Anne-Flore Marxer (AFM), one of the world’s best female snowboarders, has hit us up to let us know about a petition she launched recently, campaigning for women to ride at the Air & Style, the world’s biggest big air event. She told us: “It has been a while since I went last to the Air and Style, but this year Billabong sent me there for a signing session

As it had been a bit of a frustration not to see girls riding at this event, I decided to make a petition with the full support of Sarka Pancochova, Cheryl Maas, Tanja Detomas, Lisa Filzmoser, Jenny Jones, Jamie Anderson, Kimmy Fasani, Hana Beaman, Leanne Pelosi, Bev Vuilleumier and Marie-France Roy, hoping to see girls next year.

So I ended up running around with my piece of paper and it was great to see all the positive feedback from the public and the industry… thanks to all of those who signed it :-).”

Quite apart from the fact that we happen to like Anne-Flore (she came along with us on our Japan trip, which you can read about in the next issue of Whitelines) we reckon this is a great idea. As the “Mass Debate” section in the same upcoming issue shows, there’s a lot of feeling out there that women’s snowboarding doesn’t get the coverage or the respect it deserves. If you feel that’s the case, and would like to see ladies competing at the highest level on the TTR, then you can get involved yourself by signing the petition here.