Wanaka, New Zealand (Saturday, August 27, 2005) -

Japan's top boarder-x rider, Itaru Chimura, takes the lead over Dan Kennedy and Mark Lanigan on his way to his Base Ultracross Team Series victory at New Zealand's Cardrona Alpine Resort this week. (photo: Droplet Media)

The hotly contested Base Ultracross Team Series at Cardrona Alpine Resort was decided this week after four weeks of fierce ski and snowboard competition on the gravity-x course.

Top snowboard team, Random, cleaned up by winning each week’s race and taking the overall prize. Not surprising, considering the team was made up of the crème de la crème of New Zealand snowboarders with Winter Olympic Program athletes Richard Hunt, Juliane Bray and Ellie Richards joined by American Jonathan Cheever and fellow New Zealander Maia Chaput.

The skiing was also dominated by one team, Team Bumsen, made up of Swiss and Austrian World Cup racers currently training in New Zealand. Conradign Netzter, a World Cup skier-x racer, won every race, helping take his team into first place overall.

“The level of both skiing and snowboarding was incredibly high this year,” said event organizer, Gini Mulholland of Cardrona Alpine Resort. “As well as the Austrians and New Zealanders, we had Japan’s top boarder-x rider, Itaru Chimura.