Somewhere (no doubt over a frosty cold beer if he was of legal age), Sebastien "Seb Toots" Toutant is smiling right now. Not only is he the Ride Shakedown champion for the second year in a row, beating out 14 other riders, but it's his second weekend in a row winning $10,000. Last weekend it was the Quiksilver Showdown at Grouse in Vancouver, BC, and this weekend it's the Shakedown. And now young Seb Toots has a cool 20 G's sitting in his savings account. Not bad for two Saturdays of snowboarding, eh?

Toots proved to be unstopable in the finals, landing his signature double-corked 1080 (aka: the "Tootsie Roll") off the kicker, then greasing the c-rail with a sick 50-50 to change-up combo. Mats Kulisek took second place and $3,000, while Jeremy Cloutier took third and $2,000.

With women competing for the first time ever in the Ride Shakedown, American Hana Beaman took the top spot, sticking a big backside 360 off the kicker into a 50-50 to frontside boardslide on the up-flat-down rail. She won $9,000 for her efforts, with Megan Whiteside earning $2,000 in second place, and local favourite Marie-France Roy winning $1,000 in third.

The rain held off through most of the semi-finals, which saw 38 men and 7 women fighting for a spot in the finals. When the slush settled, 15 men and 3 women advanced. The unique format allows riders to have several runs in the semi-finals and finals, but they must call their trick when the want their run to be judged (with two judged runs required to qualify). It makes for a truly interesting contest, since the announcers will call out the rider's trick when they drop in, and then you get to see if they stick it.

Toots and Charles Reid battled it out in the finals, with each rider going for the double-corked 1080. Reid, who won the Shakedown last year, was hungy for a repeat, but Toots was too consistent to overcome. Yale Cousino did a switch backside 900, and showed serious finess and inovation with his rail combos, but it simply wasn't his night to crack the top three. Marie-France Roy spun a couple of legit frontside 720's, but couldn't land one cleanly. In fact, as the finals wore on, more and more riders struggled to stick their landings. (No doubt due in part to the increasingly slushy conditions.) Some truly spectacular crashes occurred, but fortunately no one seemed to be seriously injured beyond what a hot shower and a few Advils can cure.

From L to R: Jeremy Cloutier, Marie-France Roy, Hana Beaman, Seb Toots and Mats Kulisek.

The Push.ca Half-Time Show went down between the semi-finals and finals. It was originally meant to be a skateboard contest on the c-rail, but the rain forced the event into the Push.ca tent where a best trick contest was held on the mini-ramp. An extension was added to the deck, and a dozen skaters had 45 minutes to earn $2,000. With legendary local skater Nic Cote on the mic, the session sparked up instantly and the tent was soon packed with spectators. Pat Tremblay, who put on a one-man demo earlier (never before have I seen anyone skate so hard while smoking a cigarette), charged hard, as did Hugo Belak and Thomas Parent. 11 year-old Gab Venoit won the crowd over quickly, and caused a collective gasp when he slammed hard on the ramp's flat bottom. Luckily the young ripper was OK, and will no doubt live to skate another day.

The man they call Pickle goes to work on the extension during the Push.ca halftime Show.

A packed house for the halftime show.

Casey McDonald proved to be the most determined, attempting blunt to noseblunt re-entries on the extension over and over until he landed one cleanly. He also landed a kickflip nose stall revert just before the session ended. When the masonite dust settled, the cash purse was divided up between three skaters: McDonald, Parent and Tremblay, who each earned an evil $666.

Three skaters, each $666 richer (thanks to splitting the prize purse). From L to R: Thomas Parent, Casey McDonald and Pat Tremblay.

With the Ride Shakedown finished for another year, there's nothing left to do now but hit the after-party and celebrate the end of the season. Just don't count on the 16 year-old Toots (and the 10% rule) to finance your bar tab: it'll be another two years before he's legal.

Photos: Richard Roth/ROTHphoto.com

Check out our gallery of shots from the finals, and a gallery from the Push.ca Halfime show.