The Red Bull Heavy Metal snowboarding competition qualifier takes place this weekend outside Acrisure Stadium, featuring around 35 top amateur street snowboarders.Snowboarding at the home of the Steelers: See the video from Sky 4 over Acrisure Stadium One woman and one man will be chosen as winners. They will compete in the finals in Boston next month against pro snowboarders.”Something like this, if the rider takes the right opportunity, it could be game-changing for them,” said Joe Sexton, the competition director and a professional snowboarder.For many of the street snowboarders, this is their first time on the rail at Acrisure Stadium.”This is a rail that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to snowboard on, just because it’s private property, so Acrisure Stadium letting us have the freedom to do the contest here is incredible,” said Sexton.Crews have been preparing the site for days, ensuring it is ready for competition.”We always plan on bringing in snow, like, trucking in snow to make it work no matter what. And sometimes you’re just at the mercy of what the weather does. So, to have natural snow here, aesthetically, it’s so much more pleasing. It’s safer for the riders. It’s a much different surface to ride on. We got really lucky to have this snow,” Sexton said.The rail itself has been retrofitted for the competition.”There’s kind of gaps in the rail, so they put a cap over the rail to make it one good piece of metal,” Sexton said. “They’re also grinding it down, make it a super-smooth surface, so they’re just making it pretty much perfect.”The competition is free to watch, with riders set to drop in at 1 p.m. Saturday.“I think it’s fun to shed a light just on street snowboarding itself. I think it’s a cool discipline that’s kind of growing,” Sexton said. “Hopefully Pittsburgh is the first one, but I hope a bunch of cities get put on the map and become a focal point for street snowboarding.”
PITTSBURGH —
The Red Bull Heavy Metal snowboarding competition qualifier takes place this weekend outside Acrisure Stadium, featuring around 35 top amateur street snowboarders.
Snowboarding at the home of the Steelers: See the video from Sky 4 over Acrisure Stadium
One woman and one man will be chosen as winners. They will compete in the finals in Boston next month against pro snowboarders.
“Something like this, if the rider takes the right opportunity, it could be game-changing for them,” said Joe Sexton, the competition director and a professional snowboarder.
For many of the street snowboarders, this is their first time on the rail at Acrisure Stadium.
“This is a rail that you normally wouldn’t get a chance to snowboard on, just because it’s private property, so Acrisure Stadium letting us have the freedom to do the contest here is incredible,” said Sexton.
Crews have been preparing the site for days, ensuring it is ready for competition.
“We always plan on bringing in snow, like, trucking in snow to make it work no matter what. And sometimes you’re just at the mercy of what the weather does. So, to have natural snow here, aesthetically, it’s so much more pleasing. It’s safer for the riders. It’s a much different surface to ride on. We got really lucky to have this snow,” Sexton said.
The rail itself has been retrofitted for the competition.
“There’s kind of gaps in the rail, so they put a cap over the rail to make it one good piece of metal,” Sexton said. “They’re also grinding it down, make it a super-smooth surface, so they’re just making it pretty much perfect.”
The competition is free to watch, with riders set to drop in at 1 p.m. Saturday.
“I think it’s fun to shed a light just on street snowboarding itself. I think it’s a cool discipline that’s kind of growing,” Sexton said. “Hopefully Pittsburgh is the first one, but I hope a bunch of cities get put on the map and become a focal point for street snowboarding.”