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"\"&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;ESPN, Inc.&lt;\\/b&gt; has selected Crested &lt;b&gt;Butte Mountain Resort&lt;\\/b&gt; in Colorado as the host site for the 1998 ESPN Winter X Games, January 15th through 18th.  &lt;b&gt;Jeff Ruhe&lt;\\/b&gt;, ESPN senior vice president of event management, made the announcement today in conjunction with Crested Butte1s president &lt;b&gt;Edward Callaway&lt;\\/b&gt;.&lt;P&gt;This, the second annual Winter X, will feature more than 200 of the world1s best athletes competing in six sports for over $200,000 in total cash prizes.  The Winter X Games are an extension of the &lt;b&gt;ESPN X Games&lt;\\/b&gt; that were most recently held in San Diego this past June. The inaugural Winter X Games were held at Snow Summit Mountain Resort in Big Bear Lake, Calif. last January.&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;We look forward to bringing the excitement of the Winter X Games to the Rocky Mountains,&amp;#8221; said &lt;b&gt;Jeff Ruhe&lt;\\/b&gt;, ESPN senior vice president, event management. &amp;#8220;Crested Butte will offer a spectacular venue for this international showcase which will once again feature the world1s best athletes in these emerging sports.&amp;#8221;&lt;P&gt;&amp;#8220;Crested Butte is very excited about the opportunity to debut the X Games in Colorado,&amp;#8221; said Callaway. &amp;#8220;Crested Butte has built a tradition of hosting well-run skiing and snowboarding competitions, and the X Games are the ultimate winter extreme competition. &lt;b&gt;ESPN&lt;\\/b&gt; runs such a quality event, and the athletes they attract are truly world class. We are delighted to host the X Games and showcase Colorado1s trademark as the world premier winter destination.&amp;#8221;&lt;P&gt;Returning in 1998 will be four disciplines of aggressive snowboarding; ice climbing on a 60-foot, man-made vertical glacier; and snow mountain bike racing.  New to the &lt;b&gt;Winter X Games&lt;\\/b&gt; will be Snowmobile SnoCross \\u00bf a short-track snowmobile race on a motorcross- style course; Free skiing in a Boarder X format; and Skiboarding \\u00bf riders atop two 75-95 cm, twin-tipped boards \\u00bf in a slopestyle format.&lt;P&gt;&lt;b&gt;ESPN, ESPN2 and ABC1s Wide World of Sports&lt;\\/b&gt; will combine to televise 17.0 original hours of &lt;b&gt;Winter X Games&lt;\\/b&gt; programming.  The Games will be distributed via &lt;b&gt;ESPN1s international networks&lt;\\/b&gt; and syndication agreements to more than 221 million homes in 190 countries and territories in 20 languages.  In addition, eight hours of original programming will be developed and aired in the weeks leading up to the Winter X Games. These preview shows will introduce the sports and the athletes that will be featured in the Games.&lt;\\/p&gt;\\n\""^^<http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema#string>
<http://snowboarding.transworld.net/news/pr-crested-butte-to-host-1998-espn-winter-x-games/>