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While ski resorts in the tri-state area are still waiting for snow, Morgantown had plenty to go around Saturday.
Forty skiers and snowboarders from as far away as California came to High Street for the third annual Motown Throwdown Rail Jam.
The competition allows participants to do five tricks on a 15-foot rail in the preliminary rounds and eight to 10 in the finals. The person with the most impressive trick won, and contestants were judged on "overall impression," said Andrew Walker, a store manager at Pathfinder and event coordinator.
First place in the snowboarding competition and $1,000 was awarded to Ben Sullo of Sugar Bush, Vt.
Brendan Stark, Donegal, Pa., won $1,000 for placing first in the skiing competition.
Snow was donated from ice rinks by the Board of Parks and Recreation and hauled to High Street in dump trucks. The street was blocked off for the second straight year during the competition.
"We didn’ really have as much snow as we would have liked," Walker said, adding rain washed much of it away.
In spite of the bad weather, the competition went smoothly, Walker said.
The set up was purchased from the organizers of a similar event held annually in New York City.
Walker estimated that Pathfinder, who sponsored the event, spent "tens of thousands of dollars" to set up the 20-set stair and rail, and import snow used in the competition.
"It’s totally worth it, it brings a lot of people to Morgantown. It’s a pretty unique competition. It really gets people excited for the snow," Walker said. "There are only a couple competitions like this on the East Coast."
The rail-set was modified from last year’s design to allow riders to be more creative, said competitor and organizer Corey Snyder.
"Last year we had the same stair set and there was a box on the left, but this year, we wanted riders to be able to hit the box from both sides, so we shifted it towards the middle," Snyder said.
It takes a team of 10 to 20 people about three or four hours to set up the feature, Snyder said.
Pathfinder also offered discounts on skiing and snowboarding gear and had a live DJ during the competition.
Last year’s winner came from California to participate in the event.
Organizers of the event have considered expanding the competition for next year if the weather permits, Snyder said.
"We’ve talked about (expansion) before, but the warm weather limits us as far as snow is concerned," he said. "If it got cold early, we would love to add another feature."
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