Dirksen Derby 2014 Finals

Snowboard world has been pretty slow lately, probably because of the lack of snow in many snowboard hot spots such as Utah and the Northwest. Living in Portland is only bearable in the winter because you can go snowboarding, so went you can’t, well… It’s been rough. But this weekend’s Dirksen Derby at Mt. Bachelor and the Corn Syrup Tour kicked things off for the snowboard season, even if winter is taking its sweet time to get here.

This year’s race to benefit Tyler Eklund, put on by the legendary Josh Dirksen, was by far the wildest event so far in its 8 year run. You might expect that from an events who’s participants included everyone from a large number of seriously fit Bendites to rail kids to banked slalom jocks and everyone in between. But the real excitement wasn’t in the sound of scraping of edges to ice, or the hoots and hollers from the crowd as you rode by, or the free Parilla Chowder at the top of the course. I won’t bore you with too many words because we all know no one likes to read anymore, I think the pictures tell the story pretty well.

Alex Yoder was already warmed up for the race since it’s actually been snowing in Jackson Hole. He was not, however, used to being chased by alligators.

Normally, Alligators and crocodiles do not coexist (they like different temperatures or something.) So it truly was a crazy scene.

The media circus was in full effect, which is reassuring when you are too cold to shoot photos and didn’t bring appropriate handwear. Someone else will probaby get the shot. Somehow though, the girl in the tutu didn’t seem cold at all.

This was actually an insane moment. They did this all the way down the course in perfect unison.

Blair Habenicht wasn’t even spooked when he spotted a gigantic polar bear (I mean GIANT) and he went on to finish 9th.

The Tiger and the bear got along surprisingly well. They’re just playing here.

The Derby was really a family affair with plenty of parents competing alongside their kids (either  competing in the groms division or on tiny Burton snowboards.) So it was only fitting this friendly family of bears came to watch when race organizer (and dad) Josh Dirksen took his run.

Look at the dude checking the back of his camera while epic moments happen all around him. Typical photographer.

This year marked the first for the women’s elite division, which was awesome because all the “professionals” were in their own division, which meant I was able to get back into the top 10 out of 80 women ages 14-50 (and I didn’t even practice.) So the women’s snowboarding presence was strong, but what we really learned from this is that hippos are not as fast as Kenyans or the fastest female snowboarders.

And I think that pretty much sums it up. Full Results here.