Some of Europe’s best young snowboarders have competed Saturday at Arena Platos ski and snowboard resort in Sibiu, at Transilvania Rookie Fest.
Transylvania Rookie Fest is a part of the World Rookie Fest, which brings together more competitions held in Italy, Andorra, Czech Republic, Australia, Chile and most recently, Romania. 14 competitors from Austria, Czech Republic, Germany and Slovakia gave their best shot in the first edition of Transylvania Rookie Fest, among them, three young Romanian snowboarders. Transilvania Rookie Fest is part of the TTR snowboard World Tour. The TTR events are ranked with a one to six star ranking system. The competitors at TRF contest scored points for the TTR world ranking list, a list where almost 5.000 snowboarders are ranked worldwide. Transylvania Rookie Fest is ranked with two stars. The winners received an all-inclusive invitation to the finals of the competition at Ischgl, Austria.
After the training in the slopestyle course made by former snowboard world champion Martin Freinademetz, romanian snowboard legend Andy Fazekas and the Ninjaz Parkdesign team, competitors had to go through four runs to impress the judges. The park has a length of 700 meters and includes 4 rails, 6 kickers, and one wall ride.
“I think that Romania has a future in winter sports because each year new resorts are build. We want to „raise” the young snowboarders in Romania and I am sure in time they will become as good as those from abroad. Precisely for this reason we chose to host Transylvania Rookie Fest, for young snowboard enthusiasts”, says Martin Freinademetz, the organizer of this competition.
In the end, the Czechs and Austrians brotherly divided all the first places the four categories. First place in the main category, Rookies boys, was shared by two competitors, both having the exact same score at the end of three rounds. In addition to the all-inclusive stay at Ischgl, organizers and their partners have offered a four-day trip with ski pass included in Tirol and other specialized equipment.
Rookies boys:
I – Dan Paulicek – CZE
II – Max Glatzel – AUT
III – Jakob Krska – SLK
Grooms boys:
I – Roland Tschoder – AUT
II – Jakub Kral – CZE
III – Ondrej Porkert – CZE
Rookies girls:
I – Birgit Rofner – AUT
II – Stefani Rofner – AUT
Grooms girls:
I – Katerina Vojackova – CZE
II – Anastasia Grozea – ROU
