The Cable Wakeboard Nationals is a time to show off the fruits a years worth of hard work and a chance to see some new faces on the water all getting fired up to battle it out for the coveted prize of National Title holder. Year on year, the stakes are raised, the crowds are treated to watching the best in the land and this year was no exception.

With over twenty female competitors across four divisions, the ladies showed that they’re continuing to push themselves and claim their rightful place on the National stage. More female entrants saw divisions spread wider than just the Open and Junior Ladies to incorporate the Girls and Masters divisions with greater numbers than ever before. Increased support for these wider categories has shown girls and women of all ages that competitive wakeboarding is for everyone and really worth getting involved with.

The conditions at JB Ski Thorpe were as close to perfect as possible; warm clear skies with absolutely no wind! The water was primed for some great wakeboarding. Fantastically organised, the segregated ‘riders only’ area, riders buffet and instant scores on large plasma screens made for a really professional and smoothly run day.

The Girls division saw plenty of new faces join regular entrant JB Ski’s Katie Rowling to make a group of noticeable consistent riding. These girls showed the real value of showing the judges what you CAN do rather than what you CAN’T.  Clean runs score highly and these girls were employing good strategy to their two runs as most would not have seen the others ride before. Making good use of the obstacles, the girls showed how the ‘courage’ levels have improved in the past year which bodes well for the future riding of these girls. The final, not surprisingly, saw WakeMK’s Chloe Goudie charge ahead in front of the others by including both a Krypt and Raley amongst some cool controlled and stylie rail skills to take top spot. Katie Rowling and Lara Mackey placed second and third respectively.

Notoriously hard to recruit, the Masters Ladies had four entrants this year, the most ever and what a showdown it turned out to be! The instant plasma score heightened the tension as the once easily dismissed category, became quite a crowd pleaser. Katie Glen laid down a good run with obstacle and water tricks, Naval nurse Laura Edmonds kept the crowd entertained dancing on the dock before her agonisingly close tantrum effort, but it was the battle between Sarah Kingdom and Alexandria Gardiner that spiced things up. Alex had qualified first so had the advantage to ride last in the final. So when Sarah put a Raley and Scarecrow in her run, Alex had to beat it, but just fell shy of Sarah’s score with a big floaty tantrum. Sarah now had the advantage riding last for the second run. So when Alex nailed a Scarecrow and massive Raley off the kicker, the tension grew as the crowd waited for the scores to be displayed……and she’d beaten Sarah’s first score to turn the tables once again!

The pressure was on for Sarah to pull everything out of the bag and raise her score for the final time! Having fallen on her switch Krypt in qualifiers, she opted to repeat her first run but upped the intensity, back lipping the Rooftop, solidly board sliding the O’shea and making her Raley and Scarecrow bigger than before.  With those adjustments, Sarah managed to raise her score by 4 points to take the title. What a battle, and to think it was the ‘grannies’ division to cause all the excitement!! Well done to Katie Glen who placed third in her first ever competition.

The standard of the Junior Ladies riding has seen it fast sit on a par with that of the Open Ladies. These young women are a force to be reckoned with and their cable skills are quite phenomenal. Air tricks are a must with Raley’s Krypts and Blind Judges featuring. They are setting the benchmark for the girls to aspire to in the coming years! What these young ladies will be achieving when they’re in Open is a very exciting prospect! Sophie Cordery (JB Ski) placed third, unfortunately falling on her Blind Judge, but demonstrating some serious rail skills. Ellie Talyor (WM Ski) came in second with a Raley, noticeably grabbing her Krypt, something we rarely see from the girls, and impressive solid spins. But the title went to Princes’ Tor Young showing off solid rail skills, three inverts no less; Raley, Back Roll and Blind Judge before squeezing in a cool back side 180 off the kicker. Despite falling in her second run, Tor showed that the girls are really pushing it on the UK scene by adding a Roll to Blind!

The Open Ladies contest was going to be interesting. Of the six entrants, three clearly stood out, but all for different strengths! Emily Bebbington (Wake MK) has World Class Rail skills, Kirsteen Mitchell (JB Ski) has the upper hand with air tricks, and Steph Caller (Princes/WM Ski) is solid in both, so which way would the judges go? Would they favour superior rail, air or both elements? Emily had to fight for her place in the final going to LCQ’s (last chance qualifier) after Alexis Twigden (Wake MK) pushed her into fourth with good rail skills, a Back Roll, Scarecrow and 360 off the kicker. Needless to say, Em breezed it and the battle for the podium began.

First up Emily, as expected, showed off her unique grace and ease on the sliders, nose pressing the green slider and boning out the Liquid Force rail like no other. She also got in her Raley into the cable with ease, a trick we’ve not seen from Emily in some time due to injury. Next up was Alexis, who gained huge crowd points by grabbing her 360 off the kicker. The crowd, like the judges were looking for new elements, something the others weren’t doing. Steph upped the anti with a good mixture of solid rail skills and no les than three inverts, but added a Roll to Blind for her second pass securing her a podium spot!

But the clear winner was yet to come. Kirsteen Mitchell has literally burst onto the scene with her huge air tricks, like no other UK girl before. The ex- high board diving Champ, secured her first place after her first run. Nobody could touch her score with a Krypt, Roll to Blind and Front to Fakie. With more rail work over the forthcoming year, this girl will be a real presence on the International circuit!  The Open Ladies placed first Kirsteen, second, Steph and third Emily.

The progression of wakeboarding is dependent on those coming through the ranks getting involved in competition and all of these girls have done a great service to women in wakeboarding. Well done.