Snow Welcomes Race to the Cup to Copper

PARK CITY, Utah (Nov.16, 2008) - The 2007 U.S. Snowboarding Race to the Cup series opens Monday at Copper Mountain with nearly 20 inches of fresh snow blanketing the Colorado resort in the past week. The first of three stops on the calendar, the Nov. 20-21 event features both parallel giant slalom and parallel slalom with a total purse of $3000 on the line for each event.

Sandwiched in between a sports science training camp in Park City, UT and the Thanksgiving holiday, U.S. Team riders moved directly from four days in the gym to an additional four days of 6:00 a.m. lift rides at Copper. The resort allows teams to train daily, prior to the mountain's 9:00 a.m. opening to the public.

"We're all a little bit tired," said reigning national champion Justin Reiter (Steamboat Springs, CO), "but we'll take a couple of days off now to rest our bodies, then get right back into preparing for the race. After Thanksgiving, it's pretty much full-on competition until spring, so it's good to have this one close to home."

"Copper is always a great event," added Head Coach Steve Persons. "They do a great job of preparing the race hill and we always have a big field for this event. The Canadians are here, the Swedes and then all the club programs, so the competition is pretty tight."

With a month-long break from the World Cup, which resumes Dec. 3 in S. Viglio di Marebbe, Italy, the event regularly attracts an international field of top-level alpine riders. Yet it also serves as the springboard for young riders across the country, each eager to qualify for the next level by going head-to-head with the World's elite in the Race to the Cup.

"I do love competing here at Copper Mountain, it's always fun for me and I've had some pretty good success here," said 2002 Olympic bronze medalist Chris Klug (Aspen, CO), who won back-to-back races at Copper last season. "Anytime I get a chance to race in Colorado, my friends and family can come and check it out and that's pretty special."

Both men and women will race PGS on the 20th with PSL to follow on the 21st. The series then rolls west to Steamboat Springs, CO, Jan. 5-6 and concludes on the East Coast at Vermont's Bromley Mountain on March 10-11.

For complete details on the U.S. Snowboarding Race to the Cup: http://www.ussa.org/PublishingFolder/423_3166.htm.

The U.S. Snowboarding Race to the Cup series is sponsored by Chevrolet, Donek, Bomber Industries and Barilla.

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