Vans TC heads to Bear Mtn

The Vans North American Championships of Snowboarding are on for March 6-9 at Big Bear Mountain Resorts located near Big Bear Lake, California. The$375,000 Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding will conclude for the first timeat the world's only All-Mountain Freestyle Terrain Park, Southern California's Bear Mountain. The leading snowboard series boasts a competitor list thatincludes Olympic medallists Ross Powers, Danny Kass, JJ Thomas and KellyClark plus a slew of the sport's biggest names such as Todd Richards, ShaunWhite, Gretchen Bleiler and Tommy Czeschin.

Heading into the third and final stop of the 2002-03 Vans Triple Crown ofSnowboarding, Great Britain's Jennifer Jones is the ladies points leaderwith 200 points, while Vermont-native Hannah Teter and Gretchen Bleiler(Snowmass, CO) are trailing with 165 points each. Nate Sheehan (Fairfield,CT) is leading the men's race with 150 points, with Minnesotan Steve Fisherand Jackson HoleÂ’s Rob Kingwill close behind with 140 points each.

To win the overall title, an athlete must earn points tabulated from thethree Vans Triple Crown Series events. The overall men's winner will takehome a Ford Ranger FX4, while the womenÂ’s champion will win a trip for twoto Hawaii. The Vans Triple Crown of Snowboarding kicked off with theMountain Dew Pro Nationals at Breckenridge during the weekend of December13-15 and continued with the Built Ford Tough Championships January 24-26 atMammoth Mountain.

Vans North American Championships of Snowboarding ScheduleThursday, March 610:00-3:00p Practice

Friday, March 710:00-3:00p Superpipe practice8:00-3:15p Slopestyle heats 1 & 2 (men & women)

Saturday, March 88:00-9:15a Women's Superpipe Prelims9:15-12:40p Men's Superpipe Prelims1:00-4:00p Men's/Women's Slopestyle Finals3:00-4:00p Vans Rail Jam

Sunday, March 99:30-11:40a Women's Superpipe Finals11:40-2:15p Men's Superpipe Finals2:30p Awards