Spectators at the famous Fenway Park are used to seeing objects hurtling through the air at breakneck speed.
Usually it’s home runs for Boston Red Sox sluggers such as David Ortiz and Hanley Ramirez.
But on Thursday, 12,000 winter sport fans were treated to the gnarly tricks and bodacious flips of some of the world’s best snowboarders.
Day one of Big Air at Fenway event — a U.S. Grand Prix and part of the International Ski Federation’s (FIS) World Cup tour — saw competitors hurtle down a 140-foot-tall ramp built on the field at the iconic baseball stadium which first opened in 1912.
The scaffolding holding the ramp was so tall it peaked above Fenway’s light towers and legendary “Green Monster” left-field wall.
Yet the unfamiliar surroundings were no problem for U.S. snowboarder Julia Marino and Max Parrot of Canada who topped the respective women’s and men’s competitions — knocking it out of the park, if you will.
Marino was especially delighted to take the win given she only made it off the competition reserve list when U.S. teammate Ty Walker was injured in the warm up.
“I’ve never snowboarded at a contest with a crowd this big,” Marino later said in comments carried by the FIS website. “It’s amazing!
“I didn’t think that this many people would show up for a snowboarding event. It’s amazing to see all these awesome fans out here supporting what we do.”
Although one of the most famous baseball stadiums in the world, Fenway Park has been transformed to host a number of other sporting codes in recent years.
The hurlers of Galway and Dublin staged an exhibition match at Fenway in November which drew an enthusiastic crowd from Boston’s large Irish expat and diaspora community.
A number of soccer matches have also been staged at the venue with the likes of Liverpool, Roma, Celtic and Sporting Clube de Portugal gracing the field between 2010 and 2014.
Fenway Sports Group, which owns the Boston Red Sox, also owns English Premier League club Liverpool.
Friday will see World Cup freeskiing events take place at Fenway Park.
