The preparations for the upcoming Ride Shakedown presented by Videotron are well on their way and the countdown has begun! The kick-off for the most important slopestyle snowboarding competition in the country, which will be in its 12^th edition in 2013, is only five months away. April 5^th and 6^th at Mont Saint-Sauveur is when it’s all scheduled to go down!

The competition will reunite a total of 120 athletes: 40 invited professionals and 80 amateurs. To earn a spot at this grand snowboarding celebration, qualification events will take place all winter long in Quebec and the United States. You can visit the website for all the details: www.rideshakedown.com.

Over 25,000 fans will be expected once again at Mont Saint-Sauveur for these two days of competitions and festivities. “After 12 years, we are very happy to see that the event is still such a success,” says Brendan O’Dowd, founder and organizer of the event along with Patryck Bernier.

To mark this occasion, O’Dowd and Bernier have given extra thought about the spectators who will be participatig in the adventure. “They will be able to take advantage of new access zones which will allow them to be even closer to the action,” O’Dowd adds.

And action there will be! The two organizers are working with a list of invited athletes who are dominating across the planet. The competition has never been at such a high caliber at the Ride Shakedown. Will the Quebecer Sébastien Toutant, winner of the last edition, be able to successfully defend his title? The winner of the 2006, 2009, 2011 and 2012 events will be up against fierce competition on a big air and multiple rail features, which are always a surprise as an entirely new layout is created every year, only to be unveiled at the start of the event.

A total of $50,000 in cash will be given during the course of the weekend, $20,000 of which will go to the winner of the Jump to Rail, the main event of the Ride Shakedown.

For Scott Mavis, Ride Snowboards’ Vice President of Global Marketing, which lends its name to the event as title partner, the Ride Shakedown has become indispensible to the snowboarding scene. “We are very proud of our association, which we recently renewed, and hope to help this unique event grow. Through the course of the years, the Ride Shakedown has made its mark in the industry and amongst fans, all the while enticing the discovery of snowboarding, its culture and the athletes who devote themselves to it.”

On top of seeing the best riders, you may even witness a rising star! The Ride Shakedown is open to amateur athletes during Oakley qualifications. Some of these athletes could then make their way to the semi finals and compete against the invited professionals.

In the United States in 2014

Dizzle Entertainment sees even further than the 2013 edition on Quebec soil. After having invaded the slopes of The Summit at Snoqualmie near Seattle in 2010 and 2011, the next step of the Ride Shakedown will be presented in the U.S. in 2014, this time in the East.

Since there is no longer an event of international caliber in this region despite a large amount of athletes, the Ride Shakedown will set itself up at the renowned Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. “We're excited to bring the Ride Shakedown to Seven Springs Mountain Resort in Pennsylvania. Seven Springs has long-standing dedication to the snowboard and skiing industry, a diverse selection of innovative terrain parks and one of two Olympic-sized halfpipes on the East Coast. Plus, their team has the ability to host an event of this enormity and the mountain lay-out will provide a great location for the public to be close to the action. We will also be able to reproduce the festive environment that we find in Canada without ever having to leave the resort because it offers such a large variety of activities and services," explains Patryck Bernier.

Unique competition format

What distinguishes the Ride Shakedown and contributes to its success is first and foremost its competition format, a laid-back and festive environment where the constraints on the athletes are minimal. At the center of the action, the public benefits from an accessible and entertainment-packed show. At the Ride Shakedown, the athletes participate in a slopestyle competition, which involves mastering two distinct disciplines: the Big Air and a rail with different features which is only unveiled on the first day of the competition, a long-awaited day for the athletes and spectators. The professional athletes are the essence of the show, however the amateurs also play an important role and will make a valiant effort to mark their place among the pros. New talents are discovered every winter!

For more information please visit the official site