The Burton AM Tour, one of Europe’s largest amateur freestyle snowboarding contest series, is experiencing its most progressing riding to date. Riders have flocked to the three events of the indoor leg of the tour like never before and pushed riding to a new level. From the first stop in Bispingen (Germany) to the events in Castleford (UK) and Landgraaf (Netherlands) it has been obvious that the tour is the perfect setup for the kids to be creative and show their best riding. Tour partner Volvo Cars has helped maintain the high quality and good atmosphere of the tour. Now everyone is eager to show their skills in the outdoor events, starting on 24 January in Flachauwinkl (Austria).

Currently, the rankings are dominated by the Netherlands and the UK: Dutch riders Gino Rupp (14, Youth Boys), Aston Egelmeers (15, Junior Boys) and Rachida Aoulad-El-Haj-Amar (15, Junior Girls) all dominate their categories while British shred Katie Ormerod (11) is in the lead in the Youth Girls category.

Full standings here.

All Burton AM Tour stops are Swatch TTR 2-star events and all participants collect points for the Swatch TTR World Ranking. The 4 overall AM Tour winners will win a full Burton European Open 2010 package, which contains the starting slot for the slopestyle competition, the on-site board and lodging and last but not least a Volvo VIP transport from their home to the Burton European Open in Laax 2010 and back. The overall tour winners will be crowned at the last stop on the glacier of Val Senales (Italy) on 28 March 2009.

Ivar Fougstedt, Burton Europe’s Marketing Director, is just as stoked as everyone on the current tour: “This season the Burton AM Tour shows it has grown into a truly international contest series: At all stops, riders from various European countries and even overseas have taken part. It is amazing to see how the kids manage to step up their game year after year. We believe that the Burton AM Tour is one of the best ways to promote and push our sport.”

For more information go to www.burtonamtour.com, where you can subscribe to the regular AM Tour podcast as well.


Riders at Bispingen © Ueli Christoffel

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Current World Rankings Top 10 Men 1. Gjermund Braaten 326.82 2. Iouri Podladtchikov 280.76 3. Christian Haller 275.69 4. Mark McMorris 268.30 5. Tore Holvik 246.55 6. Roope Tonteri 228.56 7. Stale Sandbech 221.95 8. Kevin Backstrom 221.72 9. Sebastien Toutant 220.89 10. Ulrik Badertscher 200.91 Top 5 Women 1. Sina Candrian 260.73 2. Enni Rukajärvi 256.20 3. Rana Okada 231.79 4. Silvia Mittermueller 210.23 5. Jamie Anderson 210.03

Current UK Rankings Top 10 UK Men 1. 23. Jamie Nicholls 147.23 2. 99. Lewis Courtier-Jones 69.18 3. 104. Jordan Gee 65.06 4. 201. Dan WakehamDELETE 37.24 5. 226. Richard Hooks 34.38 6. 242. Christopher Kightley 31.80 7. 251. Cody Hierons 31.01 8. 271. Jack Shackleton 29.59 9. 281. Andy Nudds 28.73 10. 305. Thomas Hunt 27.00 Top 10 UK Women 1. 63. Aimee Fuller 66.47 2. 77. Lesley Mckenna 55.12 3. 81. Claire Frost 50.60 4. 104. Katie Ormerod 41.52 5. 131. Nathalie Silkstone 35.77 6. 133. Samantha Rogers 35.37 7. 149. Becky Menday 31.55 8. 162. Sophie Nicholls 29.92 9. 163. Rebecca Cullum 29.38 10. 166. Gilly Seagrave 29.21