The Freeride Design Contest is over and exceeded all expectations with 3298 submitted board-designs from participants of 47 different countries. More than 11.000 people voted online for their favourite designs during 3 heats from December – February. In the finals 25 designs got judged by an expert jury consisting of Burton team riders Marko Grilc and Gigi Rüf, Burton Board-Design Product Manager Brendan Murphey, Onboard Chief Editor Danny Burrows, Ludschi (Art Director of the Pirates), Tobias Allanson from Modart and Takanori Takeshita from European Marketing Center, Suzuki International Europe.

Among the 25 finalists, one design really stood out. Brendan Murphey (Board Design Product Manager at Burton), has this to say: “I love the black&white style and depth to the art. Basically it’s quite dynamic while being simple at the same time and this is what I really like. I am curious to the meaning behind the design, seems there is a sun/moon and heaven/hell/religion type of message here. What is this meaning? This is intriguing.”

Who is the person behind the winning design? Marina Kadysheva, a 22 years old Russian girl from Moscow, who is studying in Paris. Design is her hobby she does together with friends in Moscow, they call themselves “Bananas The Crew”. On Saturday, April 12th, the official prize-giving took place in the heart of Paris and Marina is now the proud owner of a Burton Series 13™ snowboard and a Suzuki Grand Vitara “Freeride” Edition in her very own design. Marina said, “As I’m not a professional designer, winning this competition gives me belief in the stuff I do. Maybe I should focus more on it in my free-time! It’s hard to describe my feelings, but I guess it feels way better than winning a lottery! I’m actually speechless!” Not bad having a car with a matching board on the roof-rack!