The 5Star Burton Canadian Open Snowboard Championships are getting ready to make some pre-Olympic commotion on the Swatch TTR Tour at the “WinSport” Canada Olympic Park (COP) in Calgary, AB, Canada on February 1st-7th, 2010. A strong field of Canadian riders will get their chance to prove themselves against the international all-stars of snowboarding in the world class halfpipe and slopestyle course. On offer is a share of the $50,000 prize purse and up to 850 valuable TTR Ranking points.

The Burton Global Open series events are open to all riders and as such give rookies and newcomers the chance to ride with the best of the best. The Canadian Open will run qualifying rounds throughout the week starting 1st February 2010 and will finish off with spectacular finals on the weekend. Expect to see a lot of Canadian talent on site defending the nations honor such as Charles Reid, Dustin Craven, Jeff Batchelor, Palmer Taylor and Sarah Conrad. In addition, the Canadian Open halfpipe is already generating a great deal of interest, as the event is only a few weeks before the Olympics and the COP halfpipe is hailed to be in perfect shape. Many of the national teams will use it as training ground before the 2010 Games in February and you will be sure to see some class A riding at the Canadian Open.

The Swatch TTR Tour Champion battle on the women’s side is heating up as current World No.2 Sina Candrian (SUI) and World No. 3 Lisa Wiik (NOR) both have the possibility to go ahead of current leader Sarka Pancochova (CZE). Over the last years, Candrian has proved to be one of the most consistent girls on the Tour and has already performed well this season with a 2nd place at the Burton European Open and a 5th place at the 6Star Roxy Chicken Jam slopestyle formats. Also Wiik is known for posting solid results not only from slopestyle, but also from the halfpipe format and is keen to collect points in Canada to improve on her last season’s final ranking in World No.2 . Shelly Gotlieb (NZL) and Enni Rukajärvi (FIN) are also riders worth watching out for on the TTR Tour as they are both sitting in the Swatch TTR Top 10

With over 900 Swatch TTR ranking points in the bank, Peetu Piiroinen (FIN) will remain tour leader after the Canadian Open, while the World No. 2 spot currently held by Swiss rider Christian Haller, could be under attack. There is a tight battle for the spot between Haller, Norwegian rookie Stale Sandbech and Marko Grilc (SLO). Canadian Charles Reid, who is currently sitting in TTR World No.10, is no newcomer to this event and with a good placement he could climb to World No. 5 on the Swatch TTR Tour. However, he will have to watch out for World No 15. Antti Autti (FIN) who only has four results so far and Gjermund Baaten (NOR) who took 3rd place in the halfpipe at the 6Star Burton European Open this January.

A live webcast of the event is on www.go211.com