Burlington, Vermont (August 21, 2008) – The Burton Global Open Series (BGOS) today announced that the prestigious Nippon Open Snowboarding Championships will now become the first Asian Open Snowboarding Championships, set for February 24-March 1, 2009 at Alts Bandai Snow Resort in Fukushima prefecture, Japan.

“Since 1994, the Nippon Open has had a tremendous influence on the competitive snowboard scene in Japan, bringing a world-class competition to Japanese professional and amateur riders, while attracting top international snowboarders to the region,” says Liam Griffin, Events Director at Burton Snowboards. “With competitive snowboarding gaining momentum in China and Korea, we felt it was time to expand the Nippon Open into the Asian Open Snowboarding Championships, attracting more riders from growing snowboarding communities throughout Asia.”

The first Asian Open Snowboarding Championships will be held as part of Burton Global Open Series. With events scheduled year-round and in six countries, the Burton Global Open Series boasts the most lucrative cumulative prize purse in snowboarding. All six Burton Global Open Series events offer riders the chance to earn points towards men’s and women’s championship titles, each worth $100,000, currently the largest single payout in snowboarding. The Burton Global Open Series is also part of the Swatch Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour, the largest collection of independent freestyle snowboard events in the world. New for the BGOS this year, riders all over the world can watch every Burton Global Open Series event via live webcasts on Go211.com, the official webcaster of the BGOS and home to live scoring, standings, rider bios and more for each Burton Global Open Series stop. Check out Go211.com for more information.

Below are final dates and locations for all 2008/2009 Burton Global Open Series competitions.

Burton New Zealand Open July 29 – August 2, 2008 Snow Park, New Zealand

Burton Australian Open Sept 1 – 5, 2008 Perisher Blue, Australia

Burton Canadian Open December 1 – 7, 2008 CODA’s Canada Olympic Park

Burton European Open January 9 – 16, 2009 Laax, Switzerland

Asian Open February 24 – March 1, 2009 ALTS Bandai, Japan

Burton US Open March 16 – 22, 2009 Stratton Mountain, USA

For more information on the Burton Global Open Series head to www.opensnowboarding.com

For more information on TTR, visit www.ttrworldtour.

About the Burton Global Open Series

The Burton Global Open Series events are the pinnacle snowboarding events of the season. Founded by Jake Burton, the Opens have grown from grassroots events to global spectacles attracting tens of thousands of spectators and riders from around the world. Since the beginning, the Opens have been driven by riders, for riders evolving with snowboarding and riders’ needs over the years. With events held in Canada, Europe, Japan, the United States, New Zealand and Australia, the Opens set the standard for snowboarding events around the globe.

About the Swatch TTR World Snowboard Tour

Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH Ticket To Ride (TTR) World Snowboard Tour is a non-profit, rider-driven organization with the mission to create the highest quality competitive snowboard environment in the world, using authenticity, accessibility and innovation as guiding principles. Since its foundation, the Swatch TTR Tour has been developing into the most exposed snowboard tour worldwide featuring global grass root and key independent freestyle snowboarding events over a ten-month period from Southern to Northern Hemisphere locations. Events are rated via a 1-through-6Star system, with points allocated accordingly, a 6Star event holds the highest. Any rider participating in these events, from up-and-coming to professional talent, earns ranking points and a position on the SWATCH TTR World Ranking List. The top male and female rider based on an average of their best eight results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion. For more information, visit www.ttrworldtour.com

About Go211.com
Go211.com is the leading community and video site for lifestyle sports created by and for action sports athletes and enthusiasts. It’s the place to hang with the pros and friends to get behind-the-scenes video, blogs, photos, webcasts and podcasts from featured contributors along with other action sports fans. Go211.com offers a broad range of exclusive content submitted directly from the athletes. The current Go211 Pro Team roster includes Keir Dillon, Keegan Valaika, Danny Kass, Hannah Teter, Kevin Pearce, Kelly Clark, Jack Mitrani, Ben Watts, Donny Robinson, CJ Hobgood, Christian Hosoi, Holly Beck, Sarah Burke and Mike Losness, among others.