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ALP & SBX ATHLES INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STONEHAM WC February 9 2011 NOTICE: ALPINE & SNOWBOARDCROSS ATHLETES INVITED TO PARTICIPATE IN THE STONEHAM WORLD CUP In accordance with the Canada ~ Snowboard Selection Protocol for 2010 -11 World Cup Events, the athletes listed below have been invited to represent Canada at the Stoneham World Cup in the Alpine and Snowboardcross disciplines from February 14 – 20 2011. ALPINE Women -Caroline Calvé (Lachine, Quebec) -Ariane Lavigne (Lac-Supérieure, Quebec) -Ekaterina Zavialova (Calgary, Alberta) -Mariannne Leeson (Burlington, Ontario) -Megan Farrell (Richmond Hill, Ontario) -Cora Fellows (Mississauga, Ontario) Men -Matthew Morison (Blackstock, Ontario) -Michael Lambert (Toronto, Ontario) -Patrick Farrell (Kamloops, British Columbia) -Matt Carter (Maryhill, Ontario) -Darren Gardner (Burlington, Ontario) -Steve Barlow (Courtice, Ontario) -Richard Evanhoff (Pickering, Ontario) -Sebastien Beaulieu (Sherbrooke, Quebec) -Indrik Trahan (Trois Rivières, Quebec) -Olivier Vachon (Quebec, Quebec) SNOWBOARDCROSS Women -Maelle Ricker (Squamish, British Columbia) -Dominique Maltais (Petite-Rivière-St-François, Quebec) -Ziggy Cowan (Banff, Alberta) -Sarah Hunter (Athabasca, Alberta) -Michelle Brodeur (Calgary, Alberta) -Justine Coté (Petite-Rivière-St-François, Quebec) Men -Mike Robertson (Canmore, Alberta) -Fraçois Boivin (Jonquière, Quebec) -Robert Fagan (Squamish, British Columbia) -Tom Velisek (Squamish, British Columbia) -Kevin Hill (Vernon, British Columbia) -Christopher Robanske (Calgary, Alberta) -Jake Holden (Caledon, Ontario) -Dan Csokonay (Calgary, Alberta) -Pat Tunnicliffe (Whister, British Columbia) -Matt Tunnicliffe (Vancouver, British Columbia) -Robert Ritchie (Edmonton Alberta) -Pierce Smith (Caledon, Ontario) Any person wishing to appeal a Canada ~ Snowboard selection decision must do so in accordance with the Canada ~ Snowboard Appeals Policy, which is available on the Canada ~ Snowboard website (www.canadasnowboard.ca).

SEOUL, South Korea (AP) -- Skiing officials canceled a World Cup snowboard cross competition scheduled in South Korea on Monday after athletes and coaches complained the course was too dangerous and too difficult. International Ski Federation and Korea Ski Association representatives had an emergency meeting with coaches Sunday night after competitors claimed the course at the Yongpyong ski resort in Pyeongchang was too steep with too many turns. Pyeongchang is mounting its third bid to host the Winter Olympics, and the cancellation comes just before an International Olympic Committee team is due in South Korea from Feb. 16-19 to inspect the city's 2018 bid. Event spokesman Ma Seung-woo, speaking by telephone from Pyeongchang in eastern Gangwon Province, said "the athletes' safety is the top priority." He said snowboarders were concerned about injuries and called it an "unprecedented" example of athletes and coaches asking to halt a competition. In collision-prone snowboard cross, competitors speed down a narrow course navigating steep, sharp turns and jumps in a race to the finish line. Canadian team coach and former snowboard cross champion Drew Neilson said: "The turns were very tight, on a very steep pitch. With the speed involved, if there was an accident, there would be nowhere for anyone to go. ... It's a dangerous sport." The snowboard cross, the fourth event in the FIS World Cup season, will be rescheduled at another venue, officials said. Meanwhile, the parallel slalom event will go on as planned Wednesday, Ma said. Neilson blamed FIS officials for picking the wrong slope. "We all came to the agreement that we wouldn't compete to show FIS that they have to do a better job in preparing for the event," Neilson said. "They made a mistake."

