Getting an invite to The Oakley Arctic Challenge (TAC) is pretty hard. Only TTR Top10 and a few wildcards can enter. On top of that come the winner and highest air from 3 qualifying events in Europe and US. Final access point is The Arctic Open – TAC’s own qualifying event in Norway on February 16.Together with the local resort Varingskollen, TAC is making some solid investments into the new event.
A new arena is being created, more machinery is brought in and lots of new shapers and organising personnel. There’s even some prize money: 10 000 USD.The ultimate prize is the access to TAC. The winner and the highest air go straight from Arctic Open to TAC, which starts 2 days after the qualifier. And as a bonus: Terje Haakonsen will be there, so it might be additional wild cards up for grabs. Free hotel, food, nice rider service, good nightlife and 100 000 USD prize money is waiting for all going to TAC.
Arctic Open is open to anyone who can snowboard, but you should be able to spin a backside 5 on 5 meters to be considered a serious contender.And there for sure are opportunities for a new Cinderella story: In 2006 Henning Marthinsen went straight from winning the qualifier to winning TAC. Here we go again.A Norwegian qualifier in Norway sounds very Norwegian, but it is not only for Norwegians! Riders from anywhere in the world can enter the event by e-mailing theodor@online.no before February 1.
