Jayson Hale Boardercross Team Blog
07’-08’ Boardercross

My name is Jayson Hale and snowboarding is my life. I have been on a Snowboard since I was 4 and started competing when I was 6. I am now a member of the US Snowboard Boardercross Team. I have been on the Team for 6 years and have been very successful with a World Cup Championship Bronze, X Games Bronze and two World Cup Bronze metals. I also made the 2006 Winter Olympics. I have had a few bad injuries the past couple years but nothing that made me want to quit or slow down. This year was a bit more rough than in the past, being that I’ve taken partial season off in the past but never a full one like this year. Watching my teammates and friends travel the world collecting metal every stop they made was rehab alone. I think if anything it just gave me a bigger appetite to train harder, get stronger and win. Enough of me, here is the 07’-08’ US Boardercross Team lowdown.

Our Boardercross Assistant Head Coach, Jeff Archibald says this.” From my standpoint we have more depth than we have ever had. We had six guys stand on the podium. On the girls side Lindsey Jacobelllis finally made a commitment to dry-land and is riding better than I have ever seen her ride. Callan Chythlook-Sifsof and brook Shaw are two young up and comers and are really skilled. However we do have a lot of work to do to keep up with the French and the Canadians. Both of those teams are stacked and bring it every race.”

Holland made history this year becoming the second man next to Palmer to win three consecutive gold medals In SBX at X Games. He also finished second at an SBX World Cup in Sungwoo, Korea. This being pretty important since it will be the location of 2009 FIS Snowboard World Championships. Holland then won the last Jeep King of the Mountain, but did not have quite enough points to take down Palmer for the overall title. With the season pretty much over, he decides to check out the Olympic Course in Canada at Cypress Mountain right outside of Vancouver. One gold wasn’t enough to end the season and decided to take the Canadian Nationals as well and win one more final Gold. Not a bad way to end the season.

Palmer had a rad season. He showed up with Holland one day at my PT in Truckee and told me that he was not on the Team. I was blown away. Story is, he is on Palm time and didn’t show up to one of the summer camps and screwed himself for a spot. There was no worry though. Coach Foley said he would give him a spot if he podiumed at a Jeep King of the Mountain. We all know Palm well enough. He won the First Jeep King of the Mountain, made the Team, took silver at a WC soon after and finished off the season with the overall Jeep title.

Jacobellis didn’t surprise anyone this year with seven WC podiums, two Halfpipe and five Boardercross, an X Games gold making it her fourth and being the Jeep King of the Mountain overall Champ.

Graham Watanabe got his second World Cup Victory.

Nick Baumgartner went and trained with the Alpine Team last year and learned how to make a solid turn. That’s all it took to land his first World Cup Victory.

Callan Chythlook-Sifsof also stepped it up this year and became the overall champion of the Jeep King of the Mountain tour.

Something fully new was also brought to Boardercross this year. A team SBX event. It was held in Whiteface Mountain in New York during the World Cup. You pick your teammate and it is ran just like Ultra-cross. One heat goes down and as soon as your team mate crosses over the finish line your gate at the top of the course is tripped and you fire out of there. Everyone is left sitting there until their teammate crosses over the finish line and trips their gate. Jacobellis and Chythlook-Sifsof won the women’s side, or should I say destroyed the women’s side.