NEW YORK – November 12, 2008 – The Winter Dew Tour today announced the world’s top snowboard athletes that will compete for the coveted Dew Cup and a share of the $1.5 million prize purse offered at the end of the three-stop series, which will kick off December 18 in Breckenridge, Colo.
The athlete roster reads like the who’s who of professional snowboarding, highlighted by multiple X Games and Olympic medalists including Shaun White, Hannah Teter, Andreas Wiig, Travis Rice and Gretchen Bleiler.
“I feel like the Dew Tour is gonna be huge and I’m really looking forward to riding on the entire series this year,” said Teter. “The roster of athletes that will be competing on the Winter Dew Tour is sick. It’ll be a fun battle to see who comes away with Dew Cup at the end of the season.”
White, who’s competed in skateboard vert on the Summer Dew Tour, will be the first Summer crossover athlete. White was the Dew Tour season points leader for skateboard vert in 2007, and was awarded the coveted Dew Cup for his efforts. After successful Summer season’s, White will compete in the superpipe discipline on the Winter Dew Tour. The 22-year-old from Carlsbad, Calif. has been a force to be reckoned with in competitive snowboarding since the tender age of 14.
“This is shaping up to be as impressive of an athlete field as anyone could hope for in a winter event; the Winter Dew Tour competition is bound to be a fight to the bitter end,” said Wade Martin, AST president. “With more than 28 hours of original programming on NBC, MTV, MTV2 and USA, there will be action-packed content for the crowds onsite in addition to the fans at home tuning in to the broadcast.”
The roster of snowboard athletes includes the following notables:
Snowboard Superpipe
· Shaun White
· Mason Aguirre
· Trevor Jacob
· Hannah Teter
· Gretchen Bleiler
· Kelly Clark
Snowboard Slopestyle
· Travis Rice
· Andreas Wiig
· Danny Kass
· Kevin Pearce
· Jamie Anderson
· Hana Beaman
· Torah Bright
The complete list of Winter Dew Tour competitors will be released on Monday, Nov. 24.
Similar to the Dew Tour’s summer competition structure, the Winter Dew Tour will be based on a cumulative points system as the top snow athletes battle it out for a piece of the $1.5 million prize purse and the chance to take home the Dew Cup at the conclusion of the season in February.
The complete 2008/09 Winter Dew Tour schedule is as follows:
Stop 1 Dec. 18-21, 2008 Breckenridge, Colo.—Breckenridge Ski Resort
Stop 2 Jan. 8-11, 2009 West Dover, Vt.—Mount Snow Resort
Stop 3 Feb. 19-22, 2009 Lake Tahoe, Calif.—Northstar-at-Tahoe Resort
AST
The Action Sports Tour (AST), owned by NBC Sports and MTV Networks, is the recently created umbrella brand and organization of the world’s most prestigious action sports events. Currently the AST consists of two national tours, one international event and an amateur series: AST Dew Tour (debuted in 2005), Winter Dew Tour (debuting in 2008), China Invitational (debuting in 2008), and Free Flow Tour (debuted in 2005). The AST properties are home to 280,000 spectators each year and broadcast in 100 countries and 280 million homes worldwide. The Winter Dew Tour consists of three major, multi-sport events with a cumulative points system, a $1.5 million competitive purse across the three stops. The Winter Tour features skiing (slopestyle and superpipe) and snowboarding (slopestyle and superpipe) for both men and women, and at season’s end, the Tour awards champions in the four disciplines with the Dew Cup. Key lifestyle elements at each Tour event include the Festival Village with video gaming and interactive events, as well as live cutting edge music. The Dew Tour partners include Mountain Dew (tour title sponsor); Toyota (event title sponsor). Associate partners include Ball Park, Nike 6.0, PlayStation, Wendy’s, and Verizon Wireless. More information can be found at www.ast.com.
NBC Universal
NBC Universal is one of the world’s leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates the No. 1 television network, the fastest-growing Spanish-language network, a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.
MTV Networks
MTV Networks, a unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. MTV Networks, with more than 150 channels worldwide, owns and operates the following television programming services - MTV: MUSIC TELEVISION, MTV2, VH1, mtvU, NICKELODEON, NICK at NITE, LOGO, COMEDY CENTRAL, TV LAND, SPIKE TV, CMT, NOGGIN, THE N, VH1 CLASSIC, MTVN INTERNATIONAL and THE DIGITAL SUITE FROM MTV NETWORKS, a package of 13 digital services, all of these networks trademarks of MTV Networks. MTV Networks connects with its audiences through its robust consumer products businesses and its more than 300 interactive properties worldwide, including online, broadband, wireless and interactive television services and also has licensing agreements, joint ventures, and syndication deals whereby all of its programming services can be seen worldwide.
