One of the great things about riding down under is we are used to making the most of what we have, so when an event of epic proportions comes along we know its time to go a bit mental and live it up. This year the Aussie and NZ Open events return to some serious buzz and what has, so far, turned out to be some of the best riding ever seen south of the equator

With a record number of people registered this year, the NZ Open always looked like being an epic event - 260 riders from 16 countries descending on Snow Park NZ for five days of world-class snowboarding action, culminating in the show-stopping halfpipe event on Saturday 11 August.

In addition to top names already announced such as last year’s winners, Mason Aguirre (USA) and Kelly Clark (USA), the event also attracted the likes of Ryo Aono (JPN), currently ranked #1 on the World Cup circuit, Anti Autti (FIN) who scored silver in the US Open Halfpipe and Iouri Podladtchikov (RUS), a silver medalist in the European Open Halfpipe.

The women’s field was also extremely strong with reigning champion Kelly Clark pitting her wits against some strong contenders. Paulina Ligocka (POL) is currently ranked #4 on the World Cup circuit and Torah Bright (AUS), is a Winter X Games 07 and US Open 07 gold medalist as well as current World Superpipe Champion.