CARRABASSETT VALLEY, Maine — Sugarloaf/USA welcomes the world’s best snowboard cross riders for the inaugural running of the Champion’s Cross Sugarloaf Open hosted by Olympic Gold Medalist Seth Wescott . On Saturday, Mar. 24 the top 24 SBX athletes currently on the FIS World Cup tour along with other qualifying American riders will compete at Wescott’s home resort for more than $50,000 in cash and prizes.

“Our goal is to create the premiere boardercross tour in North America,” Wescott said, because there has not been a professional tour of this kind since 2002. “As a result, we haven’t seen progress in course design and evolution of the sport. Putting an alternative to the World Cup out there gives a lot more riders a chance to stay in the sport professionally.”

The Sugarloaf event will be the only stop this year in the United States and a spring date in British Columbia is currently under consideration. Next winter, Wescott envisions the tour making multiple stops across the US and Canada.

To kick off the series, these elite athletes will converge at Sugarloaf to compete on a course designed by Wescott with the winner taking home at least $10,000 in cash plus a Suzuki Motocross motorcycle. The course will begin on Lower Competition Hill and cut over to Lower Narrow Gauge and will feature jumps, hips and rollers. The event is designed to be spectator-friendly and the course will include viewing areas across the length of the course.

“There is no better representative of the sport of snowboarding than Seth or a better place to take snowboard cross to the next level,” said Sugarloaf President John Diller. “Seth built his dream of winning Olympic gold on Sugarloaf’s slopes. Events like this will inspire the next generation of Sugarloafers to follow in his footsteps.”

The weekend-long event will include a time trial on Friday, racing on Saturday and Parade of Athletes and Award Presentations Saturday evening.