Stylewars celebrated another awesome edition last week with Tor Lundstrom, Jye Kearney and Cees Wille reaping the rewards. It also celebrated its 10-year anniversary and so the crew pumped out this flashback edit with a bunch of chat about the event set to some of the highlights from over the years. Check it…

Stylewars has played an influential part in developing the Australian shred scene. If you don’t believe us, watch this video!

It’s a case of ‘Aussie Aussie Aussie, Oi Oi Oi!’ as Jye Kearney becomes the first Australian to win the Stylewars Stairmaster title at the 2011 28 Stairs rail event. Jibbing Dutchman Cees Wille bags Best Trick. Watch the highlights…

Claiming the win at Stylewars’ notorious 28 Stairs event at Falls Creek’s Village Bowl ain’t easy. The only riders to ever be crowned have been Mark McMorris (Canada, 2010), Sebastien Toutant (Canada, 2009), Charles Reid (Canada, 2008), and Will Jackways (New Zealand, 2007). Now Jye Kearney can claim membership of this exclusive club.

The 28 Stairs event began with a 45-minute qualification round that whittled the rider list down to 11 finalists. Competition was hot with standout performances from many Aussies including Matt Sedunary, Jason Maxfield, Cameron Staveley and Tim Nelson.

Event organiser and founder Richard Hegarty was amazed with the quality of homegrown riding: “It was great to finally see an Australian win this event; it is a very daunting set up. Jye has been on fire this winter, already winning $14,000 of prize money at rail jams all over Australia and New Zealand this year.”

Best trick was given to 19-year-old Dutch Cees Wille for his nollie hardway back 180 to switch 50/50 cab 180 out on the down bar. Wille, who flew all the way to Stylewars from The Netherlands just for this one-night event, says: “The rail set up was super fun. I think it is one of the best I have ever seen, even compared to some of the Euro competitions I’ve been to.”

His first time to Australia, Wille continues, “I am so impressed with this event. When I first got here, I couldn’t believe how many cameras there were. It was really well organised and the coverage is really great. I hope I get invited to come again next year.”

28 Stairs marks the close of Stylewars’ 10-year anniversary. Blessed with phenomenal snowboarding talent from Australia and overseas – combined with perfect sunny and clear conditions across all three days – the team and all riders involved already can’t wait for Stylewars 2012.

Stylewars Railmaster

Jye Kearney – $5000, Liquid Image Goggles and a Selk Bag.

Best trick

Cees Wille – nollie hardway back 180 to switch 50/50 cab 180 out on the down bar – $1500, Liquid Image Goggles and a Selk Bag.

Best Australian Rider

Jye Kearney – $1500 and a custom-made surfboard

Young gun Scotty James – 17-year-old Australian Olympic Halfpipe athlete – is at the top of the leaderboard after Day One of Stylewars: The Australian Slopestyle Championships.

This comes after red-hot favourite Gjermund Braaten from Norway was knocked out of competition, after breaking his collarbone for the second time since December last year.

Currently ranked 5th on the TTR World Snowboard Tour, Braaten set the standard high stomping a double cork back 10 in his first judged run of competition. But unfortunately, Braaten fell awkwardly on the last feature ending his chances of winning the money.

Following closely behind Scotty James are Clint Allan, Pete Long, Tor Lundström and Andrew Roth.

With perfect weather and more blue skies ahead, riders are guaranteed impeccable riding conditions for the entire event. For this reason, a vote was made by the competitors to scale back the slopestyle component of the competition to two days instead of three.

This change in schedule gives riders the opportunity to relax and recuperate energy for the notorious 28 Stairs rail jam event on Wednesday night.

Richard Hegarty, Event Organiser and founder of Stylewars, couldn’t be happier with the event so far. “Apart from Gjermund’s injury, everything has run perfectly.”

He says, “The sunshine (with no wind!) has given our 25 riders the best chance at performing their best. What’s more is that unlike previous years, our Aussies are dominating the scoreboard, which is fantastic to see. This could well be in fact in the best Stylewars we’ve ever had in the past 10 years running.”

