The Red Bull Butter Cup returned to State College for the second consecutive year Friday night, bringing out recreational and trained snowboarders to compete on the makeshift ramps and obstacles. It was held in the parking lot across from the Gingerbread Man restaurant in downtown State College, between Heister and Garner streets.
The competition, which featured amateur and pro divisions, was started in the Northeast in 2009 and was bred for the country in 2011, according to the Cup’s official website. Boarders add butter to the bottom of their boards in an attempt to become more technical in their tricks.
Will Mitchell, a student at Penn State and snowboarding instructor who competed in the pro division, said gaining his balance was the most difficult part.
“Just watching people, I wanted to try it, but it is hard getting your balance straight at first,” Mitchell said.
Said Pat Morgan, the event emcee: “At the time we started the event in 2009, the rail-jam events were really popular, and so were slope events, and we wanted to allow riders to get more popular and technical with their tricks, because that was what everyone liked to do.’
The style seemed to be popular among many of the riders, including Henry Fox, a Penn State student from Connecticut
“I’ve never done an event like this before, but it was so sick, and there was so much hype,” Fox said.
“The pressure to do something new is ridiculous.”
Clint Cooper took home the pro division title, placing ahead of Steve Weatherly and Kevin Breen, in large part because of his variety of tricks.
“Cooper did a really good job of varying between regular and switch tricks,” Morgan said.
“And with that being said, his spins were going both ways, while many of the other riders were doing repetitive tricks.”
The event was scored in an overall impression style, or steno scoring, rather than the conventional point-scoring method.
Cristin Soleburg won the amateur title, as he landed his tricks consistently to beat out Jimmy Melee and Mikaja Mogu.
“Soleburg impressed the judges a lot because he landed almost all his tricks, and was ultra consistent,” Morgan said.
The tour will make eight total stops this year, and Morgan said the State College atmosphere made it an easy decision to return for another year.
“The atmosphere is great, and the captive audience is great as well because the students and community are really interested in what’s going on.
“And the local vendors are really easy to make the event go off,” Morgan said.
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