Innsbruck, Austria – December 8th, 2008: The world’s most talented snowboarders will converge inside the Tokyo Dome December 12th-14th, for the legendary Nissan X-Trail Jam. In its ninth year running, this Swatch TTR 6Star event will feature 12 invited pros who will be taking on a selected number of Japanese wildcards in a two-day Big Air and Quarterpipe battle. With a stacked rider list, crazy fans and a unique jam format, the 2008 X-Trail Jam is going to be one for the books.

With this being the first major Swatch TTR 6Star event of the season, riders will be putting it all on the line, looking for a slice of both the 1000 TTR ranking points and the hefty $165 000 USD prize purse. Be on the look out for Chas Guldemond (USA) as he seeks to defend his TTR No.1 position and keep challengers at bay. ” I know there’s a lot of people going for me, Peetu Piiroinen, Kevin Pearce, all the heavy hitters, they’re going to be gunning for it”, he said. Torstein Horgmo (NOR) will be aiming for a top result to catapult him into World No.2, ready to mount a Viking invasion on the recent US dominance of the Tour.

2008 Swatch TTR Champion, Kevin Pearce (USA), is currently sitting at World No.11 and will be chasing a big result in Tokyo. If Kevin can snag a top 10 finish at the X-Trail Jam it will bump him into the TTR Top 6, giving him a jump on his competitors in the chase for back-to-back TTR Tour titles.

Everyone is waiting to see if snowboarding’s favorite son, Travis Rice (USA), who was busy producing ‘That’s It, That’s All’ last season, is going to make some moves and go after the Swatch TTR crown this year. A top 5 finish will launch Travis into the TTR Top 50 giving him a solid start to the season.

The rookie of the contest, Sebastien Toutant (CAN), definitely has a lot to prove and if he can lock in a top 10 finish it will cement him into the TTR Top 20. Another pair of riders not to be discounted are the style kings of Finland, Peetu Piiroinen and Risto Mattila, who will be going for broke all season to ensure a Finnish rider finally breaks the national curse and finishes atop the TTR rankings.

The riders are ready, the tickets are sold and all attention is about to focus on Tokyo. The Nissan X-Trail Jam is going to be setting the pace for this season’s Swatch TTR Tour so stay tuned to ttrworldtour.com for daily coverage with news and videos of the event, updated rankings, stats, and blogs. Also, check out the action from the 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam, the first 6Star event for the Women taking place in Austria at the same time. Following the X-Trail Jam, the TTR Tour takes a break for the holidays, but will be back January 5, 2009, when riders reconvene to battle it out at the 6Star O’Neill Evolution in Davos, Switzerland.

Daily X-Trail Jam coverage begins Thursday, December 11th 2008 only on www.ttrworldtour.com. For a tease of what’s to come for the 2008 Nissan X-trail Jam, check: http://stream.ttrworldtour.com/mov.php?mid=204&aid=204&cat=00001&br=256

ABOUT SWATCH TTR:
Founded by Terje Haakonsen and industry innovators in 2002, the SWATCH 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, 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 (1000 Swatch TTR points). 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 seven results of the season is crowned SWATCH TTR World Snowboard Tour Champion.