Snowboard cross, also known as boardercross, is a
snowboard
Snowboards are boards where the user places both feet, usually secured, to the same board. The board itself is wider than most skis, with the ability to glide on snow."snowboarding." Dictionary.com Unabridged (v 1.1). Random House, Inc. 17 Mar ...
competition in which four to six competitors race down a course. Snowboard cross courses are typically quite narrow and include
cambered turns, various types of jumps,
berm
A berm is a level space, shelf, or raised barrier (usually made of Soil compaction, compacted soil) separating areas in a vertical way, especially partway up a long slope. It can serve as a terrace road, track, path, a fortification line, a b ...
s, rollers, drops, steep and flat sections designed to challenge the riders' ability to stay in control while maintaining maximum speed. It is not uncommon for racers to collide with each other mid-race.
Snowboard cross courses share common traits with motorcycle motocross courses, hence the similarity between the names of each sport. Competition format is typically a
time trial
In many racing sports, an sportsperson, athlete (or occasionally a team of athletes) will compete in a time trial (TT) against the clock to secure the fastest time. The format of a time trial can vary, but usually follow a format where each athle ...
followed by a
knock-out tournament.
History
When
Steven Rechtschaffner and partner
Greg Stump had run out of ideas for segments for a TV show they were producing for
Fox TV called ''Greg Stump's World of Extremes'', Rechtschaffner recalled the race concept that had been in his head for years. Given the need to come up with a final segment, Rechtschaffner, a passionate snowboarder, pitched the idea to Stump, who loved it, and
Blackcomb Mountain, who put up prize money and
snowcat
A snowcat (a portmanteau of snow and caterpillar) is an enclosed-cab, truck-sized, fully tracked vehicle designed to travel over snow. Major manufacturers are PistenBully (Germany), Prinoth (Italy), and Tucker (United States).
Snow groomer ...
time in order to build the first course in 1991.
John Graham, who was Stump's business manager, was credited with conceiving the name ''boardercross''. After being seen on the Fox TV show and re-aired on
MTV Sports, others began staging boardercross events in Canada, the U.S. and Australia. Rechtschaffner travelled to many of these events in order to help them learn how to build the boardercross courses.
Rechtschaffner had
trademarked the name boardercross primarily as a way to ensure that people putting on events did so in a way that was safe, exciting and respectful to the world of snowboarding. He denied the ski sanctioning body
F.I.S. the rights to use the name "boardercross", as he shared the majority of snowboarders' belief that a ski sanctioning body should not be in charge of snowboarding events. That’s why boardercross is referred to by the F.I.S. as “snowboard cross” in Olympic events, even though the overwhelming majority of boardercross racers still refer to their sport by the original term.
In 2000, Rechtschaffner channeled the spirit of boardercross into a series of hit video games he produced for
Electronic Arts
Electronic Arts Inc. (EA) is an American video game company headquartered in Redwood City, California. Founded in May 1982 by former Apple Inc., Apple employee Trip Hawkins, the company was a pioneer of the early home computer game industry ...
called ''
SSX'', which sold over 8 million copies over the following years.
In 2006, boardercross (referred to as ''snowboard cross'') became an official event at the
Turin Olympic Games and subsequent Winter Olympics.
Equipment
All participants use a snowboard in competition. The snowboard should be fairly heavy and stiff (but not a hard board). Helmets are required equipment for racing in FIS sanctioned events. A
mouth guard, though not always required, is recommended. Since participants are competing side-by-side, tight clothing is essential to ensure that they do not get entangled with each other. As competition increases in intensity some riders choose to wear
body armor
Body armour, personal armour (also spelled ''armor''), armoured suit (''armored'') or coat of armour, among others, is armour for human body, a person's body: protective clothing or close-fitting hands-free shields designed to absorb or deflect ...
(like back and spine protectors) to ensure greater safety while competing at high speeds where crashes can be dangerous.
Major multi-sport competitions
Boardercross had been an event in every
X Games since their start in 1997. However, it was dropped after the 2012 X Games only to be reintroduced in 2014.
It made its
Winter Olympics
The Winter Olympic Games (), also known as the Winter Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event held once every four years for sports practiced on snow and ice. The first Winter Olympic Games, the 1924 Winter Olympics, were held i ...
debut in
2006
2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification.
Events
January
* January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute.
* January 12 – A stampede during t ...
.
In culture
Early releases in the
EA Sports
EA Sports is a division of Electronic Arts that develops and publishes sports video games. Formerly a marketing gimmick of Electronic Arts, in which they imitated real-life sports networks by calling themselves the "EA Sports Network" (EASN) ...
''
SSX'' (Snowboard Supercross) series of
video game
A video game or computer game is an electronic game that involves interaction with a user interface or input device (such as a joystick, game controller, controller, computer keyboard, keyboard, or motion sensing device) to generate visual fe ...
s were loosely based on boardercross. ''
Sonic Riders'', a ''
Sonic the Hedgehog
is a video game series and media franchise created by the Japanese developers Yuji Naka, Naoto Ohshima, and Hirokazu Yasuhara for Sega. The franchise follows Sonic the Hedgehog (character), Sonic, an anthropomorphic blue hedgehog who battle ...
'' racing game in which
SEGA
is a Japanese video game company and subsidiary of Sega Sammy Holdings headquartered in Tokyo. It produces several List of best-selling video game franchises, multi-million-selling game franchises for arcade game, arcades and video game cons ...
characters race on hoverboards, is partly inspired by boardercross.
See also
*
Ski cross
*
Ice cross downhill
*
FIS Snowboard World Cup
*
Men's and
Women's events at the 2006 Winter Olympics
*
Men's and
Women's events at the 2010 Winter Olympics
*
Men's and
Women's events at the 2014 Winter Olympics
*
Men's and
Women's events at the 2018 Winter Olympics
*
Men's and
Women's events at the 2022 Winter Olympics
References
External links
Snowboard Cross at FIS
{{skiing
Snowboarding