More than a hundred snowboarders from all over Europe gathered on February 29th and March 1st, 2020, at the Penken Park in Mayrhofen-Hippach, Zillertal to battle it out at the 3rd Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY tour stop hosted by Blue Tomato & Ride Snowboards. Andreas MonEpic Monsberger deliveres the highlights and results in a short video flick:
Mayrhofen’s Penken Park majestically welcomed more than a hundred riders with its perfect setup, bluebird and sunshine for the third Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY Tourstop hosted by Blue Tomato and Ride Snowboards. Beside the Coaching Sessions and Limbo Ride, the popular Penken Fun Ride Battle provided many happy winners on Saturday, already. It was no one, but Ästhetiker crew member Friedl Kolar, who delivered the best Fun Run time with 38:53 seconds. Grabbing for gold, Friedl left Germany’s team coach Niko Kyriazis (39:16 seconds) and Ästhetiker PrÄsident Steve Gruber (39:63 seconds) in second and third place. On the ladies’ side, it was previous year’s winner, Anna Lora (AUT), who scored the best time. Elias Frantisek (CZE) climbed the Rookie podium in first place. Out of a challenging and international starter field, Lucia Plur de la Rosa (GER) and Valery Sytykh (BLR) were the fastest in the Grom category, while Ella Gorcsosova (SVK) and Max Goepel (GER) raced straight to the Super Groms podium tops.
On Sunday, over a hundred talents from all over Europe were showing off on the Advanced and Medium Line to rake in valuable points, medals, prize money and prizes. All eyes were on Czech high- flyer Jakub Hrones, who double scored gold, winning the Rookie Boys (16-18 years) contest and taking first place on the overall male tour stop podium. Marie Hahnl (GER) won the Rookie girls category and Emma Lantos (AUT) landed first place on the overall female podium. Serhii Sanzhapov (UKR) and Vanessa Volopichova (CZE) took victory in the Groms contest (13-15years) while Emil Frey (GER) and Anna Tomanova (CZE) each won the Super Groms competition.
Krisyna Kulik from team CZE earned herself the Horsefeathers best Trick Award with a stylisch backflip. The award for the „most impressive grom of the dÄy“ went to 10-year old Jonas Kröll from the local snowboard club M-town Riders.
The organization „Become-a-Pro“ was at Penken Park all weekend long to offer a platform for young athletes who are looking for professional sponsorings.
Anna Schneeberger from Mayrhofner Bergbahnen is happy with the outcome of the event: „Incredibly motivated athletes, a great event crew, the perfectly shaped Penken Park, sunshine and great vibes all over the place – the 3rd Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY tour stop was a banger weekend up at Penken! Big shout out to the Ästhetiker crew for this amazing event. We are already looking forward to next year!“
With the third out of four results, it’s getting exciting in the Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY overall ranking. Jakub Hrones (CZE) now takes the lead in the Rookie and Overall Men’s ranking. Vanessa Volopichova (CZE) sits on top of the Grom Girls and Overall-Female ranking. Hollie Smith (GBR) keeps dominating the Rookie Girls ́overall ranking list. In the Grom Boys department, the pole position is occupied by Serhii Sanzhapov (UKR) and the Super Groms Emil Frey (GER) and Shania Colsters (NED) keep defending their top spots after the third tour stop.
With the results from Mayrhofen, Jakub Hrones (CZE), Vanessa Volopichova (CZE) and Hollie Smith (GBR) qualify for the Austrian Masters Slopestyle. As the leaders of the Grom and Rookie class rankings (13-18 years), Jakub and Vanessa each earn themselves a wild card for the World Rookie Finals 2020. All competing athletes are further collecting points for the International World Snowboard Point List (WSPL) and the event counts as ASA (Austrian Snowboard Association) Austriacup. The contest in Mayrhofen also marked the official Super Grom Tour Finals 2020 – involving all competing riders from Austria. The Super Grom Tour Winner 2020 (U13), Jonas Kröll, is a „local“ M-town Rider from Mayrhofen (AUT) while Lukas Behensky is the happy winner of the Groms Class (U16). Kristina Holzfeind receives the award as the new Super Grom Tour female winner 2020 by the Austrian Snowboard Association.
On April 25th and 26th, the great Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY Finals will go down at Hintertux Glacier, where the final overall winners will be crowned new Royal Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY family 2020.
The partners of the 3rd Zillertal VÄLLEY RÄLLEY stage are:
Zillertal Tourism GmbH, Mayrhofner Bergbahnen, Penken Park, Mayrhofen-Hippach Zillertal Tourism, Blue Tomato, Ride Snowboards, Red Bull, Horsefeathers, Dana Beanies, the World Snowboard Federation (WSF), the Austrian Snowboard Federation (ASA) and World Rookie Tour (WRT).
More info, results and photos at www.valleyralley.at or www.zillertal.at/valleyralley.
Photos: Gustav Hersmann
