West Vancouver (BC), Canada – As the Canadian Snowboard Team just ended a record-breaking season on all fronts, snowboarding across Canada has never been as vibrant, from coast to coast.nCanada’s Olympic medalists, including the champs of snowboarding — Mike Robertson, Maëlle Ricker and Jasey-Jay Anderson — have inspired a new generation of snowboarders who want to grow up to achieve greatness on the slopes and in the parks across the country.

The RBC Riders program helps to make kid’s dreams reality.

“With the success of the Olympic Winter Games, the RBC snowboardcross series has been very popular. The introduction of slopestyle into the format this year has also been very well received,” commented Dustin Heise, Sport Development Manager for Canada~Snowboard.

RBC Riders is Canada~Snowboard’s skill development program. It is a fun competition program for participants with up to three years of riding age. RBC Riders was initially developed five seasons ago to fill a gap in the availability of grassroots competitive snowboarding events. It has grown to be the national event series for young riders, combining the basics of snowboarding with fun-filled competition.

“The RBC Riders program is expecting to reach its goal for the season with participation numbers around 1000 riders. We’ve had a great turnout across the country, with the event in Le Relais, Quebec, bringing out 91 kids and Nitehawk Ski Hill in Grande Prairie, Alberta, with 85 riders at one event,” added Heise.

This year, 12 provinces and territories hosted a total of 50 events RBC Riders.

The program forms the base of Canada~Snowboard’s Long Term Athlete Development Plan (LTAD). The LTAD plan is based on the development of skills from a young age which will support athletes and give them the skills they need to compete on the world stage, like the Olympic Winter Games.

Riders take part in both Slopestyle and Snowboardcross formats. Slopestyle is a series of jumps, rails and features down a slope. Snowboardcross is a timed event over a course with a variety of features, such as turns, berms, jumps, and rollers.

RBC Riders encourages participation in the sport of snowboarding and provides opportunities for kids to be active. Almost every weekend different hills, provincial associations host RBC Riders for a total of 50 events across Canada in the 2010 season.

This past weekend was the busiest of the season for RBC Riders, with six events hosted in four provinces and one territory. On Saturday, young riders competed in Asessippi, Manitoba, Mount Gabriel, Quebec, and Red Mountain, British Columbia. On Sunday, riders visited Mount Maichen, Yukon Territories, Powder King, British Columbia and Marble Mountain, New Brunswick.

There are only a handful of RBC Riders events left in this season with the last event set for May 15th at Sunshine Village, Alberta.