It was a bright bluebird day at Woodward Park City Thursday, with music playing and 71 of the top female freestyle snowboarders in the world making their first runs on the Uninvited Invitational course. 

Thursday was the first day of the Uninvited Invitational event at Woodward, featuring a three-hour practice and qualifying session for the snowboarders. The event runs through Sunday at the complex, with another qualifying session having taken place Friday, finals Saturday and a community day Sunday. The female boarders are competing for part of a $55,000 purse, with $13,000 going to the winner, $10,000 to the runner up and $3,000 to the third-place finisher, and further fame.

The boarders came from as close as Park City to as far as 20 additional countries to compete in the Invitational. Major sponsors include The North Face, Subaru and Monster Energy. Monster supplied energy drinks and a DJ for the competitors, patrons and workers, and The North Face will be live-streaming Saturday’s finals on their YouTube channel.

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This marks the second-annual Invitational, started by Uninvited founder Jess Kimura. A famed freestyle boarder herself, Kimura kicked off Uninvited with a freestyle snowboarding film trilogy, focused on up-and-coming female boarders. Last year’s inaugural Invitational was held at Woodward Tahoe. 

Woodward has nine U.S. locations. Their other Utah location is at Snowbird.

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Kimura seeks to empower female freestyle boarders, who aren’t often featured in the sport. She was thrilled with the setup at Woodward Park City, which included fresh snacks for the competitors, an incredibly put-together course and “Olympic-level” announcers. 

Kimura noted how this type of freestyle snowboarding isn’t featured at the Olympic levels. That makes it all the more important for these athletes to make this money, show off for sponsors and help bring more eyes to the sport. Kimura said Woodward Park City has been a partner unlike anything she’s ever seen. 

“After hours, before hours, behind the scenes on weekends, they’re always checking in, making sure we have everything we need,” said Kimura. 

The work on the Invitational course began three weeks ago, and they’ve since been battling the varying elements in Park City. Woodward had to weld 12 new rails and course features for this event, which it took them three days to set up. The on-and-off snowfall made it difficult to paint and place the features on course. 

Woodward terrain park builder Jack Reid has been putting in 12 hour days lately to help put on the Invitational. He estimates the complex has put on an event every weekend this winter. However, most aren’t this size and scale. 

“It’s pretty cool to see everything come together like this,” said Reid. “The size of the park, the build that we did, and the amount of brands that showed up.”

The competitors are going to have to battle unusually warm temperatures during all three days of competition, with sun and near-60 degree weather expected Thursday, Friday and Saturday. Parkite Madison Blackley said she’ll pace her boarding with the warmth and that she’s excited to see what everyone lays down at her hometown complex. The 34-year-old knows she’ll feel comfortable here in Park City, but knows her younger competitors will be able to take more risk and potential falls. 

Blackley spends a lot of time on the Dew Tour circuit, filming backcountry videos and boarding over rails. 

Blackley was most excited to compete for the massive prize purse and to meet her competitors. She noted most of them know each other through the internet, yet have yet to meet each other and see their skills in-person. Blackley agreed with Kimura that holding more events of this nature is massive for the women’s game. 

“A lot of times, girls are put in a position where they’re in competitions, and the prize purse compared to the men is either cut in half or sometimes non-existent,” said Blackley. “This is the same payout as Dew Tour or X Games for placing, it’s on that level and shows that there are opportunity for women to make money within this sport.”

Blackley and Kimura hope Parkites and others make it out this week, especially for Saturday’s finals, which are scheduled to run from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Blackley thinks in-person attendance could help patrons feel the event’s energy and gain increased respect for the competitors. Kimura believes patron attendance could help boost the boarders confidence this week and in the future. 

“There’s going to be music and food and vendors, and it’s going to be such a good time,” said Kimura. 
Attendance Friday and Saturday is free, and patrons can walk to the event site, just through a bit of slushy snow. Sunday’s community day is the only paid-for event at $15, with all proceeds to be donated to Save a Brain.