Union Square, New York City was host to one of the largest rail jams I have ever seen on February 8th called The Union Square Street Sessions. I have competed in other rail jam like this. The Vegas High Roller Rail Jam, The West Coast Invitational and those were great contests, but this one had some different elements that made it the best rail jam to date.

It was in downtown Manhattan NYC, At Union Square. The area is a megamopolis and a very touristy area, so the foot traffic was insane. The Crowd was huge last night! Never of all my rail jam experience have I seen a crowd turnout like this one. I have also never seen so many New Yorkers this stoked on Snowboarding. It was the perfect location.

The media was all over this contest. Luckily only limited media was able to access the event. For example, If you looked like a snowboarder you were in. If you looked like a subway lifer, you were out. No offense to the City Dwellers on that. I guess the point I’m trying to make is when a rider does a “boardslide 450 out like Lucas Magoon did), He is not just doing a 360 and stuff in the air. Their is technical terms that only the core snowboard community can understand. For that reason only certain media members could get inside the gate. I promise this contest is going to get blown away by the media soon enough. You will see.

The level of riding was INSANE! Damn, 25 riders, $15,000, even if you split that purse evenly it would be a session to see. The case was that only one rider could win this event and with a line up they had you couldn’t even expect anything less. RIDERS LIST: Danny Kass, Charles Reid, Pat Moore, Scotty Lago, Scotty Arnold, Aaron Biitner, Sketchy D, Zak Hale, Chris Rotax, Lucas Magoon, Eddie Wall, Yale Cousino, Jonas Milichot, Jed Anderson, MFM, Louie Vito and Jeremy Cloutie. Each rider threw down some insane tricks but it really came down to the top 6 finalists when the heat kicked in. This shit went off and some highlights were… Lucas Magoon did a 270 on 450 off the jeep rail, and a nollie back tailslide 270 out on the middle rail. Eddie Wall did a backside 270 onto the middle rail and stayed consistent all night. Yale Cousino did a 270 on the hard way, 270 out. Charles Reid did a frontside 360 to 50-50 on the middle rail that was INSANE!

The people who made this happen were Snowboarder Magazine, Lat34, Killington Vermont, Mountain Creek, and Jeep and I am not sure who else but I know one thing for sure. This contest was so bad ass that New York City officially deemed February 8th “Union Square Street Sessions Day” and on that note we will see you next year!

-John Centi

-Photos Steve Olson

This entry was posted on Friday, February 9th, 2007 at 7:26 am and is filed under Contests and Events, Pro Riders, UNITED STATES SHOP AND RIDE TOUR. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.