Overview
There is only one triathlon on the planet that brings together the world's best surfers, skaters and snowboarders. From a classic California reef break, to a picturesque snow covered mountain, all ending on a custom designed skate ramp, The Ultimate Boarder Championship challenges the best crossover athletes in action sports.
The idea for Ultimate Boarder was conceived in 2005 by Tim Hoover who grew up surfing and skateboarding in Goleta, California. Throughout his life, these board sports provided a tremendous source of escape and a positive outlet. As the history and popularity of board sports evolved, along with the influence of friends who shared similar interest and ideas, Tim was inspired to establish an event and brand that encompassed all three disciplines.
In 2007, Tim established the company, UB Entertainment, LLC, a California Limited Liability Company based in Santa Barbara, California. The company developed, financed, branded and managed the first-ever Ultimate Boarder Championship, with a dream that riders from around the world could compete in a weeklong triathlon style event in the disciplines of surfing, skateboarding, and snowboarding.
Opening the field to both amateur and professional athletes, the competition became a reality in 2008, giving riders a chance to compete for the Ultimate Boarder Champion title and a first place prize of $30,000. The event was born and the riders were given the opportunity to prove not only to themselves and each other, but to the rest of the world, they have what it takes to become the best all around boarder in surf, skate and snow.
The competition format was designed in three stages (one per discipline), as each competitor would be judged on an individual basis. At the completion of each stage in the event, competitors would become ranked first through 50th place (or total number of athletes). The competitor who consistently placed the highest in all three disciplines, and had the lowest number in ranking points overall, would be crowned the Ultimate Boarder Champion. The only way to be included in the final event results and prize purse, however, was for the rider to compete in each of these three disciplines.
In the skateboarding and snowboarding portions of the event, a panel of World Cup certified judges were hired to score the competitors skills on a custom mini-ramp/vertical section for the skating and a Slopestyle course in the mountains for the snowboarding. As for the surfing portion, surfers competed in a traditional five-man heat format and were scored by ASP sanctioned judges.
In a style similar to the Tour de France, a blue jersey was awarded to the overall leader at the end of each stage of the competition.
Being hailed, "the triathlon of a new generation", Hoover capitalized on the growing popularity of these sports. He focused the event as a way to promote healthy athletic lifestyles to young people in a positive and competitive environment. The ultimate goal remains, to find riders to become the next hero of a new generation of board sport enthusiasts.
In 2008, the first-ever Ultimate Boarder Championship took place garnering over 120 million media impressions, and was awarded "Best New Sports Event of the Year" by Sports Travel Magazine. Carlsbad, California's local and skateboarding veteran, Aaron Astorga, took home the top prize and was crowned the Ultimate Boarder Champion. Followed by snowboarding legend, Todd Richards in second and New Zealand's Kristian Philipp taking third.
In year two, the competition evolved as Hoover looked to get more riders involved by adding a "TEAM" division to the event which created two separate, yet complimentary events that could exist during the same week. The "SOLO" division would continue to seek the one athlete who could conquer all three disciplines while the team division would combine three different athletes who would join forces with each other and each compete only in his/her core discipline. The solo rider as well as the team with the lowest overall score would then become crowned champions.
On April 4-11 of 2009, the second annual Ultimate Boarder Championship kicked off sponsorship by Coast Body Wash. Nearly one hundred professional and amateur athletes from around the world traveled to compete. A 1-hour TV show was produced with a Primetime Premiere on FUEL TV (June 22, 2009 @ 8pm) that included multiple repeats on the FOX NETWORKS core action sports channel broadcast reaching 26 million households. The TV show was then licensed in syndication in an additional 100 million households airing on Fox Sports, MAV TV, Comcast, Sun Sports, SportSouth, Dish Network, Direct TV and many others. Chad Shetler, the skate team manager for LOST Clothing, was crowned the Champion and Team Hosoi, which included Tom Curren, Christian Hosoi and Bjorn Leines, took home the team title.
In addition, the event was highlighted on The Weekly Update on Fuel TV & Fox Sports with athlete appearances on the Fuel TV talk show, The Daily Habit.
In year three, 2010, the event once again brought out some of the biggest and brightest stars in the industry and a new title sponsorship, SANDISK. MTV2 covered the event producing three one hour episodes for their "Rock n' Jock Countdown" show hosted by Dirty & Todd Richards. A ? hour show was then produced and again licensed in syndication in over 100 million households. With the most exciting finish in event history, Chad Shetler would once again top the podium, this time sharing the points lead with Laguna Beach's Mike Morrissey crowning them Co-Champions. Team Hosoi repeated their win as Team Champions with another impressive roster consisting of Rob Machado, Christian Hosoi and Brandon Cocard. In addition, Hoover expanded the team division to include YOUTH teams that would consist of the industries rising young stars under the age of sixteen. Team Eternal, which included Trevor Thornton, Joshua Douglas and Nathan Alegria, would take home the top honor and a $5000 scholarship via FLEXFIT.
Now, in only it's fourth year, the Ultimate Boarder Championship has become one of the premiere action sports events in the world. Elite athletes from each of the surf, skate, and snow spheres enter the competition. The title of Ultimate Boarder has become highly sought after and a respected entity within the action sports world. In the first three years, the event has had such high profile athletes participate such as: : Andy Finch, Andy Macdonald, Bjorn Leines, Christian Fletcher, Christian Hosoi, Dave Downing, John John Florence, Kurt Wastell, Lyn-Z Adams Hawkins, Nathan Fletcher, Omar Hassan, Rob Machado, Shaun Tomson, Shayne Pospisil, Steve Caballero, Todd Richards, Tom Curren, Tosh Townend, 2008 Champion Aaron Astorga, 2009 & 2010 Champion Chad Shetler and 2010 Co-Champion Mike Morrissey.
In addition, the event has been broadcast or featured on: MTV2, FUEL TV, FOX SPORTS, MSG Plus+, SportSouth, Sun Sports Network, Comcast SportsNet, Mid Atlantic Sports Network, Bright House Sports Network, MAV TV, Untamed Sports TV, Tuff TV Network, DIRECT TV Sports Pak, DISH Multi Sports Pak, AT&T U-Verse Sports Pak, NBC Mobile, Heavy.com, Allisports.com, ESPN.com, New York Times, ESPN Magazine, Men's Journal, Surfing Magazine, Transworld Skateboarding and many other high profile endemic and non-endemic national publications. With a proven track record and major street credibility within the industry, it is now time to take the event and brand to the next level.
Stay tuned!
