Ride's Hana Beaman won top honors at the first-ever Women's final presented by Oakley, at this year’s RIDE Shakedown.

Male and female snowboarders shared no less then $27 000 in prize money during the finals. This year, 37 riders participated in the main competition, 4 of whom were amateurs.

Toutant won the 2006 edition of the competition at the ripe old age of 13 years and an amateur, beating every pro snowboarder to sneak through to claim the top step of the podium. “It’s a great feeling. This is the second time that I’ve won – something that no other rider has achieved before. I couldn’t ask for more.” exclaimed Toutant, who won based on the merits of his performance: a Backside 1080 Double cork / Backside 270 gap on the Battleship rail.

Finals
The evening final which took place under a constant downpour consisted of 15 men and four women competing for a hefty prize purse. Each rider was given two judged runs in which they had to call out their tricks before dropping in. Each run was judged 50% on the jump and 50% on the rail course. “I’m really stoked on the contest. The setup is a little bit sketchy but it’s going to separate the women from the girls [and the men from the boys], said Ride's Megan Whiteside, who was just stoked to be competing against her favorite pro Marie France Roy.

It's the first year that female riders have been invited to compete in the Ride Shakedown, something Mittermuller was clearly stoked about.

"I think it's great that they have women now and I think, although the set-up is a little bit crazy, it's something that we definitely can master," she enthused. "I mean, girls have been hitting all three of these features in a good way. I'm super stoked we got into this contest and I hope we'll be in here next year as well. And great respect to all the girls that were riding, because I think the riders were really going for it and it's really cool to see."

With a mix of pro and amateur riders such as MFR, Ride’s Hana Beaman, Charles Reid and Ride’s Alex Cantin competing in the women and men’s finals the crowd of 10,000 plus had their head’s turning and jaws dropping all night. When asked what he thought of the contest, Ride’s Nash Lugenaisse said, “It’s really good. There’s always lots of pressure –it’s all for show. There’s lots of pressure when there’s a crowd but it makes you work harder.”

It seemed to be that all the riders were working hard to impress the judges. When it came time for the girls Megan and MRF both pulled Frontside 5’s. As for the men, everyone seemed to one up each other. From Jeremy Cloutier’s Switch Back Rodeo 540 to Yale Cousineau’s Switch Back 9, and Charlie Reid’s Frontside 10, it was a case of go big or go home. However, at the end it was Seb’s Frontside 9 that had the crowd cheering.

Finals ran from 7 to 8 PM, and then we braced our livers for the infamous Shakedown after-party. If the noise from our neighbors partying next door to us in our hotel is any indication; it'll be one for the books