Judged on their two best runs of the two-hour competition window, riders will need to throw down their best performances tomorrow to secure their share of the $25,000 prize money. The winner of Stylewars 2011 will be announced in the afternoon.

Day One top Stylewars results

Scotty James (AUS)
Clint Allan (AUS)
Pete Long (AUS)
Tor Lundström (SWE)
Andrew Roth (AUS)

Stylewars 2011 setup. In short - Sweet as mate!

Be honest. You’re not doing any work now anyway so check out the extended highlights of the action from the Dew Hut Jam 2011 in Oz.

If you’ve got a spare 8 minutes 11 seconds then immerse yourself in Australia’s shred scene. Sure, it’s not quad corking or first track cab 10ing, but it’s a neat window on a fun-looking event down under. And that Jye Kearney sure looked stoked to have won the shebang…

The Black Yeti is back for a repeat season with Thredbo hosting the 2nd ever Australian Rookie Fest from 18th – 19th August, 2011. It will be a 2 star TTR slopestyle event with competitors earning points towards the TTR world ranking, international and national rookie rankings. A unique chance for top young riders to test themselves in an international field!

The World Rookie Tour is organised by the World Snowboard Federation and aims to provide competitors under 18 years of age with an international sporting experience including ‘a slopestyle competition, sport, fun, didactical activities and get together moments for riders of different nationalities. Last year’s male Rookie and Grom winners Billy Hayman and Henry Bessell, travelled to the World Rookie Fest Finals in Ischgl Austria in April 2011.

On his return Henry commented that it was an awesome experience. “When I won the grom section of the Australian Rookie Fest, I had no idea where Ischgl was or what it would be like. This was my first time in Europe and it was really different from riding in both Australia and the USA. While it took about 30 hours to get there, it was worth it – the mountains were huge. The Gondola took 20min to get 3/4 of the way up the mountain and it wasn’t going slow. The food (fresh baked croissants every morning for breakfast) was good start to the day, my German was terrible and the nightlife was wicked BUT best of all – I had my first photo shoot and I had a great time riding with junior snowboarders from all over the world. It was so good, I am aiming to go back to Ischgl and the World Rookie Fest Finals again.” Henry stated.

Among the many prizes offered this year, all podium place getters in both Rookie and Grom divisions, qualify to compete in the 4 star TTR World Rookie Finals in Ischgl in April 2012. The male and female Rookie winners will also win an all inclusive entry including registration, accommodation, meals and lift tickets. The male and female Grom winners will win an all inclusive entry into the Livigno World Rookie Fest, held in January, 2012. The event has also joined forces with Stylewars – The Australian Slopestyle Championships, a 4 star TTR event, with the male and female Rookie winners winning a free of charge entry to the event to be held in Falls Creek from 20th – 24th August. To be eligible for this prize they must have also competed in the Australian Junior Snowboarding Series.

With the recently announced inclusion of slopestyle as an Olympic event in Sochi, Russia, in 2014, there is likely to be a lot of interest, with the Australian Rookie Fest and the World Rookie Tour providing an excellent competition pathway for our junior athletes.

Watch this space: The World Snowboard Federation recently announced its intention to focus on the Australian Rookie Fest in 2012 making it a 3 star TTR event. The WSF Vice President, Marco Sampaoli will be attending with a film crew to shoot some footage for inclusion in their World Rookie Tour TV show in 2013. They have also announced that winners of some World Rookie Tour events in Europe in 2011 will qualify to compete down under in the Australian Rookie Fest in 2012. “It is great to see Australian snowboard community so active and it is a priority for the WSF World Rookie Tour to involve them more and more in the international movement” stated Marco Sampaoli.

Thanks must go to our to our sponsors and supporters without which the event would not be possible: Red Bull International, Thredbo, K2 Snowboards, Adrenalin Boardstore, Smith Optics, Skull Candy, Semantics, World Snowboard Federation, TTR, Ski and Snowboard Australia and Snowsports NSW.

Event application form is attached or can be found HERE.