Thought I would follow up on this topic and clear the air as it has had time for it to settle. It is frustrating to me and I would appreciate it if you would not pass judgment seeing as you were not there, regardless of who your source is. I understand that there were a lot of questions in regards to judging of the event especially Derek's results. I too questioned the outcome. This was the first time Stevens has ever attempted to run an event top to bottom through the park. A lot of the hesitation in the past had to do with how could it be judged... With that being said I tried to create and organize a way that would be fair for all the competitors by placing two judges a skier and snowboarder at 4 stations throughout the course so all the features could be visible and scored fairly. As for judges picking up checks and taking off, I take that a little personal especially since you were not there, wait to hear all sides of the story before saying something please. I was one of the last people to leave other than the the event organizers. I was standing there talking with Coby when they announced skiers. We both were in shock that Derek did not podium and I began to stress out because I took this very serious and the last thing I wanted was for someone to question the judging. Afterwards as people were leaving I spoke with one of the event organizers who kept a hold of the score sheets and he looked over Derek's score. His scores were missed in tabulation. Derek ended up placing second in the event. Unfortunately he did not get the public recognition. However, he was sent a check for second place and I believe a goodie bag too. I followed up with Derek last night also and apologized to him. He seemed to be understanding and in good spirits as he was heading to Schwietzer for a photo shoot. So congrats to Derek and everyone else for there finishes and thanks to all those who attended. This was the first attempt to create an event and already the organizers are looking at building on the success and being introspective and addressing some of the failures of this years event. I hope that everyone had fun and enjoyed it enough to want to do it again next year. If anyone else has questions, concerns, complaints or rants I would be more than happy to address them with an open and understanding mindset.
Thank you,
Chris Shalbot
