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Perhaps the most distinct separator between snowboarding and any team sport is that there is no element of competition necessary to participate. Sure, you can toss a ball back and forth, but by definition football is a contest. So is basketball, and so is soccer. Snowboarding doesn’t have to be. But competing is fun, and sometimes you want to beat your friends and make them buy you beers. The banked slalom craze that has swept snowboarding makes sense. A combination of community and competitive components come together to create something easy to latch onto, as a snowboarder and a person.
But before this trend caught on, sanctioned competition in snowboarding was stuck in a state of existence primarily at two levels. We’ll call these tiers USASA and US Open. Sure, there were exceptions, but by and large, there were scant chances for most snowboarders to bet a round of drinks on the results of an official time clock or scoring system.
For the last three years, Slash & Burn has given that opportunity to snowboarders living in Steamboat or willing to make the trek to the little mountain town three hours northwest of Denver. This year’s course rode like a banked slalom should. It wasn’t a waxing game, but a contest of who could hold it together through thirteen hairball berms. If you didn’t feel a little out of control and entirely out of breath by the bottom of the course, your time reflected that, negatively.
Steamboat’s massive contrast in temperatures from day to night during this time of year thawed and froze the berms enough times to create a course that swallowed people up and spit others out. But regardless of the difficulty level of a banked course, it is by default something that anyone with the ability to confidently turn a snowboard can participate it. Slash & Burn, like any banked slalom, is an excuse for snowboarders to get together and snowboard. The time on the track is only a few minutes out of an entire day, leaving ample room for sidehits and celebration — despite your race results.
Results:
Men’s Open Class
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Jake Black | 59.371 |
2 | Matt Ladley | 1:00.43 |
3 | Davis Johnsonn | 1:01.74 |
4 | Dash Kamp | 1:02.09 |
5 | Jake LaRue | 1:02.27 |
6 | Cody Winters | 1:02.51 |
7 | Billy Winters | 1:02.67 |
8 | Lucas Dehmlow | 1:03.06 |
9 | Blake Eddington | 1:03.23 |
10 | Jason Cook | 1:03.35 |
Women’s Open Class
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Tori Koski | 1:08.89 |
2 | Celia Miller | 1:10.70 |
3 | Savanna Atkins | 1:12.18 |
4 | Cora McCloskey | 1:13.13 |
5 | Annabel Tuddhope | 1:13.20 |
6 | Natalie Geer | 1:14.77 |
7 | Isabelle Lalive | 1:15.59 |
8 | Kaitlyn Farrington | 1:17.62 |
9 | Nichole Mason | 1:18.21 |
10 | Mariah Starkey | 1:19.42 |
Men’s Amateur Class (18-34)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Jason Blair | 1:08.50 |
2 | Andrew Wight | 1:08.91 |
3 | Buddy Bowes | 1:09.88 |
4 | Vincent McComb | 1:10.20 |
Women’s Amateur Class (18-34)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Jenna Shlachter | 1:24.12 |
2 | Allison Berger | 1:25.81 |
3 | Kim Chotvacs | 1:28.89 |
4 | Katie Liefer | 1:36.91 |
Men’s Masters Class (35+)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Kelly Greenlee | 1:26.56 |
2 | Listle Isaacs | 1:36.31 |
3 | Erin Pashley | 1:51.64 |
4 | Christine Sperber | 2:00.27 |
Women’s Masters Class (35+)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Gary Wyman | 1:03.31 (Suspect) |
2 | Spencer Tamblyn | 1:06.72 |
3 | Jay Isaacs | 1:06.80 |
4 | Scott Loeppert | 1:07.84 |
Boy’s Teen Class (14-17)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Winston Vaughn | 1:05.01 |
2 | Gabriel Irlandini | 1:09.08n |
3 | Tyler Robison | 1:10.75 |
4 | Cade Klawiter | 1:13.73 |
Girl’s Teen Class (14-17)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Montana Braden | 1:14.14 |
2 | Grace Drobek | 1:14.46 |
3 | Kaitlin Hancock | 1:19.87 |
4 | Lyndsey Anderson | 1:21.91 |
Boy’s Youth Class (9-13)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Marty Boyd | 1:07.28 |
2 | Johnny Duty | 1:11.54n |
3 | Forrest Christian | 1:15.57 |
4 | CJ Smith | 1:16.33 |
Girl’s Youth Class (9-13)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Rebecca Dillon | 1:29.88 |
2 | Kendall Harrington | 1:31.88 |
3 | Tatum Lightner | 1:34.03 |
4 | Sophie Scheel | 1:36.42 |
Boy’s From Class (8 & Under)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Seamus Malia | 1:30.06 |
2 | Jett Nemec | 1:32.14 |
3 | Isaak Loeppert | 1:38.51 |
4 | Carter Einfield | 1:46.49 |
Girl’s From Class (8 & Under)
Place | Rider | Time |
1 | Isabelle Drobek | 2:19.82 |
2 | Marley Moore | 2:29.28 |
3 | Jordan Casavecchia | 2:30.49 |
4 | Natalia Golaszewski | 2:41.86 |
Full results here.
2015 Slash and Burn coverage.