The Gerhard Gross Memorial Banked Slalom race on Thursday brought together a combination of Dew Tour athletes and judges, Colorado locals, industry insiders, and some of the adaptive racers who will also be competing in the Adaptive Banked Slalom Final on the same course on Friday. The second iteration of the event served as a tribute to Gerhard Gross III, who had a long career in snowboard journalism and worked as content director for Dew Tour prior to his death from stomach cancer in 2018.
The men’s class winner, with a time of 1:01.90, was Chris Castaneda, director of event operations for Snowpark Technologies and the man behind the slopestyle and superpipe course builds at Dew Tour and other major events including X Games and the Burton U.S. Open. No unfair advantage here, though: the Dew Tour banked slalom course was built by the Copper Mountain terrain park crew and designed by Daniel Gale, executive director and co-founder of Adaptive Action Sports (Gale finished 5th in the race). The organization is headquartered at the base of Copper Mountain and has organized the Adaptive Banked Slalom race at Dew Tour since 2016.
“The last time I rode with Gerhard was two years ago on the Dew Tour banked slalom course at Breckenridge, racing along and having the time of our lives,” Castaneda said, after his win. “Right before I dropped in today I gave him a little love, thought about him, and said, ‘This one’s for you.’ I was really bummed I missed the race last year, so I made it a priority this time around.”
Castaneda’s time put him .92 seconds ahead of second-place finisher Stian Sivertzen, a Norwegian boardercross racer, with Zachary Miller close behind. Miller, who has cerebral palsy, is from Denver and was named to the U.S. Paralympic National Snowboarding team for the 2019-2020 season last summer. He’ll compete in the Adaptive Banked Slalom Final Presented by Toyota on Friday.
Brittani Coury, also a member of the U.S. Paralympic National Snowboarding team, was the lone competitor in the women’s class with a time of 1:10.90.
“I’m stoked on the course: they did a lot this year compared to previous years with some interesting features that make it fun and super flowy to ride,” said Coury, who rides with a below-the-knee prosthetic on her right leg. She said she never had the privilege of meeting Gross, but was inspired to enter the race after hearing stories about him. “I’m stoked that you guys are out here keeping him in your memory by making a super fun event for our community to come out and ride for him.”
Coury took silver in Banked Slalom at the 2018 PyeongChang Paralympics in South Korea and will be a podium favorite in tomorrow’s Adaptive Banked Slalom race. “I’m hoping to just ride my best, ride the course well, be smooth, and be a light out there to try to get more females in the sport,” she said. “That’s my big push, just to be a good person to look up to so hopefully we can grow para-snowboarding and female snowboarding in general.”
Courtney Gresik, Dew Tour’s vice president and general manager, shared a tribute to Gross to explain the background of the event, which debuted at Dew Tour Breckenridge in December 2018.
“This one is very special to us as it honors one of our own, a member of the Dew Tour family,” Gresik said. “The Gerhard Gross Memorial Banked Slalom Race was created out of respect for our dearly departed friend. This race is an opportunity to remember Gerhard, but also to celebrate him for his dedication to snowboarding as an incredible talent on the board and off where he put his brilliance to work as a writer, editor, and leader. Not only is this race meant to bring us together as an industry and family, but it is important to note that all of the proceeds to this event are directly passed on to Gerhard’s wife, Kriss, and his 3-year-old son, Gerhard the fourth — G4. Thanks again to everyone that is here, it means a lot to us at the Dew Tour and the world of snowboarding as a whole.”
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