NEWS: Richards and Taggart Dominate Aspen Halfpipe by Lee Crane "I was angry on my second run," Todd Richards said after completing his third run in the finals of the ESPN/Airwalk Halfpipe competition. "I thought I got underscored on my first run and I was not happy about it." Todd Richards proved that taking the summer off to skate may have been the best thing he's done in a while. Nothing like a win to make a off-snow summer seem worth while. Richards, who qualified in first place, turned in a lackluster first run and was scored accordingly. After the first run he was in ninth place. US Snowboard Team member Rob Kingwill had the highest first run score followed by Josh Dirksen and Keir Dillon. Something happened between runs one and two. Todd calls it anger. Whatever it was it rocketed Todd back into the form that placed him second in the 97 Worlds and first at the US Open last march. Riding with speed Todd mixed up the tricks with a huge frontside air followed up by a mix of spins and culminating in a 900 in front of the judges stand. It was almost as if Todd wanted to rub it in their faces. And reward him they did. Todd's score of 40.9 was the highest of the contest. In the women's competition it was even closer. Michele Taggart kicked things off with a first run score of 36.5 for her mix of airs, ollie oops, and 540s. In the second run Aurelie Sayers came close to Taggart's mark with a 35.2 but it wasn't until the final run that Barrett Christy nearly knocked Michele out with a 36.2. Only four tenths of a point from taking the first spot. Neither of the winners were excited about winning at Aspen. In fact, both had some pretty harsh words for the management of Aspen Mountain for allowing snowboarders to perform on the mountain, but not opening the mountain to snowboarders the rest of the year. "The first thing I would like to say is that competing here at Aspen makes me feel like a clown," Taggart said after getting her trophy. "It's just wrong to have us compete here when they don't even allow snowboards on the mountain." Barrett Christy. You Gnu she'd get the job done. Todd Richards was no different. He sarcastically mentioned that he's been riding Aspen "for years" and that the pipe looked the way it did because of Aspen's "years of experience building pipes." The pipe was actually pretty good, though it wasn't pretty. It had proper transitions, the snow was firm allowing the pipe to hold up well and day but it looked like the halfpipe from the 1987 Aspen Grand Prix. The roll out deck was non-existent and the lip was an uneven mess of lumps and clumps. Luckily, that part didn't seem to bother many of the riders. According to the schedule the triple big air qualifiers were to follow the conclusion of the halfpipe. Canadian rider Janet Matthews was one of the first women to jump during practice. On the second jump she over rotated a back flip and landed right on her head. She was taken away in an ambulance. At the top the word was that both Kevin Jones and Jimmy Halopoff were going to withdraw from the qualifications because they thought it was too dangerous. One guy who wasn't scared was J.P. Walker. He stuck and stomped several big mysty variations before another rider injury convinced organizers to stop the competition for the evening. This postponement means that Saturday we can look forward to the Boarder X, the Triple Big Air Qualifiers and Finals and then on Sunday he mystery freeriding event. That's all for now. Stay tuned for more from Aspen. OTHER NEWS Welcome to Aspen, Colorado Thu. (Dec. 04 @ 3:49:PM est) FREERIDE COVERAGE: Aspen | Killington | Sierra-at-Tahoe SOL NAVIGATION: SOL | Scoop | Hardware | Industry | Circleplus | Push | Travel | Interact | School | Weather | Terrain | Compete | Mediator SPONSORED BY: 1-800 Collect | ESPN | Airwalk | USASA © 1997, InterZine Productions. All rights reserved.