<http://schema.org/articleBody>
"\"&lt;p&gt;[Gallery=6674]&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;strong&gt;&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt; February 10, 2009 \\u2013&lt;\\/strong&gt; Xavier de le Rue has won the 2009 Swatch O\\u2019Neill Big Mountain Pro after being voted best snowboarder as well as the overall winner of the competition with his signature dynamic and fluid riding.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI thought coming into this competition that Cody Townsend was going to win the overall competition,\\u201d said Xavier. \\u201cBut when we were watching the videos it was so cool that everyone was cheering after my runs. Then I started to think that maybe I could win it.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;For taking both prizes, French snowboarder Xavier walks away with $20,000 which he says he will \\u201cspend on a nice holiday with my family.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Last year\\u2019s winner Jeremy Jones who was voted in second place, was happy to see his friend take victory: \\u201cIt\\u2019s been an amazing week,\\u201d said Jeremy. \\u201cXavier\\u2019s riding is always incredible to watch.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;After an intense judging session, the riders are now off to celebrate the end of a successful week of near-perfect riding conditions and incredible snow at &amp;#8220;Gosstall&amp;#8221; in Saalbach Hinterglem with DJ Gitta Saxx and the Urban Knights from London.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Earlier this morning, the final day of competition was cancelled as the clouds came in earlier than predicted.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThis morning was off because the early morning window closed and the risk of having flat light was too big to hold the contest on that face,\\u201d said event director Nicolas Hale Woods.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;However with four very different competition faces completed in good weather and on amazing snow, this year\\u2019s Big Mountain Pro has been the best yet for Nicolas and the riders.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cFor me it\\u2019s been the best edition of the Big Mountain Pro for the main reason that we\\u2019ve had very good snow conditions,\\u201d said Nicolas. &amp;#8220;We\\u2019ve been able to make it work with the weather, and we haven\\u2019t had to drive too much,\\u201d he said. \\u201cWe were so welcomed in Austria. And very simply riders are smiling and that is the key.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;For Fredrik Evensen it was his first Big Mountain Pro and his first venture into a freeriding competition.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cIt\\u2019s been fun,\\u201d he said. \\u201cI\\u2019ve learnt a lot. It\\u2019s been a great experience for me.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cThe funniest thing has been having to pick a line before I drop in. It\\u2019s the first time I\\u2019ve ever planned where I\\u2019m going. What surprised me the first time dropping in is instead of being four turns as I had thought, it was one. I had to improvise a bit,\\u201d he said.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cWhen I do freeestyle riding I don\\u2019t worry about safety precautions. It\\u2019s been good to get a reality check,\\u201d Fredrik said. \\u201cMy understanding of the mountain has really improved.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;\\u201cI want to continue freeriding. Freestyle riding is what I do, but I hope it will change. I\\u2019m tired of doing the same jump for the last ten years. I want to try something new. I\\u2019m not sure I want to do anything too crazy. The tree runs were what I loved. That\\u2019s my thing.\\u201d&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Watch all the highlights from the 2009 Swatch O\\u2019Neill Big Mountain Pro on &lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.oneilltv.com\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;www.oneilltv.com.&lt;\\/a&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;RIDERS&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/h3&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;Jeremy Jones&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nFredrik Evensen&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nMitch Toelderer&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nXavier de le Rue&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nEric Themel&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nThomas Eberharter&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n&lt;h3&gt;&lt;strong&gt;QUICK FACTS&lt;\\/strong&gt;&lt;\\/h3&gt;\\n&lt;p&gt;What: The most original and innovative freeride contest on the planet&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nWhen: February 3 \\u2013 February 10, 2009&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nWhere: The Alps&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nStart location: St. Anton, Arlberg range, Austria&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nFinish location: Saalbach-Hinterglemm in Austria&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nWho: 12 of the best freeriders in the world \\u2013 6 skiers and 6 snowboarders&lt;br \\/&gt;\\nPrizemoney: $ 60.000&lt;br \\/&gt;\\n&lt;span&gt;&lt;a href=\\\"http:\\/\\/www.oneilltv.com\\/\\\" target=\\\"_blank\\\"&gt;&lt;\\/a&gt;&lt;\\/span&gt;&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://snowboarding.transworld.net/uncategorized/the-swatch-oneill-big-mountain-pro-2009/?pid=32267>