Last year's fan favourite event, Snowboard Streetstyle, returned to the streets of downtown Breckenridge, Colorado as part of the Dew Tour iON Mountain Championships, and once again the streets were flooded with spectators cheering on some of their favourite riders hucking themselves on a truly unique course.
There was incredibly technical tricks thrown on the tight course, and it was Darcy Sharpe from Comox riding out of the event winning not only the overall, but also the best trick. Sharpe held nothing back and managed to slide a frontside bluntslide across the dumpster feature before spinning 450 out.
Complete with railroad tie pole jams, a wallride feature with a pipe running across the top, a throwback Toyota Corolla fully painted, a dumpster to slide and even a fire pit gap with a fence to clear — this year's streetstyle course stepped it up a serious notch. The obstacles that were used featured riding you would only see in the streets.
The streetstyle event format consisted of a 30-minute organized jam with 18 riders taking turns on the unique course being judged on their overall impression. There was both overall impression and a best trick awarded. Sharpe won both.
Coming into this year's event were some returning athletes such as Seth Hill, Sam Hulbert and last year's champ Eric Beauchmin. In addition were some big names like Haldor Helgason, Jamie Nichols and Germund Bratten. The talent on the course had the crowds glued to the action and cheering on their favourites.
"Streetstyle is cool," said Sharpe amazed that he took the win from the other heavy hitters in the lineup. "I like to see people just hucking themselves. It's sick to have street competitions, it always shows the style involved in snowboarding," claimed Sharpe. He went on to speak to the excitement to ride with fellow competitors and praised their efforts. "I love Halldor [Helgason], so it was sick riding with him. Everybody killed it!"
Sharpe, a member of the Canada Snowboard National team, is competing in next week’s Snowboard Slopestyle World Cup in Copper Colorado before taking a break to come home to the Comox Valley for Christmas.