Seth Wescott designs SBX course for Revolution Tour

Seth Wescott, left, is busy putting finishing touches on the Sidewinder Snowboardcross Course.

CARRABASSETT VALLEY -– Fresh off of last week’s Visa US Snowboarding World Cup, Olympic Gold Medalist Seth Wescott is back home at Sugarloaf, putting a new design on his very own Sidewinder Snowboardcross Course as the resort prepares to host the final stop on the 2009 US Snowboarding Revolution Tour, March 9 to 11.

When it comes to snowboardcross, there are few people on the planet who know more than Wescott, which is why the resort turned to its resident Olympic champ to come up with a design worthy of next week’s event.

"It’s a lot of fun for me to be able to put my years of experience to use in this fashion," Wescott said from inside a snowcat on the course Thursday morning. "I’ve competed on courses all over the world, and with this venue that we have here at Sugarloaf there’s a lot of opportunity to create a really fun course that will challenge a lot of riders."

Wescott spent the day on Thursday riding in a snowcat with Tim Norton, Sugarloaf’s Terrain Park Builder in the resort’s brand new Sidewinder Snowboardcross Course. Wescott spent time this past summer helping to build a base for the course, and was on hand to officially open the course in January.

The course for the Revolution Tour will feature rollers, banked turns, step-down jumps, gaps, hips and numerous other features that are sure to provide a thrilling show for spectators. The course starts at the base of "Competition Hill" trail and continues underneath the SuperQuad before finishing on the famous Narrow Gauge trail. The fastest riders are expected to complete the course in about one minute.

The Revolution Tour is the top junior snowboard tour in the country, featuring competitions in halfpipe, slopestyle and snowboardcross. The Tour is also used to qualify athletes for World Juniors, U.S. Open, U.S. World Cup, US Grand Prix, USASA Nationals and Project Gold camps. The entire field of riders for this year’s tour sold out in 20 minutes. 

Wescott, the 2006 Olympic Gold Medalist in snowboardcross, is coming off of a top 10 finish in last week’s World Cup and is currently second in overall World Cup standings for snowboardcross, with two events remaining this season. With only 1060 points separating him from first place, Wescott’s goal of winning the overall Snowboardcross World Cup title is within reach. Fans can follow along with Wescott’s journey in his blog at http://www.sugarloaf.com/TerrainParks/BlogSeth/.

For information on Sugarloaf and the Revolution Tour, visit www.sugarloaf.com or call 1-800-THE-LOAF.