New Zealand’s largest snowboarding event, the Burton New Zealand Open Snowboarding Championships, came to a close today after four intense days of competition. Part of the Burton Global Open Series and the Swatch Ticket To Ride World Snowboard Tour, the 7th Annual New Zealand Open, held at Cardrona Alpine Resort in Wanaka, showcased some the world’s top snowboarders competing in halfpipe and slopestyle competitions for over NZ$50,000 in prize money.

Thursday night on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, Mayor Bloomberg declared February 5th, 2009 “Snowscrapers Day” in front 30,000 plus screaming New Yorkers. Granted there were several thousand Jersey kids from across the river attending as well to cheer on local boy and eventual winner Shayne Pospsil.

So the madness kicked off the moment we landed at JFK and then made our way to the swanky Rivington Hotel in the Lower East Side. The riders that have come out for this event are some heavy hitters, but topping the list on the Oakley side are Shaun White, Terje Haakonsen, Eero Ettala, Heikki Sorsa, Torstein Horgmo, Dustin Craven, JJ Thomas and Bjorn Leines.

Travis Rice and Oakley’s Torstein Horgmo claimed the top two spots Thursday night at the Winter X Games 13 Big Air Finals.