Canadian sweep at the Billabong Ante Up

Jun 26, 2010

Author: Geoff Brown, Photos: John Scarth

The weather forecast called for sun and clouds for the first day of the 5 Star TTR Billabong Ante Up, but in true Blackcomb fashion a cloud engulfed the top of the mountain in the morning and made it impossible to see five feet, let alone hit a giant big air jump. The organizers were willing to do anything to run this event in the sun and had set aside four weather days for this exact occurrence. Well, a wise Whistlerite once said, “if you don’t like the weather… wait ten minutes.” He was spot on, the clouds moved out before the afternoon and the contest proceeded without a hitch.

The event was an astonishing sight for all onlookers, as impressive as a Cirque du Soleil show and with just as many acrobatic maneuvers. 40 riders competed for a whopping $50,000 prize purse and TTR points. The big air jump was a 75 foot gap. And if this wasn’t enough to get the riders adrenaline going, Push.ca was throwing out a $5000 best trick to a rail set up which comprised of a down flat down box beside a long round bar down rail.

Like bats out of hell, the riders bombed down the steep, salted, and bumpy in-run fighting to hold their edge and for one of the 12 spots in the finals. Forget 900s, if you weren’t stomping a near perfect 1080, then you weren’t making it into the finals. Yuuki Kadono who was the youngest competitor at 14 years old didn’t make the cut into the finals with a Backside 1080, perhaps because of an early let go of his grab–only the judges know for sure. Matts Kulisek, who won the 2008 Billabong Ante Up, qualified first with an amazing Frontside 1260 Double Cork.

Dave Fortin Billabong Ante Up

Dave Fortin being filmed for the live webcast.

Matts wasn’t the only Canadian riding strong. Jon Versteeg, Zach Stone, Mark McMorris, Robby Balharry and Wiley Tesseo all stood out of the crowd. Wiley Tesseo was inches away from surely making finals with a Cab 12 but just couldn’t quite get his feet under him.

When it all was said and done, Canadian riders took it all. The only non-Canadian to walk onto the podium was American, Dash Kamp, who danced on the round bar with a Front Board Change Up to 50-50 Backside 360 out and won best rail trick. Mark McMorris, known best for his bBackside Double Cork 1080s, needed to step it up a notch and landed an impressive Backside 1260 Double Cork to finish in third place, earning him $6000. Matts Kulisek repeated his qualifying Frontside 1260 Double Cork to put him into second place for $10,000. But it wasn’t enough to stand above Sebastien Toutant’s unbelievable Cab 1260 Double Cork. Matts had another run to try and one up Sebastien but he lost control on the take-off and plowed into the unlucky media people standing on the deck of the jump. It was like watching a horrifying game of 75 foot human bowling. Luckily no one was severely hurt and there was just some broken camera equipment. This disastrous event barely slowed down Kulisek who got up moments later and still charged at the rail set up despite a bleeding eye. This confirmed Toutant as the Ante Up winner with $20,000 and a direct invitation to the 2011 Billabong Innsbruck Air and Style.

With a big smile and an even bigger cheque Toutant said, “I wouldn’t have been disappointed not to win, I was happy just to ride.” When asked about his winning run he commented, “In the finals you have to go all out, you can’t play safe.” This was his first time landing a Backside 1260 Double Cork in competition.