Airborne at Andes

• Travis Lang

Echo Press photo by Travis Lang Travis Lang of Alexandria caught some air during the Faction Challenge Snowboard Contest Saturday at Andes Tower Hills.
• Ben Olson

Echo Press photo by Celeste Beam Ben Olson of Alexandria took second place in the open class category.

Talk about it

Mother Nature definitely cooperated for Saturday’s Faction Challenge Snowboard Contest.

Organizers of the 7th annual event were not only happy that the forecasted rain stayed away, but they were also very pleased with the turnout of riders and spectators.

“We were especially surprised at the amount of younger riders we had at this year’s event,” said event organizer and Faction Boardshop owner, Jason Lybeck.

Lybeck called this year’s challenge a hit, noting that there were snowboarders from all over the state competing in the contest.

“With 80-plus competitors, this was the largest group in the event’s seven-year history,” he said.

Lybeck said that when the Faction Boardshop started hosting the Faction Challenge in 2004, the idea was to create a fun contest that was built for riders, which would showcase who the best rounded snowboarder was.

He said some snowboarders are good on rails, while others can’t do much for tricks or jumps and vice versa.

This challenge, he noted, makes a rider prove themselves in both disciplines.

“I think that is why we get more kids here every year,” said Lybeck. “The ones who win are really proud to hold the trophy that says not only can they ride rails, but they can ride jumps as well, which is an aspect of snowboarding that has been dwindling in recent years.”

Lybeck is thankful that Douglas County has a place for snowboarders and thankful to the crew at Andes Tower Hills, who did a terrific job of keeping the jumps and rails in good shape during the competition – even with all of the competitors riding during the event.

“A big thank you to Andes Tower Hills for supporting grassroots snowboard events,” said Lybeck. He added a note about all the parents who attended the event as well. “It was great to see all the parents out here supporting their kids. I think some of them were surprised to see how good their kids really are at snowboarding!”

The results

Here’s a look at the winners from this year’s Faction Challenge Snowboard Contest:

Women’s division

•First place – Brooke Dickenson of Alexandria.

•Second place – Brittany Peterson of Alexandria.

•Third place – Pam Schmidt of Duluth.

Boys ages 12 and younger

•First place – Eddie Fauth of Grand Rapids.

•Second place – Mathias Horman of Alexandria.

•Third place – Daniel Thompson of Alexandria.

Boys ages 13-14

•First place – Hunter Fortune of Grand Rapids.

•Second place – Colby Carlson of Alexandria.

•Third place – Cameron Haas of Fergus Fall.

Boys ages 15-16

•First place – Cody Carlson of Alexandria.

•Second place – Kyle Hanson of Carlos..

•Third place – Josh Barsness of Alexandria.

Open Class

•First place – Chase Mastel of Duluth.

•Second place – Ben Olson of Alexandria.

•Third place – Mark Dobberuhl of the Twin Cities.

Tags: local news, news, snowboarding, faction, andes, alexandria, competition, lybeck