Swatch Ticket to Ride World Snowboard Tour
Freestyle snowboarding has stepped out of the shadows and made its way into the public eye for quite a while now. Without any doubt, the credit for this progression goes to an entity that has been striving hard to not only enhance the competitive freestyle
snowboarding experience, but also to place it in the list of major global sports. The entity is none other than the renowned Swatch Ticket to Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour.
The TTR World Tour was established in 2002 by Terje Haakonsen, along with a group of interested event organizers and snowboard brand representatives, with the intention of taking freestyle snowboarding to an entirely new level.
It is commonly believed that TTR World Tour functions as a governing body in the world of freestyle snowboarding, perceiving it as something similar to ICC for cricket or FIFA for football. This is quite a misconception, as TTR is simply a non-profit organization
that represents the progression of the sport and the interests of the riders.
TTR acts as a platform where the snowboard industry as well as the different athletes and events can interconnect and create a high-quality competitive freestyle environment. It does not organize events, but rather acts as an umbrella that covers independent
freestyle snowboarding events and provides a ranking system for the riders competing in these events.
Of course these snowboarding events need to get registered in TTR to be considered for ranking. Currently the slopestyle, half-pipe, Big Air/straight jump, quarterpipe, hip/corner jump and rail jams are included in the tour.
The TTR Tour starts at the Southern Hemisphere in August, and moves up to the Northern Hemisphere each November, enabling the riders to compete in a 10-month season. The riders, both men and women, participate in different freestyle snowboarding competitions,
earning points based on their performance in the event and the level of competition as judged by TTR according to some well defined standards.
A rider’s final ranking is determined by taking an average of their best six results from the season. The male and female riders with the best average in the season end up earning the title of the TTR Champion. The Champions are declared at the last high
profile (6Star) event of the season, in March. The crown is awarded at the Burton US Open to the Men and Women World Champion.
A prize purse worth $200,000 is distributed among the Top 5 men and Top 3 women on the ranking table by TTR at the end of each season. The Champions for the 20010-11 season were Finland’s Peetu Piiroinen and America’s Jamie Anderson.
In order to maintain a rookie-to-pro structure and allowing fresh talent to climb the ranks and develop their careers in freestyle snowboarding, Swatch TTR tour uses a “Star” system to clearly distinguish between the amateur and professional level events.
The Stars indicate the global significance of the contest, hence the media coverage and exposure, and the quantity of the TTR Ranking points that can be obtained. Stars also denote the overall quality and level of competition. 1 Star is the lowest rating
an event can get whereas 6 Stars is the highest.
Lower Star events, 1-3 Stars to be more precise, specifically provide a platform for the amateurs and rookies to enter the freestyle snowboarding scene and prove themselves.
As they become adept at the sport, their points start increasing and they start getting more recognition. They gradually start getting invites for higher Stars events where the level of competition is high, along with increased exposure and prize money.
5Stars and 6Stars events are the battleground for the snowboarders who have mastered the snow and possess the skills and determination to make a serious impact in the freestyle snowboarding contest. The level of competition, global media coverage and serious
prize money ends up attracting top riders from all over the world to participate in these events.
Swatch Ticket to Ride World Tour is playing an extremely crucial role in promoting freestyle snowboarding and getting it a status of a major global sport. It’s making a commendable effort to maintain the fun and creative side of the sport inside the competitive
freestyle tour.
With increasing number of independent freestyle snowboarding events finding themselves under the TTR umbrella, TTR is definitely on the road to success.
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