Valley local Gregory Terziev with a score of 79.67. Terziev rode a smooth line on the looker’s right side of the venue executing a 180 off a knob near the top. Jonathan Penfield, from nearby Northstar California Resort, clinched the men’s third place finish with a score of 79.00. The judges particularly enjoyed the huge backside 360 Penfield threw off a large cliff near the bottom of the venue.
In the women’s field, Boddington charged straight down the fall line with a nice clean air at the top. She continued her run with fast fluid turns and a second air in the middle. A method grab at the bottom of her run was the icing on the cake and earned a score of 86.00.
In second place, was first time Masters competitor Claudia LaFlamme out of Fernie, British Columbia, Canada, with a score of 83.00. LaFlamme rode an aggressive line through the trees hitting a number of features along the way. Also on the women’s podium in third place, Lizzy Beerman out of Snowbird, Utah linked nice carving turns from top to bottom earning a score of 68.33.
Three women and five men total earned competition spots in Friday’s 4-star event at neighboring Squaw Valley. Heightening the excitement of their wins, both Kearney and Boddington advanced. Joining Kearney on the list of advancing men are Jerry Mark, Zeerip Zepplin, Jake Larue and Dave Trout. LaFlamme and Brithany Thomson will also join Boddington tomorrow at Squaw Valley.
The North Face Masters is part of the Freeride World Qualifier system. FWQs are rated on a 1 to 4-star scale with competitors earning more or less points at events according to venue difficulty and scale, competitive pool and other factors. The Masters is the top-level qualifier event and a pivotal step for athletes hoping to advance to the SWATCH Freeride World Tour by The North Face.