The Dirksen Derby
The Dirksen Derby is held in December. Hosted by internationally renowned local snowboarder Josh Dirksen, the event has raised over $30,000 for the Tyler Eklund Fund in the last 5 years. Tyler was paralyzed in April of 2007 in a snowboarding accident during a practice run for a national championship. Despite the tragedy, Tyler is back at it and made 3 fast times in the Derby and won the first annual quadriplegic sit ski division. In 2008's Derby, Josh donated a custom made Salomon Sick Stick snowboard as a raffle prize. All the raffle money for the snowboard went towards Cole Ortega, Mt Bachelor Grom Squad member, to help cover medical costs from his surfing injury this past summer. Cole's arm was severed while surfing on the Oregon Coast in July of 2008. We plan to offer the event each year around our season's opening with 100% of the proceeds going towards different beneficiaries.
This Year's The 5th Annual Dirksen Derby Was The Best Yet. The 3 day weekend long event was an action packed fundraiser for Tyler Eklund. Friday started off with practice runs in the two run course. Each course had 12 burms, with the Red Course proving to be more fluid and the Green Course proving to be more radius challenging. Friday night was the Dirksen Derby Broken Board Fundraiser held at the cozy Poet House. Packed House. Saturday was Qualifying for the stacked field, ranging from, Terje Haakonsen to Jake Blauvelt to Desiree Melancon to Macy Price. After the sunny qualifying day the 300+ mass headed down to the Seventh Mt. Resort for the premiere of Aaron Robinson's "Manifest" movie. Epic! Sunday was the finals day for Sit-Ski-, Splitboard, Women, Men, and the Older and Wiser. Check the video to see all the action at Mt. Bachelor in beautiful Central Oregon.
Some coverage of the Derby:
Bachelor Parks
ESPN
ESPN Video
Snowboarder Mag
Transworld Snowboarding
Transworld Snow
Frequency
Patagonia
YoBeat
YoBeat video
Jones Snowboards
Mervin Manufacturing
