DEW HUT JAM 2011 HIGHLIGHTS

TEAM BURTON TAKE OUT 1st PRIZE AT AUSTRALIA’s ONLY TEAM EVENT: DEW HUT JAM

Burton Snowboard team riders Chris De Campo and Jye Kearney (both 18 years-old) took out first prize in the 3rd year of Australia’s biggest team snowboarding event, the 3-star TTR WORLD SNOWBOARDING TOUR, Dew Hut Jam.

After competing together for the first time in last year’s event, the pair walked away sharing a $10,000 cheque after narrowly beating out Team Billabong during the 90-minute jam session jumping and jibbing the Dew Hut, which was the focus of theslope-style event.

Both winning riders were stoked to take home the big bucks.  “Oh my god! I can’t believe it! I’ve never won so much money in my life, I’m so stoked,” says one half of the winning team, Jindabyne local Jye Kearney.

Kearney also romped in the Gatorade Rookie award, taking a solid total amount of $9000 to put straight back into his career. “It was a huge surprise to win the Rookie award, I wasn’t really thinking about it but I just landed all my tricks and runs and the judging took care of it – I’m so stoked. I’m putting all the money straight in the bank.”

Winning teammate Chris De Campo took out the Gatorade Rookie award in 2010 and happily passed the baton on to his fellow Burton rider. “I’m pretty pumped to see what he does with the Gatorade Rookie award, it made adifference to my career and am pretty sure it will help him too,“ he comments.

In his second outing at the Dew Hut Jam, De Campo says consistency played a role in Burton’s result. “We landed nearly everything and also pulled out some pretty big tricks.”

The Dew Hut Jam course is known throughout the snowboarding industry as one of a kind for not only its unique course structure but also as an event that that encourages competition between Australian and New Zealand snowboarders.

“It’s so good to have an event that supports team camaraderie. I will definitely be back next year,” says De Campo.

Event curator Russell Holt says “the event is brilliant because of its unique format – there’s nothing else like it – snowboarders are in teams of two and they have to ride together landing consistent, technical and creative tricks. It really challenges the riders whom are usually competing by themselves in slope-style events.”

The expression event also encourages competitors to vie for best team trick. K2 competitors Nick Wood and Andy Lloyd wowed the judges with their backside rodeo 540 and switch backside rodeo 540 combo, stealing themselves $1,000 each.

“We practiced it a few times and knew each other’s strengths from riding together overseas, so decided to go with that and end it with a bit of a bang,” comments Lloyd.

Dew Hat Jam is the richest free-style event held in Australia and is also a 3-Star TTR Snowboard World Tour event, from which competitors gain points for their overall TTR ranking.