Congrats to Pierce Hes a good rider. With some of the riders down its a good time for him to take advantage. Good Luck. Qualifiying for the finals would awsome.

Just a thought maybe they should rename it The X-Ray Games. :D

Up date on some of the injuries at the X Games on the Money Booter Broken Wrist Broken Back Broken Ankle Dislocated Shoulder and at least 4 concussions maybe more Several brusied heels ( some of these could have been from landing on wrong side of rollers. Hope they tune this feature down next year!

One of the reasons they called it the money booter was during the qualifiers Dan CSOKONAY of Canada came over the last feature and hit so hard that the impact of his butt hitting snow ripped open his pants pocket, knocking his wallet out with all his money spread all over the finish area. He was out after that fall.

I guess what bothered me more than anything that during the warm ups when some of the boarders were getting hurt. The camera guys were right on top of the athletes filming there pain. Then they would constantly show over and over there crashes on the big screens. Then when it came to TV time they never mentioned why there were 5 man heats instead of 6 or talked about the guys who were put out due to injury.

Just came back from the X games. I love watching SBX, the last feature coming into the finish looked great for TV. What you don't here about was all the injuries during practice runs and final warm up to race. About 30 guys showed up to race this event, by the timerace day came 21 wre left, most of them were injured on the last feature. By the end of the race about 18 were left. I hoping that by next year they tame down the last feature to help save some carnage. This is on the mens side I'm not sure about the women

7 Canadains Qualify for finals 3 finish in top 10 Dom and Mielle 1 and 2

This is what I am hereing as well, in Canada, some here seem to be either packing it in or switching to SBX

I am relieved to see that there is still lots of interest. Seems most of the hard platers are coming from east, not surprised, with the lack of powder most would love to carve. I still am interested to know what is going on with the American Team. Why the split? All the attention seems to be with the SBX and HP Teams

So is there a problem behind the scenes, or is this just part of thr growing pains of the sport.

I'm just wondering where Alpine racing is going in North America. To me it seems stagnet and going no where. Can someone inlighten me on where it might be going. I follow it as much as possible, but I find myself more interested in watching SBX. I just looked at the US Snowboard Team and see that they have only 2 members listed and no B team as do the rest.

don"t be expecting the length of BM. Caledon is only about 180 Verticle, but you will get alot of runs in one day.

Caledon Ski Club, open to the public Wed and Fridays. Not sure, it might be open to public over March break. Phone and check first. The grooming is second to none. On W and F you can go up and down all day with no line ups. Straight up Mississauga Rd. The hills are not long but when there is hardly no one there who care when you van go up and down all day.

I will second that. I talked to a couple of the forerunners for the SBX who have done some WC races as well. Most of the riders loved the course and the challenge. Some even agreed that it was one of the most difficult courses they had run. It allowed for passing which is very important.

One more thing, I really wish in the future, we can get some one with a more positive attitude doing the colour commatating, was Rob Steven's not asked.

Love to watch SBX, but with the ladies it is much like watching womens hockey, there are only a few maybe five world class boarders. Hopfully with Mielle's Gold, we in Canada get start producing world class SBXers on the womens side. I believe we have good ones coming up in the mens but not sure about the girls

Just wanted to say what a awsome SBX. Congrats to Mike for his Silver. Thanks to you Mike I'm $100 richer. I picked you to medal:biggthump

awsome I only hope, is that funding keeps coming after the Olympics.

Gongrats to Mike L. I really like the way he is peaking at the right time. The kid is in a good state of mind, I like his chances at the Olympics. I just hope the snow conditions don't affect the mind set of all our snowboarders. To bad for Matt, not sure weather he has enough time to recover in time to be at his peak. My money is still on JJ, Go Canada Go

Is there a rough idea how long to build and how much a sbx board would cost (Ballpark)

I was in Cypress a couple years ago, Now I can understand why they picked it for a venue, because of its proximity to Vancouver. But I would have bet 100 dollars back then that they would have had weather and snow issues back then. I feel sorry for the Athletes, if the conditions continue it will be a real downer. Its no wonder they have no webcams on that hill

If the snow holds up at Cypress and stays firm Mike could do very well