SLOPESTYLE WEEKEND AT ITS FINEST AT THE IRON NIGHT 2009
Contest defined by a lot of action and good mood. The Iron Night 2009 was a veritable success in all respects. 126 starters participated highly motivated at the third tour stop of the Suzuki Wir Schanzen 2009 presented by Quiksilver at Crystal Ground – Snowpark Kleinwalsertal and provided a thrilling competition for the approximately 2.000 spectators and fans.

After the extreme snowfalls during the previous days, Mother Hulda stopped her work at least temporarily on Saturday. The team of park managers had a lot to do in the days before the Iron Night to handle the immense snow masses and to provide good conditions for the competition. However, on Saturday the snowpark at the bottom of the Kanzelwand in the Kleinwalsertal presented itself in perfect condition for the contest and the riders got along very well with the challenging setup.

Already on Friday afternoon the participants had the chance to get familiar with the many different obstacles and to prepare for the contest on Saturday. On Friday evening the Playboard Party presented by Skullcandy at the M&M Bar invited the already attendant Iron Night fans to a cozy warm up.

On Saturday morning a big crowd was to be seen at the riders’ accreditation. Due to the strong request for starting places, the field of starters had been extended from 100 to 126 riders in total in the categories ski and snowboard kids, girls and men without further ado.

Around 11:00 am the Iron Night 2009 started with the kids contest. Also at this tour stop the youngguns showed high class snowboarding and freeskiing with sophisticated tricks and a lot of style. In the category freeskiing Lukas Joas from Oberstdorf dominated with experienced, save riding. Felix Georgii from Sterklis was the one, who convinced the most in the category snowboard and deserved became first.

The contest for the categories snowboard and freeski girls and men started around 01:30 pm. In the qualification the riders had two runs to impress the competent and
experienced judges with their skills. In each category the best eight riders made it into the semi-finals.

At nightfall the floodlights were switched on and bathed the snowpark in bright light. Also the mood of the more and more attendant spectators became more hilarious every minute and the public was looking for the upcoming finals that consisted of semi-finals, finals and super-finals.

In the girls’ categories high class riding could be witnessed. The snowboarders as well as the freeskiers partially showed extremely hard tricks and used the complete snowpark for their runs.

The riding level in the mens’ categories was the highest in the Iron Night history. In
thrilling final battles hardest trick combinations were shown, which were condignly
rewarded with applause by the public. The snowboarder Paul Dreher from Dornbirn
deserved became first and prevailed against the local hero Dominik Schuster from
Mittelberg and the third placed Michael Öfner from Sellrain. In the freeski category Flo Geyer from Pfronten became first with an outstanding performance. Roy Kittler from Dresden became second and still leads the Suzuki Wir Schanzen ranking. Thadde Joas from Oberstdorf and Crystal Ground local made it up the podium as third.

Subsequent to the regular contest the spectators entered the centre of the snowpark and gathered around the massive centrepiece for the Red Bull Best Trick Contest. Besides an awesome upbox to drop, also a gapbox, a kinkrail as well as a picnic table were waiting for the participants. The public motivated the riders with a hilarious atmosphere and a lot of applause to hardest tricks. In the jam session the spectators even adopted the job of the judges and rated the tricks with applause.

In the freeski category Thadde Joas prevailed against his opponents with a nice 450 on 270 off on the gapbox. In the snowboard category it was Sascha Vossen from Neuss, where the applause of the public was the loudest, after having perfectly sticked a switch one footed 50/50 to drop on the upbox.

After the subsequent award ceremony the crowd moved in the direction of the casino, where the legendary Funk Food Aftershow Party opened its gates to condignly conclude the Iron Night 2009. Here, around 1.300 party people danced to pushing sounds from Dieter Funk, DJ Enne, DJ Karel as well as The Famous Deck Team. The VJ-team “Onkel Tuca” provided an awesome ambiance in the upper area.

The detailed results, the preliminary ranking of the Suzuki Wir Schanzen as well as the tour stop videos and pictures can be found on www.suzuki-wirschanzen.de.
The website www.crystalground.com offers all information on Crystal Ground – Snowpark Kleinwalsertal.

The upcoming events of the Suzuki Wir Schanzen 2009 presented by Quiksilver:

14.03.2009 Big Bäng Bolsterläng
Bolsterlang (GER) / Swatch TTR one (1) Star Event

04.04.2009 Night on Snow
Kempten City (GER) / Swatch TTR two (2) Star Event

17.04.2009 End of tour party
Kempten, Parktheater


Suzuki-Automobile – www.suzuki.de
Suzuki gehört zu den am schnellsten wachsenden Automarken in Deutschland und steht für höchste Qualität sowie ein hervorragendes Preis-Leistungs-Verhältnis. Der „Way of Life!“ des Kleinund Geländewagenspezialisten steht für die fünf Kernwerte Begeisterung, Bodenständigkeit, Wertigkeit, Sportlichkeit und Teamgeist. Im Fokus stehen dabei Engagements in den Bereichen Extrem- und Funsport, Rallye, Musik und Entertainment. In Deutschland zählt Suzuki darüber hinaus zu den führenden Anbietern von Motorrädern und Außenbordmotoren.

Quiksilver
Die Website www.quiksilver-europe.com bietet neben den aktuellen Kollektionen der
Qualitätsbrand für Streetwear, Beachwear und Funktionskleidung auch viele weitere Infos zu Events und Aktionen, bei denen sich Quiksilver engagiert.
Dateien: iron_night_2009_press_release_02_en.pdf