Australia has much to look forward to this season with The Red Bull Air Raid - an invitational event with a selection of some of the hottest, most amazing riders in the world. A total of 24 riders from two disciplines will compete - 12 skiers and 12 snowboarders.

The Red Bull Air Raid will take the sport of snowboarding and skiing to new heights with a competition format that will challenge athletes to pull off the most extreme tricks from a specially built tombstone kicker - best described as a cross between a quarter pipe and a big air jump.

Following the success of the first Red Bull Air Raid in 2001, the event will take place again in the spectacular backcountry of Mt McKay, Falls Creek from 25th - 30th August 2002.

Unique to this event is the location - the wild backcountry of Mt McKay, Victoria. Until now, only the most die hard skiers and snowboarders have taken the long trek by foot to Mt McKay to experience the most extreme conditions on untouched terrain. The Red Bull Air Raid will provide this experience for the competing athletes during the one-day event (best conditions), to be held within a waiting period from 25 - 30 August 2002.

The competition will be run in a jam style format with the invited athletes jumping in rounds. Each round will consist of 24 jumps - the 12 skiers and 12 boarders getting one jump each per round. It is anticipated the riders will get between 7 - 10 jumps each. The highest scoring two jumps (must be different tricks) of each rider will be totaled and the athlete with the highest combined score in each division shall be the winner.

This year will see a bigger field of international contenders battle it out against the Kiwis and Aussies for a share in the $20,000 worth of cash and prizes. As the Red Bull Air Raid is a non-spectator event, an official website has been developed which will feature information on the event with daily updates and will be on-line soon.