MINI Creative Use of Space Award goes into round two: Prize money and extra BGOS credits for riders, as well as a new award for shaping crews.

Snowboarding lives off the riders’ creativity – no matter if it’s during a competition or while freeriding. Nowadays, with snowboarding being more popular and mainstream than ever before, it is important to not lose sight of the basic ideas of snowboarding: progression is not just about Spin To Win but also about creativity and the interaction with all sorts of features and snow.

MINI got together with Burton Snowboards and integrated their principal motto of ‘Creative Use of Space’ into the Burton Global Open Series (BGOS). After the huge success of the Creative Use of Space (CUoS) Awards during the 2010/2011 season, they will now go into the round two – a revised edition.

Creative points for the riders and a new award for shape crews

MINI and Burton were brought together based on a common passion for creative handling of the surroundings and making the best use of the available resources and space. By combining the CUoS Awards with one of the world’s most important event series, snowboarders will be rewarded not just for their technical skills but for their creativity as well. Thus the most creative riders will collect important points towards their overall BGOS ranking.

In addition to awarding the riders, for the first time this season, the shape crews responsible for the design and build of the four slopestyle courses will be competing for a CUoS award of their own. This way, from the riders to the shapers, MINI is rewarding those who demonstrate the highest level of creativity.

CUoS Halfpipe and Slopestyle Awards

The judges during the halfpipe finals will not only judge riders according to the usual criteria, but will also look out for stylish and creative tricks. Called “the other trick” judges will be looking for tricks that can be defined as progressive, creative and unusual, as well as creative grabs. At slopestyle, there will be a specially made CUoS Feature within the course, which will create the perfect platform on which to judge the riders’ creativity.

Like the pipe, the one rider who handles the CUoS feature in the most innovative way will win. This means creative tricks and grabs and overall creative use of the feature. Each CUoS Award given away at the BGOS 2011/12 will not only come with prize money of up to US$ 5,000, but also adds 25 points which factors into a riders‘ final overall BGOS ranking which can advance finalists by more than one place within the overall BGOS rating.

CUoS Slopestyle Feature Award Supported by MINI, at each contest within the BGOS 2011/2012, the respective shape crews will have the opportunity to design a feature according to their own ideas which within the particular slopestyle course. A judging crew consisting of snowboard legends, pros and media will award the most creative solution at the end of the tour. The crews from the resorts of Cardrona Alpine Resort (NZ), Canada Olympic Park, Calgary Alberta (CA), Laax (CH) and Stratton, Vermont (USA) will have therewith the chance to not only influence the contest but to also take home prize money of US$5.000.

For more info read the corresponding Creative Use of Space Slopestyle and Halfpipe press releases or come to the riders meetings!

As the kick-off to the Burton Global Open Series, the BNZO will get underway on Tuesday, August 9th with official training, followed by slopestyle pre-qualifiers and qualifiers and the same for halfpipe the next day, August 10th.

On Thursday, August 11th, things will get down to business with the slopestyle semi-finals where the top 8 women and 16 men will advance to the finals on Friday August 12th. Next up are the halfpipe semi-finals and finals with the women’s contest set for Friday, August 12th followed by the finals on Saturday, August 13th, while the men will battle it out all in one day on Saturday.

For more info and the live webcast go to opensnowboarding.com

As the presenting sponsor, MINI will play a key role in the BGOS, starting with the Burton European Open (BEO) next month in Laax, Switzerland. Along with a variety of other onsite activities like MINI test drives, MINI will provide athlete and VIP shuttle services at the BEO in the new MINI Countryman.

The partnership between Burton and MINI also includes two awards that MINI will present to competitors at the US Open, the final BGOS event of the season. In addition to the Burton purse of $50,000 cash, the male and female rider with the most BGOS points for the 2010/2011 series will each receive a new MINI Countryman. MINI has also created a special rider award that’s in line with the carmaker’s ‘Creative Use of Space’ philosophy. The ‘Creative Use of Space’ award will be an additional cash prize given to one male and one female rider who have shown creativity and progression throughout the BGOS series.

Below is a list of upcoming BGOS events, all presented by MINI.

European Open January 8-15, 2011 Laax, Switzerland
Canadian Open February 1-6, 2011 Canada Olympic Park, Calgary, Alberta
US Open March 7-13, 2011 Stratton Mountain Resort, USA

For more information on the Burton Global Open Series, head to opensnowboarding.com.

The season hasn’t even started yet, but Burton already announced the dates for the European Open: January 8 – 15, 2011. Once again the games will be going down in the Swiss resort Laax, that is just as famous for it’s parks as it is infamous for heavy partying…

The BEO is the second event of the 2010/2011 Burton Global Open Series and a 6Star TTR event where more than 400 riders – women, men and kids – have the chance to compete for prestigious titles, a piece of the $125,000 USD prize purse and key ranking points for both the TTR as well as the BGOS.

More info on opensnowboarding.com