Chas Guldemond prevails in stage one of 2011 Ultimate Boarder
The fourth edition of the Ultimate Boarder Championship kicked off on Saturday, April 2, at the Mammoth Mountain in California. The first of the three stages of the triathlon featured
some of the world’s most exciting action sports athletes taking each other on in a snowboarding slopestyle battle.
After an intense battle, it was Chas Guldemond from Nevada who managed to clinch the win. Finishing in second place was Mammoth Lakes local Trevor Jacob. The Ultimate Boarder veteran from
New Jersey, Shayne Pospisil, rounded out the podium by finishing in the third place.
A line-up comprising of both professional and amateur athletes headed to Mammoth Mountains with the hopes of snatching an early lead in the race for the Ultimate Boarder title and a portion
of the US$50,000 prize purse. The determination to get a head-start at this year’s contest drove the talented athletes to exhibit impressive performances.
Eventually it came down to the last two runs of the day to decide the fate of the snowboarding contest. Jacob stood at the first place with a 0.3 lead over Guldemond, who was left with
his last two runs to jump ahead of Jacob.
Failing to land an impressive second-last run, Guldemond found himself under extreme pressure to make the last run really count. However, he managed to hold his nerves and landed a sensational
run, pulling off a 900 and switch double cork 1080. The last-minute effort placed him 1.6 points ahead of Jacob, sealing the fate of the contest with him as the winner.
In a post-contest interview to a journalist, Guldemond said, “At all my events I have entered this year, it keeps coming down to my last run. Overall it was a great day with spring conditions,
and it was really fun to watch surfers and skaters all ride together.”
Other than the individual battles between the athletes, the contest also featured team division and for the first time ever, an Ultimate Boarder Grom Division.
In the team division, Garrett Warnick led Team Encrypted to the top spot while Revolt team managed to secure second place, courtesy of Mark Reininga. Team Lost ended up in third place.
The Grom division featured athletes aged 15 years and under in a team based showdown. Big Chilli took the top spot in the Grom division as Gabe Ferguson managed to outperform his rival
on the slopestyle course.
Guldemond may have gotten a head start, but he does not feel too confident going into the surfing competition. Talking about the upcoming surfing contest, he said, “I'll be the guy in
the leader's jersey going out into the surf and getting pummelled. I'm thinking about bringing a life vest out there.”
After the second stage, the athletes will head off to the Seaside Reef Parking Lot for the final stage of the contest, skateboarding, which will be followed by the award ceremony. The
athlete showing impressive performance in all three disciplines will be crowned as the overall solo champion. An overall team champ will also be getting crowned.
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