Snowboard Season Kicks Off: Mountain Dew Pro Nationals Breeze Into Breckenridge, Colo., Dec. 6-9; Top Snowboarders to Compete in the First Stop of the Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding

Business Wire, Nov 13, 2001

Entertainment Editors & Sports Writers

SANTA FE SPRINGS, Calif.--(ENTERTAINMENT WIRE)--Nov. 13, 2001

NBC Sports to Telecast Event on Dec. 23

The Mountain Dew Pro Nationals will kick off the 2001-2002 Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding(R) series as the world's top riders will compete in Breckenridge, Colo., Dec. 6-9 at the Breckenridge Ski Resort.

In the first major competition of the year, the world's best will compete in the Half Pipe, Slope Style and Big Air Competitions all in hopes of winning a piece of a prize purse of more than $125,000. The event will be broadcast on NBC Sports Dec. 23 at 3 p.m. EST as part of NBC Sports' ongoing coverage of the Vans Triple Crown Series.

This year's Mountain Dew Pro Nationals mark the fourth-consecutive year Breckenridge Ski Resort has hosted the Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding. Competitions will take place in the acclaimed Freeway Terrain Park at Peak 8, which boasts the top-ranked half pipe and the second-ranked terrain park in the nation as rated by the readers of Snowboard Life Magazine.

Last year's Mountain Dew Pro Nationals saw Todd Richards steal first place in the Half Pipe competition from Shaun White and JJ Thomas, while Josh Dirksen returns to defend his title in the Big Air. Daniel Franck, Doran Laybourn and Jordan Mendenhall are geared up on the men's side to take a shot at standing on the podium, while Tara Dakides and Leslie Olsen are poised to dethrone Tricia Byrnes, last year's women's Half Pipe Champion, for a share of the prize money.

A new addition to the Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding is the Slope Style competition, with riders making an untimed run with jumps, quarter pipe and hand rails tricks all being judged on the consistency of the run and the level of difficulty.

"Breckenridge is the perfect place for the Mountain Dew Pro Nationals to begin this year's snowboard season," stated Jay E. Wilson, Vice President of Global Marketing for Vans. "Breckenridge is one of the premier locations for the sport, and with all the world class athletes scheduled to attend, we expect one of the best competitions ever. In addition, our new broadcast partnerships will make it possible for fans from around the country to tune in this winter on NBC Sports to catch the action."

The Mountain Dew Pro Nationals of Snowboarding is tentatively scheduled to air:

Sunday, December 23, 2001                  Mountain Dew Pro Nationals
NBC Sports     3:00 p.m. EST/Noon PST       --Breckenridge, CO

In order to win the Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding an athlete must earn points, which are tabulated from the top three Snowboarding events of the season and at the final event the winner is crowned. Participants earn points from their highest scoring discipline at each of the three events. The next Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding event is the Vans Championships of Snowboarding at Snow Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, Calif., scheduled for Jan. 24 - 26.

The Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding is made possible through the proud support of Vans, Xbox, Mountain Dew, Ford Ranger, Right Guard Xtreme Sport, G-Shock, Transworld Snowboarding, Fox Sports Net and NBC Sports. The Vans Triple Crown(TM) Series features the world's top athletes participating in premier venues throughout North America for the top prize purse in each of seven Core Sports(TM) disciplines: Skateboarding, Wakeboarding, BMX, Freestyle Motocross, Surfing, Snowboarding and Supercross.

Vans (Nasdaq: VANS) is a leading worldwide brand for Core Sports(TM) specializing in performance and lifestyle footwear, apparel, snowboard boots and bindings. Its contributions to Core Sports include the Vans Triple Crown(TM) Series, the operation of 10 large-scale Vans Skateparks, the High Cascade Snowboard Camp(TM), majority ownership of the Vans Warped Tour(R) and the continued sponsorship Vans World Amateur Skateboarding Championships(TM). Vans collections are sold in the United States through 152 company owned stores and factory outlets as well as a network of independent retailers. Vans also distributes to more than 50 countries internationally through distributors, sales agents and its subsidiaries in the United Kingdom, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

For more information on Vans and the Vans Triple Crown Series, please visit www.vans.com.