Enni Rukajärvi, Seppe Smits, Ellery Hollingsworth and Taku Hiraoka pulled out the most creative tricks at the Burton US Open and each took home US $5,000! Watch their hits…

The MINI Creative Use of Space Award entered its final round at the 30th Burton US Open that took place in Stratton, Vermont, last weekend. For the fourth time during the 2011/12 Burton Global Open Series (BGOS), the world’s best snowboarders not only competed for a podium place in the event’s two major competitions: slopestyle and halfpipe, but also for the MINI CUoS Slopestyle and Halfpipe Awards.

SLOPESTYLE

In the women’s slopestyle finals, Enni Rukajärvi from Finland threw a cab 540 mute on the MINI CUoS Slopestyle Feature which resembled a driveway with a garage and a MINI parked out front, which bagged her the MINI CUoS Slopestyle Award and US$5,000. On the men’s side, the award went to Seppe Smits from Belgium for an innovative cab 9 shifty on the MINI Feature. In the halfpipe finals, US$5,000 were given to US rider Ellery Hollingsworth for her outstanding alley-oop Michalchuck and Japan’s Taku Hiraoka for his perfect backside 5 japan.

For the last time in the 2011/12 season, the awarded riders did not only earn prize money, but also collected 25 points towards the final ranking of the BGOS and the MINI Countryman. At the US Open it was time for the final decision: Which female and male riders had collected the most points? In the end, US girl Jamie Anderson and Ryo Aono from Japan were listed on top of the overall BGOS ranking which earned them both a MINI Countryman.

HALFPIPE

Besides the riders, the park designers could also compete for an award. Every park crew at the four BGOS events was given US$5,000 to build a totally unique MINI Feature that was then entered into a competition against the other MINI CUoS Slopestyle Features. At the last stop, the US Open, the most creative MINI Feature was finally picked: The judges unanimously chose the crew from Laax, Switzerland as the winners; they took home an additional US$5,000 as well as the MINI Creative Use of Space Slopestyle Feature Award.