’09 Mountainboard Season Wrap-up
November 2, 2009 by amo
Filed under Mountain Board
Melissa Ponce de Leon - Mountainboard
(Ed. Note: Pretty Tough Team Rider Melissa (Becker) Ponce de Leon is a pro mountainboarder with multiple U.S. Championships. Here is her account of her most recent competitive season.)
The 2009 Mountainboard Season has come to an end.
We had three major comps this summer and I had a goal of winning all of them. Coming off of two Overall Championships last season really pushed me to up the level this year.
In August we traveled to our first destination of the season in Kansas. The Twilight Showdown was an amazing event, the first ever night time event under the lights. The comp took place in the middle of Kansas at Kaos which has to have one of the coolest boardercross and slopestyle courses in the country. I swept the competition winning the boardercross, freestyle and the women’s overall.
In September we hosted the Altitude Cup Mountainboard Challenge in Empire, CO. I won the boardercross, got 2nd in the big air and won the women’s overall.
The last event of the season was in early October (the 10th and 11th) in Colorado Springs, CO. The MBS Fall classic is always the final event and this year we competed in the snow. I swept the event winning the Big Air and Slalom events, as well as the Women’s Overall.
Fall Classic Results:
1st-Melissa Ponce de Leon
2nd-Emily Smith-Zurawski
3rd-Ari Coats
I’m really happy with how the season went and along the way I had the chance to teach 12 people how to Mountainboard. Another amazing season without major injury is always a good season so I’m grateful.
The snow is here in Summit County, CO now and I will be training on my snowboard for the next few months. Not sure what the next season will bring yet, so stay tuned.
