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Breckenridge Throwback Throwdown celebrates 30 years of snowboarding

Sebastian Foltz
sfoltz@summitdaily.com
A pair of snowboarders air out of the Breckenridge superpipe earlier this season. The resort will host their fourth annual Throwback Throwdown this Saturday, March 28, to celebrate the mountain's 30-year snowboarding history. The the two-part competition will feature runs in the Olympic sized superpipe as well as a hand-dug retro 6-foot halfpipe commemorating the first halfpipe built at the resort.
Sebastian Foltz / sfoltz@summitdaily.com |

Breckenridge will be going retro this Saturday to celebrate 30 years of snowboarding at the mountain with their fourth annual Throwback Throwdown snowboard competition.

“We’re proud of our snowboarding heritage and this is a great event to honor that,” resort spokeswoman Kristen Petitt Stewart said of the competition. “We couldn’t be more excited that people come and take the time to participate. It’s a great mix of legends, pros and people from the snowboarding community.”

Snowboarding’s past and present will collide with pros from multiple generations competing for a $17,000 prize purse.



The two-part competition will feature runs in the 22-foot Olympic sized superpipe, as well as a 6-foot hand-dug mini-pipe designed to replicate Breckenridge’s first halfpipe built in 1985.

Winners will be decided based on their combined scores from both competitions.



“This event has always been one of my favorites of the year,” X Games and Olympic snowboarder Arielle Gold said. “It brings together a rad group of riders to celebrate another awesome season with some sunny spring shredding.”

She and her U.S. Olympic teammate and brother Taylor are among current pros expected to participate.

Competitors are encouraged to dress accordingly in retro gear, as part of celebration commemorating the snowboarding traditions of Breckenridge.

The resort was one of the first to allow snowboarding back in the winter of 1984-85 and has since come to embrace it with their world renowned terrain park and hosting annual competitions like the Dew Tour Mountain Championships.

In the early days of snowboarding the mountain hosted the 1986 World Snowboarding Championships, and later became the first resort to have a permanent halfpipe.

A number of X Games caliber athletes and Olympians now call the resort their home mountain because of it’s terrain park.

Tricks in Saturday’s competition will be limited to spins no larger than 540 degrees — one and a half rotations — in order to encourage creativity and more retro-style tricks.

“Because you can’t spin over 540 degrees, it allows riders to focus on doing smaller tricks with good style,” Gold said. “It’s also pretty entertaining — and humbling — to try to ride the hand-dug pipe.”

In addition to Taylor and Arielle Gold, Breck locals Zack Black and Benji Farrow are expected to be among pros participating. The snowboarding legends field will include Chad Otterstrom, Chris Pappass and Todd Franzen among others.

The competition will open Saturday morning at 9:45 a.m. in the superpipe and conclude in the afternoon in the mini-pipe.


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