Grass Roots Wakeboard Contest Round 12 at Lagoon Wake Park

Thanks to ION , BWSW , and the Grass Roots Tour Grass Roots Tour stop 12 at Lagoon Wakepark (Photos at end of article ) Well, the lagoon was definitely a sight for a Wakeboarders sore Sunday eyes last weekend with not a breath of wind in earshot! Just a week previous to this the wind was gusting over 30 knots all along the south coast, so we were all were pleased to see the resident model yacht club making minimal progress in the non-existent wind when arriving at the Lagoon. The Competition practice was due to start at 2pm, so there was plenty of time for all the competitors to gather outside the centre suited and booted ready to show off their skills on the glassy water for practice. The atmosphere around the lagoon was brilliant, with a fantastic turn out from both local members, spectators and riders from further afield. Wakeparks from all over the country had representative riders that had travelled from Wakeparks such as ‘Just wake’ in Tatershall, ‘Industry 1’ in Liverpool and ‘Glasfryn’ in North Wales. Also from closer to home, riders from Docklands, Liquid Leisure and JB Ski… It was truly a melting pot of all types of Wakeboarder, North and South! At 2pm the operators walked onto the docks followed by some very excited competitors, approximately 20 riders started off the practice session and it was a noticeably young crowd, setting up for the junior category to be very interesting. ‘Just wake’ rider Alex Wilson was the youngest at age 7 competing for the first time, setting the bar for other youngsters to get involved. Practice was great banter for all, with an air of healthy competition but a good level of respect between local and visiting riders with everyone sticking to 3passes…no cable hogs at this comp! By the time it got to 4pm and it was time for the riders briefing, the competitor number had reached 32, a cracking turn out. The riders briefing was composed by MC and pro Wakeboarder Matt Crowhurst, who’s running commentary throughout the afternoon kept everyone thoroughly entertained. The comp set up was 3 passes (one pass being up and back) per rider on each of the two cables, with surface tricks, air tricks and obstacle tricks all being judged. The comp started with Junior Rookies and a brotherly theme in this category with the Local Redman and the visiting Ahlers-Diver brothers all competing alongside visiting youngster Alex and locals Joe Murdoch who took 2nd prize, James Riley and Cailin Murphy. Buddy Redman taking first prize and Caspar Ahlers-Diver 3rd. The Junior Open was a predominately local category bar liquid leisure and princes shop rider Max Lepage-Keefe who managed to take the winning spot over the local Lagoon crew throwing the first raley in the comp. Sam York taking 2nd and Luke Mepham 3rd, the nerves were present on the dock with the local ‘Tantrums kids club’ posse attempting to defend their turf (and doing a grand job). Great to see some really progressive riding from all the juniors, many who have been wakeboarding for under a year! The Wakeskate category included 2 local riders, Mark Teti and James Riley, both putting on a great set to watch with a huge amount of style and promoting Wakeskating effortlessly to the viewing crowd. Mark took winning place by nailing both the rooftop and the wedge on the skate. Next came the ladies, each of the competitors in this category were equally exciting and stylish to watch adding some real elegance to the comp. Visiting rider Angela Wilson from Just wake showed real steeze on the water with some perfectly performed surface tricks showing the rest of us how switch is meant to be ridden. Visiting rider Sarah Killip (2nd place) gave Winner Lara a real challenge with a HUGE Ollie on to the ‘dark side’ of the rooftop! Local riders Carly Gregory and Lara Pearce both ‘sent it’ with a few incredibly close 360 attempts from Carly off the wedge and Kitesurfer Lara having a smash down from an attempted Raley followed by an absolute beaut of a Raley to finish it off. Men’s Rookie’s was excellent to watch, again a predominantly local Category bar Winner Alex Reed from Docklands and Charlie Seligman, who both gave the locals a real challenge. Will Keen throwing some epic backrolls then New to cable wakeboarding this year, Charlie Jorgensen (3rd) and Sam Mann (2nd) put some stylish and challenging tricks both on the water and on the obstacles. So, by this time the light was starting to fade and with one technical fault quickly resolved with one of the cables the tension was high for the open men’s category. The winner of open men’s was a late arrival in the form of Andrew Alston, Local rider and kitesurfer Andy only entered at 4pm and did his run last (almost too dark to see). It was clearly a winning run from Andy with a huge amount of air tricks between some serious style on the obstacles. Visiting rider Seabas (2nd) and Cable Manager at the Lagoon Chris (3rd) were extremely close for second, both cramming in Raleys, Backrolls and serious technical ability on the obstacles, Seabas claiming it with a switch Raley. The rest of the mens category was a complete mix of visiting and local riders all with inspirational and individual riding. Unfortunately the night drawing in stopped the men putting in a 2nd set on the other cable and the category was judged on one run, the bad side of having such a great turn out. Overall the comp was a really fun day for all, with Familys, dogs, Wakeboarders, windsurfers, model boats, hot dogs, an overflowing lagoon and a really warm atmosphere between everyone. Being a competition, the standard was brilliant and the Judging fair but everyone had a great attitude and the priority of the day was fun, this is what the Grassroots Tour is all about! Thanks to ION , BWSW , and the Grass Roots Tour Junior Rookies 1^st – Buddy Redman 2^nd – Joe Murdoch 3^rd – Caspar Ahlers-Diver 4^th – Oscar Ahlers-Diver 5^th – Cailin Murphy 6^th – James Riley 7^th – Spike Redman 8^th – Alex Wilson   Junior Open 1^st – Max Lepage-Keefe 2^nd – Sam York 3^rd – Luke Mepham 4^th – Edi Fiettkau 5^th – Fraser   Wakeskate 1^st – Mark Teti 2^nd – James Riley   Ladies 1^st – Lara Pearce 2^nd – Sarah Killip 3^rd – Carly Gregory 4^th Angela Wilson   Mens Rookie 1^st – Alexander Reed 2^nd – Sam Mann 3^rd – Charlie Jorgensen 4^th – Will keen 5^th – Charlie Seligman   Mens Open 1^st – Andrew Alston 2^nd – Seabas Kearns 3^rd – Chris Bett 4^th – Rob Wagner 5^th – Zac Chanalanlbaus 6^th – Mark Teti 7^th – Graham Yelland 8^th – Murdo ‘cal’ McAllister 9^th – Gavin Draper