Sunday, February 6, 2000 -- Snowshoe, WV
Edge of the World Freestyle and Boardercross
Story and photos by Don Parks and Marty Lamp

[Coverage] Results: [Slopestyle] [Boardercross]
Pics: [Set 1] [Set 2] [Set 3] [Set 4] [Set 5] [Set 6]
For copies of the video as seen at the awards ceremony, contact videographer Brad Yurish.

Going big at Silver Creek

Recent snowfall and great weather combined for excellent conditions on Snowshoe's Mountaineer Terrain Park. A perfect stage for the sixth event in the Edge of the World 2000 Snowboard Series.

Two competitions were on the schedule starting with the Slopestyle, a freestyle event in which competitors ride over a series of various kinds of jumps. Each run was scored from 1 to 10 in four areas (Difficulty, How Big, Landing and Style) with each rider getting two runs. The winner was then determined by the highest combined score.

Amy Hastings during the slopestyle

With boarders from 9 to 39, and older, hitting jumps from the small to the wickedly large, pulling off moves from the basic Ollie to the technical Rodeo Air, the crowd of spectators were treated to non-stop excitement. And, on the occasion that a less than perfect landing was executed, it certainly hurt a lot less for those on the sidelines.

Scoring the highest, 19 out of a possible 20, for Difficulty was crowd pleaser Mike Wood, but for slopestyle you need to have the whole package working to get the win. Ben Millsapps was also going big and scored an event best 16 in the How Big category, but only grabbed a share of 3rd place overall with a 62 point total and a tie with Kevin Shelton.

Flying high and feeling fine

The overall high scores were earned by those who, while going for sick air, nailed their Landings while scoring well with a nice dose of Style. Both Tim Brinson and Kevin Colvard earned the judges best scores for Landings (18) and Style (15) with their big launches off the jumps. However, Brinson edged out the overall win by two points with a combined score of 66 to Colvard's 64.

Some of the biggest cheers were heard for the impressive shows put on by the expert women. Solomon/Bonfire's Whitney McVey ripped off huge moves which did not go unnoticed by the judges. Her women's best overall score of 57 included an 18 in the Difficulty portion. Also putting on a show was second overall Cat Hayes (42) riding well for Rossignol and Farmer's Backside.

Just another day in the park for Whitney McVey

Once the dust (or powder) cleared from the slopestyle arena, it was time to set up a course for the day's second event, a Boardercross battle, snowboarding's version of a Motocross. Racers ran head to head, down a gated obstacle course, in heats of four using a process of elimination to determine the winners.

In the Men's Open, the competition was tough. Early heats saw Tim Brinson and Pat Cumashot putting on some serious displays off speed, while winning their heats easily. Mike Wood and Shannon Boehmer each won their respective heats to advance to a final race that featured four guys who aren't afraid to fly.

Tim Brinson with the early lead in the final

Cumashot jumped out to the early lead, but by the midway point, Brinson was coming on strong and managed to pass Cumashot on the inside of the first hard left turn. Brinson would get the win, with Cumashot finishing second. Wood and Boehmer finished third and fourth overall, respectively.

Whitney McVey capped off a great day winning the Women's Open. McVey cruised through her preliminary heats by getting the lead early and increasing it the whole down the hill. In the final race, Cat Hayes gave her no room for error, but McVey had no problem getting to the front and staying there. Hayes finished second overall.

In the Men's Beginner division, Donnie Heftner proved that beginner racers can go fast, too. Heftner held off Brandon Brown's late charge to get the win, while Brown finished second.

Thanks go out to Silver Creek, Bryan Marshall, and all the staff that built up and laid out a great terrain park.