By Olivia Flanz
On February 22nd, City Hall Plaza was transformed into a snowboarding park for the Red Bull Heavy Metal Snowboarding contest. Top street snowboarders from all around the world came to Boston to compete in the single-day event.
One of the iconic names on the roster was 25-year-old professional snowboarder Zeb Powell. From North Carolina, Zeb’s uprising came from his creative boarding style. In 2020, he won gold at the Winter X Games Knuckle Huck competition.
Zeb Powell and Jess Perlmutter, a 15-year-old from Vermont, won zone 1. Benny Milam, a 26-year-old, from Minnesota and Jess Perlmutter won zone 2. Benny Milam and Jayva Jordan, Twenty-two-year-old from Minnesota won zone 3. Benny Milam and Jess Perlmutter, overall winners of the competition, won each getting $4500 each.
Each of the three zones represented a different aspect of street snowboarding. Red Bull defines street snowboarding as “a discipline of snowboarding that celebrates creativity and features riders performing tricks on obstacles that are often found outside of ski resorts trails including handrails, ledges, stairs, fences, and gaps.”
Red Bull Heavy Metal was free and open to the public. 200,000 people turned out for the event, many of whom traveled to Boston to witness the snowboarders compete.
An audience member, Evan Sletton traveled from Dartmouth to see Red Bull Heavy Metal. When asked what his favorite part of the day was, he said “Honestly, I don't have a favorite part, just all of it was so tough. the vibes were so good… the community that surrounds it [snowboarding]...it's great.”
The gates to the event opened at 2:00 pm and ended after 5:00 pm.
