Goodwill Games

February 17, 2000

Byrnes Wins Inaugural Winter Goodwill Games Halfpipe Event

LAKE PLACID, NY (Feb. 17) - U.S. Snowboard Team rider Tricia Byrnes (New Canaan, CT) was Goodwill hunting Thursday and she bagged her prey with a halfpipe victory at the inaugural Winter Goodwill Games at Whiteface Mountain.

Byrnes, the reigning FIS World Cup Halfpipe Champion, put together a near-flawless first run to post a winning score of 41.8 and just stayed ahead of Kelly Clark (Mt. Snow, VT) who placed second with a 41.5. Canadian Kim Dunn took third with a 35.8.

The Whiteface halfpipe was in superb shape today after some sketchiness on Wednesday during training runs. Fresh snow and a lengthy drop in section made the pipe run rather slow, but shaper Pat Malendoski worked into early Thursday morning to buff it out and make sure it was in competition condition.

Both of Byrnes' runs were solid as she recorded a 40.7 in the first. She utilized the transitions perfectly to keep her speed up throught each run, allowing her to pull every trick she wanted to, many several feet above the lip. Nailing every landing didn't hurt either. A big backside air off the first hit led her into her winning run.

"I was a little nervous," said Byrnes. "I was a little shakier than I would have liked, but I'm really happy with my runs."

Sixteen-year old Clark, who won the World Juniors last week in Berchtesgaden, Germany, clearly launched higher airs than all other competitors. The crowd waited in anticipation for her to drop in for her second run and she didn't disappoint. Clark busted two huge airs on the first two hits, launching seven feet above the lip. She followed that with a stylish, tweaked-out method air and, like Byrnes, nailed all of her landings. Clark had a first-run score of 40.0 and upped her mark by 1.5 points in the second run.

"I had quite the wax job on," said Clark. "I just let it go all the way down the pipe. I took big angles and went as big as I could. The big thing was that the pipe was much faster today and I didn't check my speed at all."

It was quite fitting for Byrnes to win the event as she has been the Winter Goodwill Games spokesperson for the sport of snowboarding.

"I'm really flattered that they asked me to do it," said Byrnes. "It's kept me busy, it's kept me nervous, but I feel very honored. It was such a great challenge and I'm glad I did it."

The men will compete in the halfpipe Friday beginning at 1 p.m. Members of the U.S. Snowboard Team scheduled to compete include Ricky Bower (Park City, UT), Tommy Czeschin (Mammoth Lakes, CA) and Rob Kingwill (Jackson Hole, WY). Ross Powers (South Londonderry, VT), coming off a second place finish last weekend at the Chevy S-10 U.S. Snowboard Grand Prix at Northstar At Tahoe, will also ride.

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