With a long established history in Quebec, Canada, the RIDE Shakedown heads to Europe this weekend and is set to go off with a bang. The construction of the course is almost complete for the 4Star slopestyle event, which will go down at the Olympic Ski Jump Stadium in Garmisch-Partenkirchen in southern Germany.

The jam format competition will kick off with open qualifications on Friday, March 11th, 2011 giving the best amateurs a chance to compete with the invited riders in the finals on Saturday, March 12th. With a 35,000 Euro prize purse and a maximum of 500 Swatch TTR World Tour Ranking points on the line, the Shakedown’s European debut will be one not to miss.

The slopestyle course will feature a straight jump and a rail section that are equally weighted in the relaxed jam format, where the top two scores count out of three judged runs. Adding to the excitement, the riders will have to call the tricks of their full run at the top of the course and if they are unable to stomp the tricks, no score will be awarded. Riders in the qualification round will be battling for only three available spots in the semi-finals where they will meet a solid field of invited riders.

The invite list includes the likes of young British rider, Jamie Nicholls, who is on a roll after taking third place at the 5Star Burn River Jump slopestyle and is known to be a wizard on rails. Jamie is currently sitting in World No. 28 and with a good place at the Shakedown could improve on his TTR World Ranking. Also, in attendance is Italian ripper, Stefano Munari, Canadian, Matts Kulisek and Finnish Ville Uotila, who all have the opportunity to move into the TTR Top 50 with strong results.

There is also a long line up of local riders who are eager to impress the home crowds such as Alessandro Boyens, Matthias Vogt and Garmisch local, Andre Kulman. Austria will also be well represented at the event with top shredders such as Peter König and Marc Swoboda planning to attend.

For more information visit www.ttrworldtour.com