Origins and History of Boardercross Snowboard Event Chronicled in Forthcoming Book
Submitted by: Blue Loyal
2008-12-22 00:04:38
The mystery, history and facts about Boardercross's (aka Boarder X) origins are about to be revealed in a new book entitled "Boardercross from Rebellion to Olympic Podium" to be released by author John Graham.
(OPENPRESS) December 22, 2008 -- The newest Olympic event for snowboarding (Boardercross) has had a meteoric rise in popularity since its conception in the early 90's. However Boardercross's origins and history have been cloaked in mystery and murkiness. This new book attempts to clear up where and when Boardercross was invented and by whom and chronicles its history to present day.
"I was in the right place at the right time" Graham states, "In 1990 I started to work as the manager for filmmaker Greg Stump who had had massive impact with his ski films The Blizzard of Ahhhs and Dr. Strangeglove".
Greg Stump and his then innovative style of cinema verite applied to ski films became known as the Bad boy of the ski industry, Stump is credited with the invention of "Extreme Sports". Greg Stump employed outside the mainstream skiers such as Glen Plake and Skiing legend Scott Schmidt. At the time Stumps innovative approach was rivaling Warren Miller and his then predictable film style for ski film supremacy.
During the early 90's, Greg Stump was residing in Whistler BC Canada. An American citizen, Stump lived on both sides of the border producing feature films, promotional films for Blackcomb and Whistler and working on outside film projects including the short-lived "Greg Stumps Extreme World" for the then fledgling Fox Network.
During that period of time Stump and childhood friend, Steven Rechshafner came to Graham with an idea to combine the bump and grind of Moto-cross with snowboarding. Graham came up with the name and marketing concept of Boardercross (aka as Border X) while Rechshafner would go on to take the idea into video games and beyond.
Greg Stump, Graham and Rechshafner staged and filmed the first Boardercross event on Blackcomb Mountain in February of 1991. The first race featured 8 boarders, 7 men and 1 woman with pro snowboarder Dan Donnelly of Ferndale Washington winning the first ever contest.
The books release is scheduled for an early 2009 date.
